With the Thin White Duke back on people's minds, I've been diving deeper into his discography (that's saying something, given he's my favorite artist ever) and I got to thinking. In good ol' fashioned list-obsessed Orger fashion, what do you think are the must-have David Bowie albums?

Essential:

Hunky Dory

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Aladdin Sane

Station to Station

Low

Scary Monsters

Let's Dance

Optional:
Young Americans
'Heroes'

1. Outside

Heathen
The Next Day

Best of Bowie

Okay I will bite, these are my opinions

Absolutely Essential

Low

Heroes

Hunky Dory

Ziggy Stardust

Station to Station

Scary Monsters

Pretty Great

The Man who sold the world

Aladdin Sane

Diamond Dogs

Young Americans

Lodger

Lets Dance

Outside

Hours

Okay I guess

Man of words, Man of Music (The 1969 one with Memories of a free festival and Hermione etc)

Pin Ups

Tonight

Labyrinth Soundtrack

Black Tie White noise

Earthling

Flawed

The laughing gnome (Also David Bowie) 1967

The others not listed below

David Live

Stage

Avoid like the plague

Never let me down

Tin Machine 1 and 2 and Live

Bowie the Hits and Best of David Bowie, 1969 -1974, 1975 -1979 and 1980 and 1986 are also reccommended greatest hits collections.

I'm here for the Berlin trilogy.

The ones in bold are the essential ones. From then you might want to get the first 3 albums going backwards from TMWSTW to DB, then get pinips and tonight, then earthling and outside, then heathen and the last day, then fill the rest

STUDIO ALBUMS: (26)

•David Bowie (1967)
•Space Oddity (1969)
•The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
•Hunky Dory (1971)
•The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
•Aladdin Sane (1973)
•Pin Ups (1973) [A Cover Album]
•Diamond Dogs (1974)
•Young Americans (1975)
•Station to Station (1976)
•Low (1977)
•"Heroes" (1977)
•Lodger (1979)
•Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
•Let's Dance (1983)
•Tonight (1984)
•Never Let Me Down (1987)
•Tin Machine (1989)
•Tin Machine II (1991)
•Black Tie, White Noise (1993)
•1. Outside (1995)
•Earthling (1997)
•Hours... (1999) [Essentially Omikron: The Original Soundtrack]
•Toy (2001) [Unreleased]
•Heathen (2002)
•Reality (2003)

The Next Day (2013)

LIVE ALBUMS AND CONCERTS: (9)

•David Live (1974)
•Stage (1978)
•Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1983; filmed 1973)
•Serious Moonlight (1984)
•Tin Machine Live — Oy Vey Baby! (1992)
•Live Santa Monica '72 (2009)
•Glass Spider (1988)
•VH1 Storytellers (1999)
•A Reality Tour (2004)

EP'S: (5)

•Don't Be Fooled By the Name (1981)
•David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's Baal (1982)
•The Mannish Boys/Davy Jones and the Lower Third (1982)
•Live EP [Live at Fashion Rocks](2005)
•Space Oddity (2009)

The ones that are "essential" for me are, chronologically:

- Diamond Dogs

- Station To Station

- Low

- "Heroes"

- 1. Outside

However, to have a good understanding of Bowie's career, one has to choose something from the early years as essential too, so Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust would have to be in the list.

For its relevance in Bowie's career, Let's Dance would have to be considered essential too.

aardvark15 said:

Tier 1: Hunky Dory Ziggy Stardust Aladdin Sane Young Americans Station To Station Low Heroes Scary Monsters Let's Dance Tier 2: The Man Who Sold The World Diamond Dogs Lodger Outside The Next Day Tier 3: Space Oddity Earthling Heathen Reality Tier 4: David Bowie Pin Ups Tonight Labrinth Black Tie White Noise Tier 5: Never Let Me Down Tin Machine Tin Machine II Hours

That's pretty close to how I would rate them too though I might drop Let's Dance to tier 2.

bobzilla77 said:

great albums (4.5/5*):
Hunky Dory
Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Scary Monsters
Let's Dance

essential - Low, Let's Dance and Heroes

worst - David Bowie .... awful. one of the worst debuts of legends

Heathen is an extremely underrated masterpiece. Infact all three of his 00's releases have been truly inspired and are up there with his 70s work IMO.

Best albums:

Heathen

Low

Hunky Dory

Station To Station

Reality

Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)

Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars

Aladdin Sane

Good albums:

Earthling

Hours

Diamond Dogs

The Next Day

Young Americans

Average:

Black Tie White Noise

1. Outside

Lets Dance

Tonight

[Edited 4/20/13 0:05am]

Essential Classics:

1. Station to Station
2. Aladdin Sane
3. Low
4. Heroes
5. Ziggy Stardust

6. The Next Day [moved up from #9 since the last time I did this list. It just keeps getting more amazing every time I play it. Possibly the darkest album of his career]
7. Diamond Dogs
8. Scary Monsters
9. Hunky Dory
10. Heathen
11. Outside
12. Lodger

2nd tier (still amazing):

1. The Man Who Sold the World
2. Reality
3. Black Tie White Noise
4. Hours
5. Tin Machine II [the most underrated album of his career, by far]
6. Earthling
7. Let’s Dance
8. Young Americans

3rd tier (worth getting, but more uneven quality overall):

1. Buddha of Suburbia
2. Pinups
3. Tin Machine
4. Space Oddity
5. Tonight
6. Never Let Me Down [some good material, but weighed down by terrible late 80's production. Still, "Time Will Crawl" is a classic Bowie track.]

Honky Dory

Station To Station

Ziggy Stardust

Diamond Dogs

The Man Who Sold The World

Space Oddity

Low

Station to Station is one album I never had I had 3 of the 6 songs though through various compilations.

I think I might just get it. I see the reissue has tons of live stuff on it, too.

I think we are divided over Lets Dance, because it is a very solid album, but it just lacks the newness or the new dimension the earlier albums have. Bowie's 70s albums all are trend setters and evolve out of each other (Bowie as the musical Chameleon), but Lets Dance is just feel good 80s synth pop, he's merely joining in a trend (Eltons 2 Low 4 Zero falls into this category too and even Donna Summer's she works hard for the money).

Its nothing new, Bowie chasing a trend, Lets Dance and Modern Love are great tracks, but they are just great mid 80s rock pop. Theres no quirky experimental qualities to them. Only china Girl has a bit of the old spark in it, and even thats been smoothed out. Great videos though.

But because its strong and its Bowie this means its still a B+ album rather than a D, but its not an A album in my book. But milking the sound with tonight and songs like This is not America, kind of made it cliched and it got worse. Bowie by numbers.

To me, I guess that Lets Dance's polished smooth sound reminds me of Lovesexy, was it last burst of greeatness or the first record in the decline. I see that with lets Dance, its kind of the first step down from the Hunky Dory - Scary Monsters plateau, the dip bottoms out with Tin Machine, but the climb begins again with Black Tie white noise.

Just my thought, the classic Bowie period ends with Scary Monsters (Fashion is supreme) and Ashes to Ashes, Up the Hill Backwards are the quirky Bowie I am looking for.

I even think Under Pressure is a bit commercialised and poppy.

Its easy to compare Low to Lets Dance, its obvious one is much better than the other

Adorecream said:

I think we are divided over Lets Dance, because it is a very solid album, but it just lacks the newness or the new dimension the earlier albums have. Bowie's 70s albums all are trend setters and evolve out of each other (Bowie as the musical Chameleon), but Lets Dance is just feel good 80s synth pop, he's merely joining in a trend (Eltons 2 Low 4 Zero falls into this category too and even Donna Summer's she works hard for the money).

Its nothing new, Bowie chasing a trend, Lets Dance and Modern Love are great tracks, but they are just great mid 80s rock pop. Theres no quirky experimental qualities to them. Only china Girl has a bit of the old spark in it, and even thats been smoothed out. Great videos though.

But because its strong and its Bowie this means its still a B+ album rather than a D, but its not an A album in my book. But milking the sound with tonight and songs like This is not America, kind of made it cliched and it got worse. Bowie by numbers.

To me, I guess that Lets Dance's polished smooth sound reminds me of Lovesexy, was it last burst of greeatness or the first record in the decline. I see that with lets Dance, its kind of the first step down from the Hunky Dory - Scary Monsters plateau, the dip bottoms out with Tin Machine, but the climb begins again with Black Tie white noise.

Just my thought, the classic Bowie period ends with Scary Monsters (Fashion is supreme) and Ashes to Ashes, Up the Hill Backwards are the quirky Bowie I am looking for.

I even think Under Pressure is a bit commercialised and poppy.

Its easy to compare Low to Lets Dance, its obvious one is much better than the other

I think Let's Dance is pretty unique. It sounds like disco by someone who's never heard disco before. It has a recurring ominous sense of dread to it. Weird, rough, bluesy sounds mixed with dancable melodies. It's an oblong-sounding album, like something isn't quite right. The pieces don't quite fit together in an interesting way. There's nothing out there like "Let's Dance" or "Cat People." It feels like Bowie was aware of the trend, but didn't notice that he was a part of it. I think it's definitely up there with his best. People just give it flack because it's more "mainstream" than his older stuff.

I think "Let's Dance" is a terrific album. It's a little low on my list of Bowie albums but that's more a reflection of the utter brilliance of his other albums than thinking "Let's Dance" is mediocre. There are some killer songs on there. I agree, there is a very prevalent ominous tone to the album. At first glance it seems more upbeat and pop, but songs like "Let's Dance" and "China Girl" are really rather darkly powerful. The vocal performances on this album are amazing. It's a taught, disciplined funk/rock album with some edge to it.

Unfortunately where it falters is some of the substandard material. "Shake It" is one of the most throwaway songs he recorded, and the version of "Cat People" included is far inferior to the single/soundtrack version (although that version wouldn't really have fit thematically or sonically on this album, so I can kinda understand why he re-recorded it. But he should have left it just as a soundtrack single and included something else on "Let's Dance".)

And at 8 tracks, it felt a little thin on inspiration. The title song is far more effective in it's single edit. The rambling album version saps some of the tension. Both "Let's Dance" and "China Girl" are rare examples of single versions being superior to the album versions.

He should have used the single edits of those 2 tracks, dropped Cat People and Shake It and come up with a few more strong tracks. Then it could have gone to CLASSIC status.

But as it is, certainly not a bad album. And an important period in his career as it led to more people re-discovering his early work. But it also unfortunately led him to chase more commercial fortune, which led to arguably the worst two albums of his career: "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down". (But, Bowie being Bowie, both of those albums still have good things about them and are absolutely worth picking up).

Hunky Dory

Ziggy Stardust

Aladdin Sane

Diamond Dogs

Station To Station

Low

"Heroes"

Scary Monsters

NoVideo said:

6. The Next Day [ Possibly the darkest album of his career]

That would be Heathen.

Heathen > The Next Day > Reality

MattyJam said:

NoVideo said:

6. The Next Day [ Possibly the darkest album of his career]

That would be Heathen.

Heathen > The Next Day > Reality

Outside is way darker and scarier than Heathen. Heathen is bleak sigh on a winter day, but Outside has a sense of nastiness to it, like it was an album that was forgotten and left out to decay before it was released. It's an ugly, rusted, bloodied mess of an album, full of sour sounds, bitter lyrics and melodies devoid of any joy, pleasantness or nostalgia. It's a personal favorite anyway.

[Edited 4/21/13 9:27am]

MattyJam said:

NoVideo said:

6. The Next Day [ Possibly the darkest album of his career]

That would be Heathen.

Heathen > The Next Day > Reality

I'm a huge fan of "Heathen", but it's not as harrowingly bleak as "The Next Day" - - not even close. "The Next Day" is drenched in violence and pain.

I love the paranoid, post-9/11 apocalyptic feel of Heathen. Songs like Slip Away, Slow Burn, 5.15 The Angels and Sunday are some of his bleakest tracks for sure.

I consider Heathen to be up there with his very best work. I don't really get why you consider The Next Day to be so dark, other than Heat, which is gloriously sinister.

[Edited 4/21/13 13:08pm]

MattyJam said:

I love the paranoid, post-9/11 apocalyptic feel of Heathen. Songs like Slip Away, Slow Burn, 5.15 The Angels and Sunday are some of his bleakest tracks for sure.

I consider Heathen to be up there with his very best work. I don't really get why you consider The Next Day to be so dark, other than Heat, which is gloriously sinister.

[Edited 4/21/13 13:08pm]

Don't get me wrong - as i've said, i'm a HUGE fan of "Heathen", and it is rather mournful, morose, certainly contemplative. Some of it reflects 9/11 for sure, and there are songs about loss like "Slip Away" that are brilliant.

But The Next Day is something else entirely. It's a much more brutal force. Have you read the lyrics? It starts from the very beginning and doesn't let up. "The Next Day" is about a lifetime of cruelty and neverending horror at the hands of a tyrant.

"Here I am
Not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day
And the next
And another day"

It doesn't get more bleak than that. "Dirty Boys" is about a man trapped in a dangerous/criminal life. "Smash some windows, make a noise... When the die is cast and you have no choice, we will run with the dirty boys...'"

"Valentine's Day" is one of the bleakest songs of his career - it's about a conversation with a would-be school shooter. It's left ambigous at the end - we don't know if he's just fantasizing the violence to the narrator, and whether or not the narrator does anything about it. Listen to the harrowing sense of dread in Bowie's vocals towards the end: "It's in his scrawny hand, It's in his icy heart, It's happening today!!!"

"Love is Lost" is a bleak song about the loss of idealized love and the realization, at a young age, that life doesn't always end up like in the fairy tales, or in your youthful hopes and dreams.

"Where Are We Now?" is a mournful walk through the past while clinging defiantly to the future. "If You Can See Me" seems to be about the Nazi regime, or perhaps a less specific "Big Brother" type tyrannical government. "I'd Rather Be High" deals with the trauma of soldiers returning home from war. The darkest and most nightmarish of them all - "How Does the Grass Grow" - is about soldiers soaking the ground with their blood, literally.

Amazing lyrics. Read this verse about a dead soldier who died in prison looking mournfully at his loved one who survived him and made a life for herself:

But I lived a blind life
A white face in prison
But you made a life out of nothing
Now I ride my black horse
I miss you more
Than you’ll ever, ever know
Waiting with my red eyes
And my stone heart

I mean, just read the lyrics. It's extraordinarily powerful.

Then there's the bitter recriminations of 'You Feel So Lonely You Could Die' and you already mentioned the haunting 'Heat'.

Even "The Stars (are out tonight)" is a rather cynical, twisted view of the relationship between the masses and those iconic figures that so alight our imaginations and in some ways give our lives meaning... or lack of meaning. And Bowie being one of these iconic figures himself, it's surely not lost on him the irony. Intentional self-parody in a way at all the different zeniths and characters form throughout his career.

It's a deep, dark, brilliant album that reveals itself more and more upon repeated listens. But yeah, it's inescapably bleak, bloody and sad. I'd have to say it's the darkest album of his career, and one of his best.

[Edited 4/21/13 16:30pm]

How Does the Grass Grow is one of the most significant tracks of Bowie's career, IMHO. It's extraordinary.

There’s a graveyard by the station
Where the girls wear nylon skirts and
Sandals from Hungary

The boys ride their Riga 1’s
Upon the little hill
Such sadness and grief
The trees die standing

That’s where we made our trysts
And struggled with our guns
Would you still love me
If the clocks could go backwards?

The girls would fill with blood and
The grass would be green again
Remember the dead
They were so great, some of them

Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
How does the grass grow?
Blood, blood, blood

Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Where do the boys lie?
Mud, mud, mud
How does the grass grow?
Blood, blood, blood

But I lived a blind life
A white face in prison
But you made a life out of nothing
Now I ride my black horse

I miss you more
Than you’ll ever, ever know
Waiting with my red eyes
And my stone heart

Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
How does the grass grow?
Blood, blood, blood

Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Where do the boys lie?
Mud, mud, mud
How does the grass grow?
Blood, blood, blood

I gaze in defeat
At the stars in the night
The light in my life burnt away
There will be no tomorrow
Then you sigh in your sleep
And meaning returns with the day

Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Where do the boys lie?
Mud, mud, mud
How does the grass grow?
Blood, blood, blood

[Edited 4/21/13 17:01pm]

[Edited 4/21/13 17:02pm]

The Next Day is also the one Bowie album that became boring to me after only 5-6 spins.

Not hatin', just statin'.

Grandpa could have been in a better mood.

Here are Bowie's entires in Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time list.

324. Station to Station

279. Aladdin Sane

251. Low

108. Hunky Dory

35. The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust