I'm afraid to admit this but I am a late bloomer to David Bowie and I'd like to know the rundown on some of his best work. Last night I bought the Best of Bowie set and I've fallen in love btw so what should I purchase next?

ABeautifulOne said:

I'm afraid to admit this but I am a late bloomer to David Bowie and I'd like to know the rundown on some of his best work. Last night I bought the Best of Bowie set and I've fallen in love btw so what should I purchase next?

If you prefer his Rock N' Roll / Pop side, pick these up:

-Hunky Dory (1971)

-Ziggy Stardust (1972)

-Scary Monsters (1980)

-Let's Dance (1983)

If you prefer some amazing experimentation/electronic sounds/instrumental tracks

-Diamond Dogs (1974)

-Low (1977)

-Heathen (2002)

if you like these albums, then you can BASICALLY purchase the rest of his albums, you won't be disappointed (but avoid Never Let Me Down and Tonight , those albums are awful , and the Hard-Rock/Alternative experiment of Tin Machine is not that great either)

Welcome to the wonderful world of Bowie

Best to work your way chronologically from The Man Who Sold the World through to Scary Monsters, maybe give Pin Ups a miss.

Start with the obviously most popular albums - Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Aladdin Sane, then The Man Who Sold the World (which IMHO was the start of Bowie), then go to Diamond Dogs and go chronological after that.

Best of Bowie is an excellent 2-disc compilation that spans his entire career and contains many of his most well-known songs. That's a good starting point.

But ultimately the best thing to do is just start with "Space Oddity" (which is uneven overall but has some good moments) and work your way forward chronologically.

Just get... everything (yes, even the Tin Machine albums).

Thanks guys for all of your suggestions.

ABeautifulOne said:

I'm afraid to admit this but I am a late bloomer to David Bowie and I'd like to know the rundown on some of his best work. Last night I bought the Best of Bowie set and I've fallen in love btw so what should I purchase next?

Bowie's a weird one to reccomend. He doesn't naturally evolve musically, instead he has about five distinct eras that sound nothing like one another, it's not like Prince where you can just give someone a copy of Purple Rain and that's it. Each few albums are an entirely different genre from the next. Start with the Best of Bowie compilation and see what stands out to you and build your album collection accordingly.

He may not have musically evolve much like Prince but the guy definitely has a lot of gems in the albums he put out. He did have an evolution of sorts in the '80s and '90s. He went all industrial in the '90s. "I'm Afraid of Americans" for example is one of my favorite Bowie songs of all time and he did that with Trent.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:01pm]

Timmy84 said:

He may not have musically evolve much like Prince but the guy definitely has a lot of gems in the albums he put out. He did have an evolution of sorts in the '80s and '90s. He went all industrial in the '90s. "I'm Afraid of Americans" for example is one of my favorite Bowie songs of all time and he did that with Trent.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:01pm]

eh well, I completely disagree, he's called the Chameleon for a reason!

I mean, from Glam-Rock to Philly Soul/Funk in 1975-76, Electronic music in the late 70s, Dance/Pop in the 80s and yeah, his Industrial/Techno years (1995-1998)...

JoeTyler said:

Timmy84 said:

He may not have musically evolve much like Prince but the guy definitely has a lot of gems in the albums he put out. He did have an evolution of sorts in the '80s and '90s. He went all industrial in the '90s. "I'm Afraid of Americans" for example is one of my favorite Bowie songs of all time and he did that with Trent.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:01pm]

eh well, I completely disagree, he's called the Chameleon for a reason!

I mean, from Glam-Rock to Philly Soul/Funk in 1975-76, Electronic music in the late 70s, Dance/Pop in the 80s and yeah, his Industrial/Techno years (1995-1998)...

Hahaha I know he evolved. I said it wrong. That should go to the one I was replying to.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:17pm]

I actually think he covered a lot of bases in the '70s. Like you said, Joe, he did evolve. He started off, I believe, as a mod, then he dabbled into some jazzy folk stuff, then he went psychedelic folk/progressive rock, then he went almost metal-ish rock, then glam rock, then "plastic soul", then the avant garde rock that was interesting to hear. He changed drastically during the '80s and '90s. I just wonder when his next album's gonna come out and what he's gonna do but seeing he hasn't released an album since, like what, 2003, who knows if he's thinking of making albums these days. He seems secure. Maybe he's waiting until his youngest child turns 18.

Speaking of David, I watched this today:

Timmy84 said:

JoeTyler said:

eh well, I completely disagree, he's called the Chameleon for a reason!

I mean, from Glam-Rock to Philly Soul/Funk in 1975-76, Electronic music in the late 70s, Dance/Pop in the 80s and yeah, his Industrial/Techno years (1995-1998)...

Hahaha I know he evolved. I said it wrong. That should go to the one I was replying to.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:17pm]

ok ok just wanted to be sure, I had a moment of

the problem is: many Bowie haters think that the man has only released dance-pop or bland pop/rock during his entire career, and that's sad

JoeTyler said:

Timmy84 said:

Hahaha I know he evolved. I said it wrong. That should go to the one I was replying to.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:17pm]

ok ok just wanted to be sure, I had a moment of

the problem is: many Bowie haters think that the man has only released dance-pop or bland pop/rock during his entire career, and that's sad

Yeah you know I didn't mean it like that. But yeah I get what you mean. There's more to him than that. Hell, I think The Man Who Sold the World is one of the greatest albums I ever heard. Hell most of his '70s material is stellar.

[Edited 8/12/10 13:36pm]

Timmy84 said:

I actually think he covered a lot of bases in the '70s. Like you said, Joe, he did evolve. He started off, I believe, as a mod, then he dabbled into some jazzy folk stuff, then he went psychedelic folk/progressive rock, then he went almost metal-ish rock, then glam rock, then "plastic soul", then the avant garde rock that was interesting to hear. He changed drastically during the '80s and '90s. I just wonder when his next album's gonna come out and what he's gonna do but seeing he hasn't released an album since, like what, 2003, who knows if he's thinking of making albums these days. He seems secure. Maybe he's waiting until his youngest child turns 18.

I strongly think that he's retired, sort of. He has completely lost his muse. On top of that, I've seen some recent pics and he LOOKS old. For a man who always mixed sound and vision (no pun intended) so passionately, he probably thinks that his time is really over. And during the last tour he had that heart attack...

Perhaps he'll release a new album in 2011 or even 2012, who knows ...

JoeTyler said:

Timmy84 said:

I actually think he covered a lot of bases in the '70s. Like you said, Joe, he did evolve. He started off, I believe, as a mod, then he dabbled into some jazzy folk stuff, then he went psychedelic folk/progressive rock, then he went almost metal-ish rock, then glam rock, then "plastic soul", then the avant garde rock that was interesting to hear. He changed drastically during the '80s and '90s. I just wonder when his next album's gonna come out and what he's gonna do but seeing he hasn't released an album since, like what, 2003, who knows if he's thinking of making albums these days. He seems secure. Maybe he's waiting until his youngest child turns 18.

I strongly think that he's retired, sort of. He has completely lost his muse. On top of that, I've seen some recent pics and he LOOKS old. For a man who always mixed sound and vision (no pun intended) so passionately, he probably thinks that his time is really over. And during the last tour he had that heart attack...

Perhaps he'll release a new album in 2011 or even 2012, who knows ...

That's what I was thinking too. The craziness during the last tour. He probably had had it. Who knows?

I'm not a big David Bowie fan. I mainly like him for "Fame" and "Let's Dance".

vainandy said:

I'm not a big David Bowie fan. I mainly like him for "Fame" and "Let's Dance".

Then you should also like "China Girl", "Golden Years", "Stay" or even "You've Been Around"

Check those out if you haven't...

Timmy84 said:

Speaking of David, I watched this today:

haven't seen that in years. I love his portrayal of the nerdy guy

I'd say start with Hunky Dory, then Ziggy, then see how you feel after that

JoeTyler said:

vainandy said:

I'm not a big David Bowie fan. I mainly like him for "Fame" and "Let's Dance".

Then you should also like "China Girl", "Golden Years", "Stay" or even "You've Been Around"

Check those out if you haven't...

There's always some I forget.

I've heard "China Girl" and "Golden Years". There's another I really like though called "Fashion"....at least I think that's David Bowie, I'm not sure.

vainandy said:

JoeTyler said:

Then you should also like "China Girl", "Golden Years", "Stay" or even "You've Been Around"

Check those out if you haven't...

There's always some I forget.

I've heard "China Girl" and "Golden Years". There's another I really like though called "Fashion"....at least I think that's David Bowie, I'm not sure.

yeah yeah, that's Bowie; one of his best pop tunes

vainandy said:

JoeTyler said:

Then you should also like "China Girl", "Golden Years", "Stay" or even "You've Been Around"

Check those out if you haven't...

There's always some I forget.

I've heard "China Girl" and "Golden Years". There's another I really like though called "Fashion"....at least I think that's David Bowie, I'm not sure.

Yep that's him.

Space Oddity.

So what exactly is the story now with Mr. Bowie? Is he officially retired from writing and recording or is he just taking an extended break from the game?

Fenwick said:

So what exactly is the story now with Mr. Bowie? Is he officially retired from writing and recording or is he just taking an extended break from the game?

That's the million dollar question. A part of me thinks it's an extended break.

Timmy84 said:

Fenwick said:

So what exactly is the story now with Mr. Bowie? Is he officially retired from writing and recording or is he just taking an extended break from the game?

That's the million dollar question. A part of me thinks it's an extended break.

[ extended break, extended break... ]

I'm sure that the day he'll come back with a new album (I hope that day will come ), it won't be advanced on Twitter

.

kumala75 said:

Timmy84 said:

That's the million dollar question. A part of me thinks it's an extended break.

[ extended break, extended break... ]

I'm sure that the day he'll come back with a new album (I hope that day will come ), it won't be advanced on Twitter

.

The man's new album should be called Extended Break; that would be his ultimate proof of postmodernist genius

Timmy84 said:

Speaking of David, I watched this today:

Great video! Remember trying to figure out that makeup for someone's costume.