How would you rank all the Bowie albums?

Perfect:
1. Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory, Low, Heathen
2. Station to Station

Nearly perfect:
3. The Next Day
4. Ziggy Stardust
5. Scary Monsters

Amazing:
6. 1. Outside
7. Aladdin Sane
8. Space Oddity
9. Heroes
10. Diamond Dogs
11. A Reality Tour

Great:
12. Lodger
13. Ziggy: Motion Picture
14. Reality
15. Earthling
16. Santa Monica '72
17. VH1 Storytellers

Good:
18. Hours
19. Tin Machine
20. Tin Machine II and Oy Vey, Baby
21. Black Tie White Noise

Decent:
22. Young Americans
23. David Live
24. Stage

Flawed:
25. Pin Ups
26. David Bowie
27. Glass Spider Live

Bad:
28. Never Let Me Down
29. Let's Dance
30. Tonight

 

They ALL are fantastic. Of course

 

I'll just say Station to Station, Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory are my top three and leave it at that.

 

Highly

 

Lodger is #1

 

Great idea. Bowie is one of my favorite artists, although I must admit that I gave up after the Tin Machine. I'll rank them from 1969 - 1987, in the order I think they are best.

1. Station To Station
2. Low
3. Heroes
4. Aladdin Sane
5. Ziggy Stardust
6. Scary Monsters
7. Hunky Dory (took a while for this one to grow on me but now I love it)
8. Lodger
9. The Man Who Sold The World
10. Diamond Dogs
11. Let's Dance
12. Young Americans
13. Space Oddity
14. Pin Ups
15. Tonight
16. Never Let Me Down

 

David Bowie B+
Man Who Sold The World A-
Hunky Dory A+
Low A-
Heathen B+
Station to Station A-
Ziggy Stardust A+
Aladdin Sane A+
Space Oddity A-
Heroes B+
Diamond Dogs A+

 

Tied for 1st:
"Heroes"
Low
Lodger
Scary Monsters
Ziggy
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Station to Station
1. Outside

Tied for 2nd:
The Next Day
Hunky Dory
Heathen
...hours
Black Tie, White Noise
Toy
Space Oddity
Reality

Tied for 3rd:
The Man Who Sold the World
Young Americans
Earthling
Pinups
Tin Machine
Tin Machine II

4th
David Bowie




(big space)




Mostly Crap
Tonight

Crap:
Let's Dance
Never Let Me Down

 

Where's his best album ? Did you forget Hunky Dory ?

 

1. The Man Who Sold The World
2. The Man Who Sold The World
3. The Man Who Sold The World
4. Hunky Dory
5. Hunky Dory
6. Hunky Dory
7. Low
8. Low
9. Low
10. Aladdin Sane

 

It's at the top with three other albums.

 

Top favorites:
Lodger
Aladdin Sane
Station To Station
Scary Monsters
Ziggy
Low

Close 2nd:
Young Americans
Heroes
Hunky Dory
The Next Day
Pin Ups
Ziggy (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

3rd:
Diamond Dogs
Reality
Black Tie White Noise
Hours

 

best in show - Station to Station and David Live
runners up - Low, Ziggy

 

Oops...it's not easy getting old.

 

01. Low
02. "Heroes"
03. Scary Monsters
04. Outside
05. Station To Station
06. Aladdin Sane
07. Diamond Dogs
08. Lodger
09. Hunky Dory
10. The Man Who Sold The World
11. Heathen
12. The Next Day
13. Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
14. Young Americans
15. Space Oddity
16. Buddha Of Suburbia
17. Earthling
18. hours...
19. Pin Ups
20. Tin Machine
21. David Bowie
22. Black Tie White Noise
23. Reality
24. Let's Dance
25. Tin Machine II
26. Tonight
27. Never Let Me Down

 

Station To Station
Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
…………………………………
Low
Heroes
Pin Ups
Scary Monsters
………………………………….
Hunky Dory
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Lodger
……………………………………
Hours
Heathen
David Bowie
Space Oddity
……………………………………
Reality
Buddha Of Suburbia
…………………………………….
Black Tie White Noise
Earthling
The Next Day
……………………………………..
Let's Dance
Tonight
Never Let Me Down

 

For me it is pretty simple, Bowie works like going up a mountain. He keeps getting better and better until about 1980 when he peaks. He then puts out a great album, though not on par with his earlier work, with Let's Dance. Then the real decline begins with each album getting progressively worse. Maybe if I wanted to be detailed like those above I might not rank them purely in chronological order but overall it works for me (and only IMHO of course).

 

Pt 2

Scary Monsters B
Never Let Me Down B-
Lodger B
Young Americans C+
Buddha Of Suburbia B-
Earthling. B
Pin Ups B-
Black Tie White Noise B
Let's Dance B
Tonight C+

 

Actually your list would start in the middle (Scary Monsters) then proceed outward in both directions, and my hunch is that the list would be weighted in the backwards direction before picking up the the later ones.

 

Best:
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
Ziggy Stardust
Alladin Sane

Mostly Great:
Low
Heroes

Pretty Good:
Young Americans
Station To Station
Space Oddity
Scary Monsters

Very good (in places):
Lodger
Let's Dance
Diamond Dogs
Pin-Ups

Unremarkable to Dismal:
Everything else

 

Folks just don't like Young Americans. I think it's a fine album, certainly of higher quality than anything post Scary Monsters.

 

Let's Dance isn't bad, it's a good(ish) album, and, to me, is almost a cleaned-up (i.e drug free) Young Americans.

The best Bowie is, I feel, Station to Station, Young Americans, and Heathen.

The best unreleased Bowie is Toy. I don't like the Ziggy era all that much, as it's a touch too histrionic, so will be bypassing the Five Years box, but will look forward to the 1974-1979 Five Years, if and when it comes out.

 

My favorites are Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Station to Station and Low.

But frankly, how do you compare and "rank" albums as intrinsically different at Hunky Dory and Low?

 

Never Let Me Down, Tonight and the two Tin Machines are his rankest albums.

 

My top 5 favorites in order :

1. Man Who Sold The World
2. Hunky Dory
3. Ziggy Stardust
4. Space Oddity
5. Alladin Sane