I only have these:


The Best of Bowie (single disc version)



Low

What are the others? Is the two-disc version of Best of Bowie any good?

Try this one,


Of course, I'm by no means a Bowie authority
You should ask Anx

FuNkeNsteiN said:

That's my favourite too!!

But, also in my top honors list....

The Man Who sold the World
Hunky Dory
Ziggy Stardust
Diamond Dogs

Basically his glam rock period is my favourite

I also like Heroes, Low, Scary Monsters and Reality

FuNkeNsteiN said:

that's my fav of Bowie and one of my favorite albums of all time

i also suggest Scary Monsters, Space Oddity and Let's Dance

low and aladdin sane are good ones.

really, you can't go wrong with anything starting with "hunky dory" up through "scary monsters".


i guess what i'd recommend would depend on which bowie era you like - glam? new wave-ish? pop/top-40-ish?

i think his only real crap album is "never let me down", which even bowie himself makes fun of. some people put down "tonight", but i think it's bowie's "newpower soul" - there's a lot of crap on it, but also a lot of gems.

otherwise, you have a lot of great music from which to choose.

I'd warmly recommend any of the following:

Hunky Dory
Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
"Heroes"
Lodger
Scary Monsters
Earthling
Heathen

Maybe you should pick up the 2-disc Best of Bowie set (it's a serviceable best-of and definitely superior to the single disc version. Better yet, see if you can find the 3-disc Platinum Collection. Bowie has a wide and varied catalogue, so you may like some albums and dislike others. If you notice which songs you really enjoy, that can guide you through your own individual Bowie quest!

wee!

my favorites

The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
Ziggy Stardust...
Diamond dogs
Aladdin Sane
Young Americans
Station To Stations
Low
Outside
Heroes


don't ever get "never let me down"

Moonbeam said:

I agree! This is a really nice greatest hits collection. It includes all the bit hits, a good sampling of the fan/critic favorites, plus it has a really generous selection of rare/lesser-known songs.

Anxiety said:

Do you all mean this?

silverchild said:

They were released as separate volumes, but I've seen that for a very good price. I don't think you can go far wrong on a 70s Bowie album though.

silverchild said:

yes, that is what i mean.

the last volume of that collection, if you buy it on its own, also has a dvd of 80s era videos. i've been tempted to pick it up, but it just seems too expensive for a lot of stuff i already have. the "best of bowie" 2 DVD set is a much better collection for video.

so if i had to pick out a nice "bowie 101" set for someone, i'd go with

* The Platinum Collection 3CD set
* The Best of Bowie 2DVD set

station to station is my favourate

for a collection- christiana f..as its his most hidden album based on that film about drugs,bowie has a singing role..it captures his drug mid 70s era..from which station to station was created.you may see it on u tube.

Anxiety said:

Thanks Anx! I guess I will have to scoop the 3CD set up right now from Amazon.com. I heard that Station To Station was another great one also. Any info on that album?

I don't know a lot of his music, but I remember loving China Girl when I was really young. I think Let's Dance is cool but kind of repetitive, I found out about that song when my mom told me Diddy's Been Around the World sampled it when the video came out and we were watching it.

I also loved The Man Who Sold the World when I heard the Nirvana cover years ago, and then a friend told me it's a David Bowie cover. I think one of my aunt's used to be a fan of his in the early 80's, not sure about now.

What would be a good album to start with for a beginning based on the songs I talked about?

silverchild said:

station to station is great! be prepared: it's a short one. but every song on there is fantastic. to me, you can hear the transition between the philly sound he was going for in the years leading up to that album, and the experimental music he'd be known for in the years following it. his vocals are gorgeous all the way through, and the song "stay" might be the funkiest bowie song ever.

All good advice. You can't go wrong with all these knowledgable peeps.

Low is my personal fave.

Anything from the 70-80 with Bowie is great, I think. And then to 83.

I have his best-of CD, which I dig muchly.

Today, I finally learned the name of his former bass player!

Gail Ann Dorsey. Tha BOMB!

As great as 70s Bowie was, I'd also like to add these more recent gems to the recommendation list:





I don't know about our Bowie experts (I'm not one of them), but I personally love these records!

i love most of bowie's more recent output! i'm a big fan of everything he's done from "buddha of suburbia" through "heathen". i don't mind the "reality" album but it doesn't really do much for me.

I'm a bit of a casual fan, but if you want a recent album, get Heathen - it's by far his best post-70s album.

(Avoid Outside as suggested by someone else on this thread - it re-defines the term "self-indulgent").

His best 70s album for me, is Station To Station.

MattyJam said:

i LOVE 'outside'. take out the ridiculous segues (i hate segues on ANYONE'S albums) and you've got a fine collection of songs. "hallo spaceboy", "the heart's filthy lesson", "i'm deranged", "i have not been to oxford town", "the motel", "we prick you"....lots of good stuff.

so-called "Berlin Trilogy": Low / Heroes / Lodger
i would add "Station to Station" and, as a good mix of the above with a very dark mood, the "Christiane F."-Soundtrack.
Also the collected instrumentals "All Saints" and the "Stage"-Live album.
That's my favorite Bowie-era, the late Seventies!

Outside took a while to grow on me, but after it did, it was definitely worth it. Out of all of Bowie's 90's work, I think it's the album that holds up best today. As Anx said, the segues are painful, and the whole murder mystery theme is worthless, but he made up for all of that with great songs.

Unlike "I'm Afraid of Americans", which I think Trent totally improved, I think that the original "Hallo Spaceboy" is much better than the PSB remix (and I love the PSB). The album is some strange jazz/industrial hybrid and it almost completely works. "I Have Not Been To Oxford Town", "Hallo Spaceboy", "Heart's Filthy Lesson", "I'm Deranged", and "The Voyer..." are all up there with his best work, IMO.

As far as my favorite Bowie album, it would have to be Station to Station. It's short (6 tracks), but every song on it is a winner. The album has remants of the plastic soul phase he'd gone through before, and also led the way for the more electronic sound he'd fully delve into with Low. The title track might just be my favorite Bowie song of all time. Def. worth checking out.

Out of his "classic" period, I think Lodger is the album that I have had the hardest time appreciating. It sounds more like a Talking Heads album than a Bowie one (even though I love the Heads), and I think it's just too scattered as an album. Love "DJ" though.

Expert advice, for sure.

But hopefully it's not too late to get out before you lose your good credit and your good name.

I mean you'll add "Hunky Dory" and "Station to Station" to your burgeoning Bowie collection, then you'll inevitably need X, Y and Z, followed hopelessly by Q, R and of course F and especially W.

Then in a matter of months you'll be laying in some ditch, strung out on methadone wondering where all your money went.

Axchi696 said:

Lodger is a hard album to love because it's such a hodgepodge...but taken on their own, the songs are so great. I think of all his albums, the best videos came from Lodger. There was such shock value, dark humor and camp to all three clips, without being completely gratuitous. "Look Back in Anger", "DJ" and "Fantastic Voyage" are among my all-time fave Bowie songs.