Do you have a preferred Bowie era?

Either the Ziggy Stardust/glam rock era, or the Berlin trilogy + Scary Monsters/art rock era, depending on the day.

 

Actually, I don't think so. Well, maybe the Thin White Duke.

 

Although, I do not concur that these 5 albums go together, like you, these are my favorite consecutive albums and was hoping the New Box Sets would broken down to contain these 5 albums in one Box, but in the end did not matter, since the 2010 'Station to Station' Mini Box has a better Sound Quality version of the album over the version of 'STS' put in the 'WCIBN' Box Set. 'STS' and 'Scary Monsters' are my 2 Favorite Bowie Albums with 'Heathen', 'Outside' & 'Ziggy Stardust' in the next tier.

My next favorite Bowie Period stretches from 'White Tie, Black Noise'(my first Bowie album, along with buying the 'Singles'-2-CD Set and Sound & Vision Box Set around the same time) to the end(Blackstar), with the exception of not much into 'Earthling'. Love 'Outside' though when he reunited with Eno.

My favorite Bowie Song might actually be a Non-Album Song, 'Absolute Beginners' as after he passed away, this was one of the songs I kept playing the most, along with 'Ashes to Ashes', 'Heroes' & 'Bring Me the Disco King' so at least in my Top 4 Bowie Songs.

Based on the Poll Options, I selected the Berlin Trilogy & Scary Monsters, even though, 'Station to Station' is probably my favorite Bowie Album, so obviously despite it's flaws, I bought the ANCIANT Box Set(CD & Vinyl) whereas I only bought the Box Set for 'Five Years on CD(although ended up buying the Vinyl Albums individually) and since I owned the 2010 'STS Mini Box with the better Mastering, I skipped the 'WCIBN' Box Set and bought 'DD' & 'YA' on Individual CD & Vinyl(and Nassau on Vinyl, still need to get 'David Live' on Vinyl but have the CD from the mid 2000s).

 

I appreciate your attempt to place Categories on small groups of Bowie Albums and overall well done(although maybe i would classify 'Scary Monsters' as Bowie's version of 'New Wave'(or at least the song 'Fashion'), but only consider Electronic to fit for Outside & Earthling(and different type of Electronica on each, as 'Outside' is more Art-Rock and 'Earthling' is more Techno). Not sure how to classify a few songs on 'BTWN' like 'The Wedding', but seeing that Nile Rodgers reunited with Bowie for that album, sure seems like 'BTWN & 'Let's Dance' despite separated by 4 other albums in between, belong together in one category.

'Blackstar is nothing like 'The Next Day' and needs a category on its own, as it is nothing like Bowie had done before with replacing 'Rock' Musicians' with ones from a different background and he was influenced by what Kendrick Lamar was doing at the time. Just shows how even with death around the corner, Bowie wanted to push on in a New Direction and leave the rest of us with his one Great Final Artistic Statement(I realize that all Bowie Fans will have their own take on how much they like the album itself and where they place it in their order of Best to Worst. Just my take on it though.

 

I also like Tin Machine quite a bit. He made two fine studio albums and one fine live album from that period. Wish he had stuck to it on the side.

 

Me too, and it was my first Bowie Album. The great thing about the vast catalog of Bowie, is that all of us have a different entry point, then moved forward along with his next release and I assume most us went backwards to buy all of his prior albums, before we bought our first album at a particular time. Now, I was familiar with several older songs in the early 1990s, and bought the Singles 2-CD Set and 'Sound & Vision' Box Set around the same time that I bought BTWN, then bought 'Station to Station' a few years later, then eventually all of his albums except the 1966-68 initial era(Folk-Rock?) that I still do not own.

Then there are the number of Books on Bowie that I now own that makes me look like a Bowie Fanatic. 'The Golden Years' by Roger Griffin that was released earlier this year stands out to me as the Best Book on Bowie for content & photos combined(although this book does not cover his entire career, it is beautiful with Gold Edges on the Pages).

 

As mentioned in my prior post, I concur, so one more down, 17 to go!

 

Can we get an addition of The Next Day - Blackstar era too? Could cover anything post-2013, including Next Day Extra, and the No Plan EP. That would be my second favourite era after the 77-80 period.

 

There’s so much great material but I would have to say from Young Americans through Scary Monsters.

 

Top 3 glam rock would be.
Ziggy
AS
DD

Singer songwriter
HUnKy Dory
Space Oddity

Rock
Man WHO Sold The World

 

I'm one of the many 1980 / Ashes to Ashes British kids (the song was a huge No 1 hit in the UK), but have known quite a few fans who got into him in his IMO great 1990s as you did. There's even quite a few 1985-1986 starters I believe. Absolute Beginners was also a huge No 1 in Britain, Labyrinth was widely known around the world and although it's easy to laugh at it, and his wig, and all the 1987 Glass Spider stuff, I knew at least one person who was a smallish kid at that time and discovered him 100% through Labyrinth and Never Let Me Down. 13 years later when I first knew him in 2000, he was still a deep, colossal fan, and Bowie's music had helped to get him through a very difficult family and health life he'd had so far.

 

Where is the post-Reality period? I think Blackstar is his best album.

Tim

 

I like it too.

Tim

 

Genuine forgetful oversight on my part.

 

My favorite period starts with "The Man Who Sold the World" and ends with "Diamond Dogs".

 

1989-1997

 

The entire 70s. It depends on my mood which era within the 70s I like most. At the moment I'm drawn towards Young Americans but I can't honestly say I like it most out of his albums.

I think The Next Day - Blackstar / No Plan should be an option too. I wouldn't chose it but I think some people will.

 

Push comes to shove Diamond Dogs.

 

I voted "BTWN-Reality" -- but honestly, it's really "The Next Day-Blackstar" (with BTWN-Reality a close second).

Evidence: I'm still missing ~8 albums (on CD), fairly evenly distributed among all the pre-Tin Machine eras -- but I own every 90's and 2000's album, and upwards of 90% of all the non-LP material (however obscure) specifically from the 90's/2000's era.

I only just bought Young Americans on CD a couple months ago, and STILL haven't ever owned copies of Man Who Sold, Ziggy, or Heroes.

And my person all-time top-5 Bowie albums:

1: Blackstar
2-4: The Next Day, Reality, Heathen (all pretty much tied for second)
5: Eathling

 

I do. It goes by the name of Mick Ronson.

 

What are you missing?