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Album Rating: 4.0
the piano on this album. mike garson is a beast!
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
We love a lad insane...
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Very underwhelming album. The rockers are just generic efforts, mainly because of the flat, uninventive guitar playing and the, moderately catchy, but not that original or inspired vocal melodies. "Watch That Man" is your ordinary fast rocker, "Panic In Detroit" your Bo Diddley-sh rhythm and 'Cracked Actor" the usual mid-tempo rocker. Apart from the guitar and songwriting problems, though, these songs do not have enough "fire", imo, which is all the more sad because all of the rockers here are Stones-clones and yet they have none of the excitement of the original source. People love "Jean Genie" for some reason, but it's just another boogie, people, what separates this from the thousands of boogies around the world?
That leaves us with the ballads. "Aladdin Sane" is a classic, of course, as well as the much underrated "Lady Grinning Soul" or"Time". What all these four songs have in common is extraordinary piano parts, as well as smart and well-crafted guitar passages. Oh, and "The Prettiest Star" has probably the best riff on the record. But "Drive In Saturday" has a throwaway doo-wop arrangement and melody.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Disagree obviously. One of my top five Bowie albums. The ballads are really strong, yeah, but there are no weak tracks here.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I don't find anything particularly weak, too, if we except the cover of Let's Spend The Night which really really pales in comparison to the original, imo. But there is too much generic rocking. Bowie was never a traditional rocker by any means
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Generic by the standards of 1973? No.
You're making criticisms that are aimed at the Glam Rock genre entire, and have been since its emergence (spearheaded by this man). It's a stripped down, simple-rockin' concept. Glam isn't meant to be grandiose, it's a back-to-basics approach to song writing.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
still much better than Hunky Dory
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Generic by the standards of 1973? No.You're making criticisms that are aimed at the Glam Rock genre entire, and have been since its emergence (spearheaded by this man). It's a stripped down, simple-rockin' concept. Glam isn't meant to be grandiose, it's a back-to-basics approach to song writing.
Of course it is. Glam rock doesn't mean generic strumming or by-the-numbers vocal hooks. Also, "stripped down", "simple-rocking" are not excuses for ordinary songwriting. What "Watch That Man" or "Cracked Actor" has that I can't find on thousands of rock songs, I axe you?
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Of course it is. Glam rock doesn't mean generic strumming or by-the-numbers vocal hooks. Also, "stripped down", "simple-rocking" are not excuses for ordinary songwriting. What "Watch That Man" or "Cracked Actor" has that I can't find on thousands of rock songs, I axe you?
Post-1973? I think you're still missing the point about what glam rock is... We're in 1973, where prog and hard rock are at their peak and people are pushing the boundaries of what a song can be. Glam Rock was a turn away from all of that by focusing on traditional, simple melodies and arrangements (plus the very superficial aesthetics of it). It was about style over substance. Again, the attack that the music is too "ordinary" is the criticism that was aimed at all of glam rock at this time, but that's exactly what it was all about. It's not meant to appeal to those people who want "more" from a rock song. It's about simple fun, and I think this album (and Ziggy and Transformer and Bolan's first) do that better than anything else from the time.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Man, what is this history lecture now? I know my glam rock bio, thank you very much. You still talk about how glam rock was meant to be simpler. YEAH I FUCKIN KNOW THAT, fam. I'm not judging the music because "it's too simple and I was looking for complexity" or anything. I'm just saying that I've heard much better, much more entertaining, much more sincere "simple rockers" than the ones found here (glam rock or not).
First of all, my first rule when listening to an album is to judge how the artist achieved his goal, not what I'd like to have on said album. I never said the approach bothered me (because it doesn't, and even if it did, I wouldn't criticize the album for that. This is the record's goal.). I said they didn't do anything interesting, imo, with that approach.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
What better simple / glam rock was being released in 1973 then?
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
In case I am a complete idiot and can't understand a simple phrase, do you want me to list just simple rock, simple glam rock or glam rock?
Yes, I am a professional moron ;p
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
You've said that this is generic compared to its contemporaries, so what exactly are you weighing it against from the same genres?
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
If you want glam rock only, though, here is some list (and I'm not limiting it to 1973; just because there weren't many great glam releases that year, doesn't make Aladdin Sane great ;) )
In no particular order:
01. Transformer - Lou Reed
02. Tanx - T.Rex
03. Here Come The Warm Jets - Eno (this one a personal fave)
04. Roxy Music - S/T
05. Some Queen songs (Killer Queen etc)
06. Bolan's debut
07. Kimono My House - Sparks
That's some off the dome.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
One out of two doctors things this album is only a 3.0
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure is released the same year and Sparks - Kimono My House only year after, haven't heard either, but now i kinda want to check em to see if there is any chance being better than this, the Sparks album looks interesting in particular :D.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
hahahah
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
but now i kinda want to check em to see if there is any chance being better than this, the Sparks album looks interesting in particular
funny thing is, I haven't heard most of these since high school
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Watch That Man is an amazing opener
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I kinda agree with the doctor about the rockers on here, they ARE sort of boring. I see this as a kind of underwhelming follow-up of Ziggy Stardust, just because on there every song was stunningly detailed in arrangement, while on here there is not as much to discover. Ziggy is just more intriguing all in all. But then again, I obviously don't want to badmouth this; Lady Grinning Soul, Time, and the t/t all belong to my favorite Bowie songs and Lady Grinning Soul is better than nearly every track on Ziggy Stardust imo.
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