Everybody has heard a David Bowie song, or at the least have heard of him, or, if they haven't they need to remove themselves from the metaphorical rock that they've been hiding under. [David Bowie is a direct influence on many bands and artists, and it's always been disputed if this is the best album in his rather hefty back catalogue,
A lot this stems from the fact that this album contains some of Bowie's best work, songs like the epic
Life on Mars? with it's blend of piano, orchestral instruments and guitar, held together by the glue that is Bowie's voice. throughout the album, Bowies voice fluctuates in tone, a good example of this is listening to
Kooks after
Life on Mars?, Bowie uses a completely different tone to the one used in
Life on Mars?.
Kooks also demonstrates another or this album's strengths, Bowie comes up with some lyrical gold on the album, with lyrics like
And if you have to school, remember how they messed up this old fool.
The album does hit a minor bump with
Quicksand, which doesn't takes a couple of listens to appreciate properly, however, this is a short spell of discontent as 1 of the strongest songs on the album, if not indeed from all of Bowie's illustrious back catalogue follow it comes soon after it. The song
Andy Warhol is a short look inside the mind of pop artist Andy Warhol, who has his name put to this song, which contains an almost quickstep-like riff in the introduction, the lyrics describe how Warhol "Dressed his friends up just for show, see them as they really are" the lyrics then go on to say how obsessed Warhol was with his work
"He'll think about paint and he'll think about blue, what a jolly boring thing to do"
The instrumentation on the album is spot on, whether it be
Kooks' prominenet bass riff and jangly guitar,
Andy Warhol's fast paced, climbing guitar riff,
Life on Mars?' emotional piano lines accompanied with a raw emotional outpouring through Bowie's vocals. the album doesn't have any true flaws,
Eight line poem however, can at times seem quite out of place, but taking into account the sheer brilliance of the other songs on the album, it's no wonder.
An advantage to Bowie was the release date of this, After this, Bowie would go to to write 2 unsurpassable albums in two years,
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and perhaps even more so
Aladdin Sane. when
Hunky Dory is placed beside these two albums, it pales when compared musically to
Aladdin Sane and it pales when compared to
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust's meaning. however, what it does do, is mix those two elements up sufficiently to blow
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust out of the water and just pip
Aladdin Sane at the post. Worlds best album musically? Maybe not. World's best album overall?
Definitely
Rating in genre - 5/5
Rating out of Genre - 5/5
*Star Track*
The star tack on this album would have to be
Kooks'. the combination of a prominent bass riff, a slightly jangly guitar, and a trumpet appearing at intervals along with Bowie's lyrics advising a young Zowie Bowie about what life will be like living "
With a couple of kooks, hung up on romancing, Bowie then goes on to tell Zowie
Don't pick fights with the bullies or the cads, because i'm not much cop at punching other people's dad's. With lyrics as heart-warmingly funny as these, it has to be the album's star track
