I think it also factors in how you felt about latter period Bowie to begin with. A lot of the "everything after 1980/1983 does nothing for me" weren't going to change their tune with Blackstar as the first Bowie album they've listened to in 30 years, but those who stuck with every album seem to love it
Based on the albums I’m most familiar with: 1. Ziggy Stardust (5/5) 2. Low (4.5/5) 3. Hunky Dory (4.5/5) 4. Aladdin Sane (4.5/5) 5. Station To Station (4/5) 6. Heroes (4/5) 7. Lodger (3.5/5) 8. Diamond Dogs (3/5) 9. Scary Monsters (3/5)
I will haphazardly grade the albums on a scale relative to Bowie's catalogue itself in my estimation. David Bowie is my idol, but I do not love all his work equally. The finding his way years... David Bowie 2/5 David Bowie (Space Oddity) 2/5 The Man Who Sold The World 2.5/5 Here comes success.. Hunky Dory 3/5 Ziggy Stardust 4.5/5 Aladdin Sane 4/5 (The title track is one of my absolute favourites) Pin Ups 2.5/5 Post-Ziggy period... Diamond Dogs 3.5/5 (Most of the positive in this lies with the "Sweet Thing / Candidate" piece) Young Americans 3.5/5 (brought down a bit by the awful Beatles cover) The period of absolute perfection... Station To Station 5/5 Low 5/5 "Heroes" 5/5 Lodger 5/5 Scary Monsters 5/5 Fame, fame, fame, fame... Let's Dance 4.5/5 (Excellent album all the way through, for me. Just not on the level of what came before.) Tonight 2/5 (All props to Loving the Alien, but it is all downhill after that. I don't hate Blue Jean, though.) Never Let Me Down 1.5/5 (Yet, I listened to it so much... it is a fascinating failure to me. The re-do is better, yet less interesting to me.) Tin Machine 2.5/5 Tin Machine II 3.5/5 (I actually quite like this album, but a few absolutely horrible songs bring it down.) The 90s... Black Tie White Noise 4.5/5 Buddha Of Surburbia 4/5 1.Outside 5/5 Earthling 4/5 ‘…hours’ 3.5/5 The 2000s... Toy 3/5 Heathen 3.5/5 Reality 3/5 The Next Day 2/5 (The first 2 tracks are a strong start. A few other good moments later on. As an album, it is just too much of a slog.) Blackstar 5/5 (and yet, do I listen to it anymore? No. But I cannot really think of a flaw in it, and I loved it those first 2 days before his death.)
I only gave Pin Ups 2/5 but I do enjoy it. It's just I prefer the original of nearly every track and also think Bryan Ferry's covers album, These Foolish Things, released only a couple of weeks earlier is better, more imaginative. Pin Ups rocks hard though. I have a Canadian pressing that's one of the loudest cut records in my entire collection. It's hot! The CDs sound puny in comparison.
Love ' Pin Ups' but agree with you about Ferry's ' These Foolish Things'. That album is brilliant, an unusually well crafted covers album.
For the Bowie that I have... Aladdin Sane - 5/5 All Saints (Collected Instrumentals) - 3/5 Blackstar - 3/5 ChangesBowie - 5/5 ChangesOneBowie - 5/5 Diamond Dogs - 3/5 Heroes - 3/5 Hunky Dory - 5/5 Lodger - 3/5 Low - 3/5 The Man Who Sold The World - 3/5 Pin Ups - 4/5 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - 5/5 Scary Monsters - 3/5 Station To Station - 3/5 Young Americans - 3/5
I have ranked the studio albums according to which I play the most. I play music nowadays to enjoy, not appreciate. I figure that if I play one more than another, then, at this moment, I like it more. Font sizes range from one to seven. They're not necessarily evenly spaced. Not "best", "most artistic", "greatest achievement" or any other arguable method. Music's so personal. David Bowie (1967) : David Bowie (1969) : The Man Who Sold the World : Hunky Dory : The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars : Aladdin Sane : Pin Ups : Diamond Dogs : Young Americans : Station to Station : Low : "Heroes" : Lodger : Scary Monsters... ... and Super Creeps : Let's Dance : Tonight : Never Let Me Down : Black Tie ǝsᴉoN ǝʇᴉɥM : 1. Outside : Earthling : Hours . . . : Heathen : Reality : The Next Day : Blackstar
Elevated? It is just superb and personally I'd argue the opposite, that emotions around his death have made it difficult for some of us to enjoy as much as he wanted us to. It's really a bit silly to try and rank Blackstar against say The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, but if I were only allowed to listen to one of those two again I'd take Blackstar in a heartbeat. Tim
I'm gonna go for the grunge period Tin Machine was such a relief after Never Let Me Down. I only wish I'd caught one of the concerts. Crack City on the Prisoner of Love CD single is a monster. Tim
Top Man who sold the world Hunky Dory Ziggy Aladdin Low Heroes Middling The Gouster Space Oddity Bottom The rest of them.
The ones that I know well The Man Who Sold The World - 4/5 Hunky Dory - 5/5 Ziggy Stardust - 4/5 Aladdin Sane - 4/5 Pin Ups - 3/5 Diamond Dogs - 4/5 Young Americans - 3/5 Station To Station - 5/5 Low - 5/5 Heroes - 5/5 Lodger - 4/5 Scary Monsters - 4/5 Let's Dance - 3/5 Tin Machine - 2/5 Black Tie White Noise - 2/5 The Buddha Of Suburbia - 3/5 Outside - 4/5 Earthling - 2/5 Heathen - 3/5 Reality - 3/5 The Next Day - 4/5 Blackstar - 4/5
Disliked by whom? I'm under the impression that many listeners found it to be quite a nice surprise. Reviews are very good too. I bought the box because of this album and think it's very good. That whole DB era is ripe for evaluation.
"Heroes" Low Station to Station Ziggy Stardust Hunky Dory Aladdin Sane Lodger Scary Monsters Diamond Dogs Young Americans Space Oddity Pin Ups The Man Who Sold the World Let's Dance Tonight Never Let Me Down Outside Blackstar The Next Day Black Tie White Noise Heathen Tin Machine David Bowie Buddha of Suburbia Earthling Hours Tin Machine II Realty Toy
Just going by the few ratings before I posted. I was surprised to see it near the bottom of people's lists or with low scores. The reviews were decent elsewhere online. See above.
Interesting topic. I’ll need to give it some thought before posting, particularly with regards to how I treat albums which are of undisputed quality (Heroes, Aladdin Sane) which I don’t like as much as less universally acclaimed records (Let’s Dance). I might also need to dig out my flame proof suit as I’m not enormous fan of Station To Station which gets a lot of love here.
Might have to do with the fact that "Toy" is at a disadvantage since it's only been out two months and a day. And - especially on vinyl - only as part of boxsets. It's going to be interesting how it will fare in future polls.
OK: Station to Station Low Hunky Dory "Heroes" Aladdin Sane Scary Monsters Diamond Dogs Ziggy Stardust Lodger The Man Who Sold The World Heathen Earthling Young Americans Outside The Next Day Space Oddity Toy Blackstar Let's Dance Black Tie White Noise Buddha Of Suburbia .... hours Reality Tonight Never Let Me Down Pin Ups David Bowie
In my opinion 01. Black☆ 02. Outside 03. Station To Station 04. Low 05. Earthling 06. Heroes 07. Buddha Of Suburbia 08. Scary Monsters 09. Lodger 10. The Next Day 11. Young Americans / The Gouster 12. Tin Machine I 13. Heathen 14. Ziggy Stardust 15. Let's Dance 16. Diamond Dogs 17. Aladdin Sane 18. Reality 19. Hunky Dory 20. The Man Who Sold The World 21. Black Tie, White Noise 22. Never Let Me Down (2018) 23. Hours 24. Toy 25. Tin Machine II 26. Space Oddity 27. David Bowie (1967) 28. Tonight / NLMD (1987) 29. Pin Ups In my ranking : Bowie was always best at his weird, interesting, and trying something new. Even when it wasn't always successful (TMI+II). it was always fascinating.
I have seen so many lists in different forums of fans rating their preferences of Bowie albums and it is always interesting to see how differently so many of us rate his work for ourselves. A testament to the diversity of his work, I think.
So true, which is exactly why I won't take the time to rank mine, because it's pretty pointless, but entertaining to see opposing views. If these album ranking threads are in the form of one or more polls they can come in handy to know which ones to get while you're in a store.
I can't be bothered to rank them all, but my top 3 is: 1) Ziggy Star Dust 2) Scary Monsters 3) Aladdin Sane.
My top 10 1. Heroes 2. Ziggy 3. Low 4. Station To Station 5. Hunky Dory 6. Aladdin Sane 7. The Man Who Sold The World 8. Scary Monsters 9. Blackstar 10. Space Oddity
