Monolith Cocktail Blog

Rather then mourn the passing of the thin white duke, the man who fell to Earth, the young American, the Aladdin Sane, the man who dared sell the world, we instead celebrate David Bowie‘s back catalogue with a complete album-by-album guide, in four parts.

It seems an often glib pronouncement that we will never see the like again. And in so many ways it is true: those same societal and environmental perimeters of creativity and inspirations that propelled Bowie will never exist for others; especially now in the era of the internet. Crowley, Koestler, Burroughs, Kafka, Orwell, Paglia, Burgess, Nietzsche transmogrified into the most cerebral, deep and resonate rock and pop music ever, Bowie changed everything. Game over for many. Whilst others were inspired. Rather than dumb down or erode these inspirations, Bowie elevated his audience. He took all us down the rabbit hole into a more colourful, imaginary and tolerable world. Not a chameleon, who changes his colours to blend in with his surroundings, as such, Bowie changed to stay ahead of his peers and rivals; an ennui inner genius to know when to move on, when to cut dead and sever ties and find something more interesting, invigorating or fresh was possibly his greatest attribute. Of course he was only as good as the people he chose to surrounded himself with, which is a gift in itself. Plagiarism? Yes. But he knew what to take and how to make it in many cases better, sometimes to groans from those he took it from, more acceptable and commercial; from the gender bender garb and sleazy rock’n’roll of the New York Dolls and Lou Reed to the trans-Europe alpine glade futurism of Neu! and Kraftwerk, he dared to make both the seamier aspects of life and avant garde pretensions of an elite popular.

There really is nothing you can say that hasn’t already been written. Bowie will attract some of the most adroit, poetic and sometimes indulgent obituaries. And quite rightly so. An unsanctioned national mourning, sparked completely on the hoof over the last 24 hours has proved if anything, all is not entirely lost. We might be hurtling into uncharted, often frightening waters, but we can still find a united front in celebrating one of our finest.  He might be gone at a time when we needed him most, but the response from across the generations, not just the baby boomers and generation X, has shown he continues to remain a strong presence, a totem of inspiration. And for that we should be grateful, because who better to rally around and find solace and inspiration in than David Bowie. His Blackstar epitaph spoke of resurrection. I think we can be sure his work will be resurrected for eternity.

Cherishing that great, expansive cannon, let me take you on journey through all of Bowie’s official studio albums – including those fatuous Tin Machine debacles and his three soundtracks, but omitting the live LPs – highlighting both the well known gems and not so familiar tracks from each. Part One takes us from Bowie’s idiosyncratic vaudeville debut to his nostalgic beat group tribute Pin Ups.


David Bowie (Deram) 1967

If it wasn’t for a certain pesky Monkee named Davy Jones, then the Bowie moniker may have never existed. As it was he at least got to keep the name for a short time when in charge of the blue-eyed soul mod act, Davy Jones & The Lower Third.

The name change along with his adopted theatrical twee, cockney burr, Bowie’s debut solo affair has a certain vaudeville charm. Quintessentially British in theme and characterization, he catches us off-guard with a colourful and whimsical cast of Victoriana oddballs, disaffected, refugees, creeps and outsiders. More Anthony Newley than The Kinks, it totally flopped; sending Bowie back into the wilderness and thankfully, back to the drawing board.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

Love You Till Tuesday (single), Sell Me A Coat, Rubber Band (single)

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

She’s Got Medals, When I Live My Dream (single)



Space Oddity (Phillips/ Mercury) 1969

Or as the yanks like to call it, Man of Words/Man of Music, is a loose patchwork of ideas bandied together under the torch bearing title track saviour.

Longevity alone, the single, ‘Space Oddity’ – believed in some quarters to be a paean of sorts on the metaphoric stages of injecting and experiencing smack – is a constant burden, being arguably Bowie’s most popular hit still.

Daring himself to greedily hoover up all that was on offer in 1969, Bowie tried the role of balladeer on the last kiss goodbye, ‘Letter To Hermione’, grew his hair out on the cosmic folk on ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’, and ran through the full gambit of Dylan sloganism on the sprawling epic ‘Cygnet Committee’.

A world away from his self-titled debut, but an indicator of what was to follow.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

Space Oddity (single), Memory Of A Free Festival

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud, Cygnet Committee



The Man Who Sold The World (Mercury) 1970

The birth of glam? Well pomp-rock at least. The ‘Spiders From Mars’ nucleus, with producer/bassist Tony Visconti, thrashed out a lipstick smudged, drug debauched, rock gala in a haunted Edwardian grotto to kick start Bowie’s most rewarding decade.

Preoccupied – some would say obsessively – with his recent marriage to Angie, this glorious monolithic riff-heavy album is really a shared group effort – though all the credit is very much taken by Bowie.

Fixations with androgynous sexual encounters on hilltops (‘She Shook Me Cold’), Nietzsche (‘Superman’) and insanity (‘All The Madmen’) – an omnipresent miasma that stalks the Bowie family tree – helped shape the first omnivorous classic in the Thin White Duke’s cannon.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

The Man Who Sold The World, The Width Of A Circle, All The Madmen

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

Black Country Rock, Running Gun Blues



Hunky Dory (RCA) 1971

Just before the Bowie transformed into the Ziggy, he once more donned the vestiges of Dylan and played with the Romanticists for another stab at Earthly glamour. Posing as some effete bygone screen idol (Dietrich et al), the sepia toned oeuvre of, mostly, tribunes and nostalgia is fondly regarded as a beacon of diaphanous songwriting magnificence.

Bowie’s meticulous studies include glib portraits of Andy Warhol (and his ‘factory’ of misfits), Bob Dylan (yet again) and Lou Reed, nestled alongside plaintive mini opuses, inspired by the mythical status of Nietzsche (yes, him again) and Aleister Crowley.

That perfect melodic piano/weepy lead guitar counterbalance is defined on this melodramatic, and often, dotingly personalized, glitter smirched songbook, which rightly belongs in the Parthenon of the musical gods.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

Changes (single), Life On Mars (single), Oh You Pretty Things, Queen Bitch

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

Quicksand, Bewlay Brothers



The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (RCA) 1972

He painted himself as the freaky rock & roll totem from another dimension, but suspiciously sounded like a whey pallor drag act, playing the refined and artistic version of glam rock.

Not for the first or last time, Bowie based an album around the impediment of apocalypse. In this case Earth’s fateful, ‘5 Years’, date with its own destruction.

Bowie’s, usually left unsung, collaborators are allowed to share the spotlight, with Mick Ronson, a constant foil, striking home the killer-heel riffs and salacious wet-kissed licks.

The foreboding presage of Ziggy’s fall from grace, and the planet’s eventual demise, could not have sounded more flamboyantly grandiose, yet poignantly sad. One of rock music’s greatest achievements both on record and played live. An immortal benchmark that outshines even its Lour Reed, Marc Bolan and New York Doll inspirations.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

Ziggy Stardust, Five Years, Starman (single), Rock’n’Roll Suicide

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

Lady Stardust, Moonage Daydream



Aladdin Sane (RCA) 1973

Killing off Ziggy Stardust to assume the lightning anointed role of Aladdin Sane, Bowie’s split personality only partially moved on from its precursor.

If Hunky Dory pretty much alluded to the USA from a distance, then Sane is living it.

From the scuzzed rock’n’roll chugging riffs to the Latin-Cuban styled piano flourishes and ‘give my regards to Broadway’ passing fancies, Bowie is cast adrift, absorbed in the aroma of the Americas as an unbalanced gender bending dame, trying to make sense of it all.

Fantastical, yet nostalgic in equal measure, the backlot of 50s drive-ins, Che Guevara styled revolution on the streets of Detroit and heart-crushing laments, effortlessly turn from tears to swaggered rock, with ‘Time’ hanging over proceedings as a monolithic reminder of death. Glorious, one of Bowie’s greatest fantasies.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

Watch That Man, Drive-In Saturday (single), Time (single), Jean Genie (single)

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?), Lady From Another Grinning Soul



Pin Ups (RCA) 1973

Aladdin Sane signs off with a love letter to the British ‘beat group’ (1964-67) era, a final reminisce before the next incarnation.

Whether catching the zeitgeist of his own times, Bowie’s second LP of 1973 coincidently came out on the exact same date as Bryan Ferry’s own memory lane romp, These Foolish Things.

Delivered in the manner of a live covers band, the Pin Ups set list runs languorously and smoothly through numbers made famous by the Easybeats, Kinks, Merseys, Mojos, Pink Floyd, Them, The Who and Yardbirds.

The grittier snarl and garage stomp menace is all but watered down to suit Bowie’s, now, sophisticated, lighter palate, which slows down the tempo and adds wafting sassy saxophone to those harder-edged, rebel rousing originals.

An exercise in doffing the cap in admiration and respect to his peers and inspirations, it can’t help but sound totally fatuous and silly.

Decreed as the leading highlight’s of the album by the majority –

Roselyn, Shape Of Things, Sorrow (single), Shape of Things

Pay attention to these often overlooked beauties –

Here Comes The Night, Friday On My Mind


If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of listening to our Bowie playlist on twitter or FB, here it is again….