How would you rate "Hunky Dory" (1971) by David Bowie?

Rank it behind Man Who Sold, Ziggy, Station and Let's Dance. Life On Mars is my favorite song.

 

Pretty great, worth recommending.

 

One of his best along with Station to Station and Ziggy.

 

His very best for me.

 

One of my go-to Bowie albums, along with MWSTW, Ziggy & "Heroes."
Second only to Ziggy (and a close second, at that).

 

It all comes together for him with this album in a way that it had never done before and never quite did again. Perhaps because afterwards he felt he needed to adulterate his formula with image-making... with Hunky Dory it's only about the music and being himself.

 

First Bowie LP, so

 

In my top three and really I can't think of any other Bowie album I'd want to keep more than this, if I could only have the one.

Songs, spirit, playfulness, attitude, honesty, emotional intelligence, the disarmingly charming laissez-fairness revealed in its sound and production.

 

Spot on. Free of the pretensions that were to come. Fascinating as those later pretentions became, this one endures.

 

Right away you knew you had something special with the album cover front/back.

 

I heard this album for the first time the same day I heard the two RCA reissues Space Oddity and The Man Who Sold the World. They were all gifted to me by family and friends on my birthday in early 1974.

Late the previous year I'd bought the 45 that had the title tracks of the reissues. For Christmas I'd been given Pinups and in early January I'd bought The World of David Bowie, and just prior to my birthday the new 45, (which I didn't care for - "Rebel Rebel"). I also knew Aladdin well as it spent a weekend playing on my turntable constantly without stopping the previous August.

So really, Hunky Dory, (along with SO and TMWSTW) was only my second "real" David Bowie LP.

For those unaware, in Australia none of these three albums came packaged with lyrics, you actually had to focus and listen. By that age I was interested in maintaining my records in the best possible condition, and that led me to taping the albums onto reel-to-reel in the early hours of the morning (2-4am). I was banned from using the stereo at the time (??) and I remember getting up in the middle of the night, putting on headphones and recording them to BASF 7" reels. Got to know the albums very well.

I liked most of the tracks, I liked that there was a large variety of styles, and I liked that there were some heavy lyrics on the two side closers. I related to Kooks, thought it sweet and kind, I liked the silliness of Fill Your Heart and the many mood changes between tracks. Eight Line Poem is its forgotten masterstroke. Understated and yet satisfyingly sufficient.

It's probably so familiar now that I rarely play it, though as I became estranged from it, when I have played it recently (discovering the unique pleasures of that first UK press with Bobil & Rasputin named in the dead wax area), I realise just how good it is. It's fresh, and retains its freshness because it's not too slick, not too polished, and not too predictable. And it's got great tunes, some very memorable. That's worth recommending.

 

My favourite Bowie album.

 

My favorite Bowie album.

Number 1 in UK polls.
How is viewed in the USA ?

 

Truly essential, probably my favourite David Bowie album. Unless you really don't like David Bowie it's highly recommended.

 

Easy: essential, as almost everything he produced from 1970 - 1980. This is when the Gold Run of albums really begins IMO.

 

I only really love Bewlay Brothers, Andy Warhol and Life on Mars? But that’s just my taste. It’s a fabulous, excellent album.

Here’s where it is in my current Bowie 1969-80 chart. It never gets very high because I prefer post-1973 Bowie.

Station to Station is always No 1.

01 STATIONTOSTATION
02 LOW
03 DIAMOND DOGS
04 SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS)
05 “HEROES”
06 LODGER
07 YOUNG AMERICANS
08 ALADDIN SANE
09 THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD
10 HUNKY DORY
11 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST & THE SPIDERS FROM MARS
12 DAVID BOWIE
13 PINUPS

 

Essential listening-a true classic.

 

Ken Scott interview by Warren Huart of Produce Like A Pro. Ken talks about Warren's favourite album Hunky Dory, Mick Ronson and the Sound Techniques console it was recorded on, like so many other classics.

 

Bowie's best album imo.
Though I think Aladdin Sane is Ken's best production. Which I believe was Bowie's biggest selling album in the US, seventies.

 

I went with "Pretty Great".

I love this album, always have. That said, is Andy Warhol and Song for Bob Dylan essential? No. Not for me. I also don't think Oh You Pretty Things, Fill Your Heart, and Kooks are top echelon Bowie. I mean, Kooks is cute and all, but I don't have a lot of room for cute.

Now, there are some flat out classics here: Life on Mars, Changes, Quicksand, Bewley Brothers, Quicksand, and Queen Bitch. All fantastic.

As an album though it all hangs together well. It's Bowie in transition, which explains it's radical changes of mood, etc. So.... Pretty great.

 

Certainly in my top 10 albums. Essential Listening. You can like this one even if you find most Bowie so so.

 

I love the song Andy Warhol. The guitar is classic. Kooks is brilliant. Top echelon Bowie? There are so many Bowie albums that include non-top echelon material, if not all of them. But that's what great albums about – the whole.

I never tire of this one.

 

I hear ya. I've been listening to it since the 70's, so I guess it's stuck.

Still, time hasn't been especially kind to it. The Andy Warhol and Song for Bob Dylan are just pop culture references that seem like strange choices from today's standpoint - I can't see them being awfully resonant to today's listener. Kooks is fun, but a little too twee and sweet, imo. I'm not saying I don't enjoy them - but at the same time they feel interchangeable with other things without harming the whole. It's a very warm album, soundwise, which does make it smooth.

 

I like The Man Who Sold The World better.

 

Essential.

Especially since The Man Who Sold The World he ARRIVED!