What are you listening to?

[Savonarola]

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1973)



I once went as Aladdin Sane to a Halloween party.  Nobody got it and I got a headache from not wearing glasses for several hours.   

Still an iconic album cover and an iconic haircut.  Written on the Ziggy Stardust tour of North America and recorded shortly thereafter, the album does have something of a whirlwind feel to it.  Bowie seemed trapped by his alter-ego and didn't know how to get out until Young Americans (really David Live, but that's an album for fanatics only.)  Aladdin Sane and Halloween Jack are simply variations of Ziggy and Pinups is Ziggy sings mid-60s British rock (not that I don't love Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs, and even Pinups has its moments.)  This album is saved from being a reiteration of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust by the addition of avant-garde jazz pianist Mike Garson; his solos are phenomenal and it gives the album a wonderfully off-kilter sound. 

The main problem with the album is that Bowie doesn't seem to know if he wants to do another straight-ahead glam rocker or a retro-futurist torch singer album.  (While it's easy to find fault with this I've never faced a dilemma like this, you haven't either, in fact I'm pretty sure that only David Bowie has ever faced a dilemma like this.)  The songs individually are all great (except his cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together," which was a bad idea clumsily realized), but it doesn't play together the way that the previous album did. 

[Barrister]

I once went as Aladdin Sane to a Halloween party.  Nobody got it and I got a headache from not wearing glasses for several hours.   

You should have gone as Piggy Stardust.

[Josephus]

Nice review Sav.
BB--what movie was that from, the Piggy Stardust? I know I've seen it, but can't remember now.

[garbon]

I feel exposed.

[Syt]

[Savonarola]

Nice review Sav.
BB--what movie was that from, the Piggy Stardust? I know I've seen it, but can't remember now.

I thought it was a reference to Lord of the Flies (Piggy wears glasses.) 

"Piggy Stardust" would be a good name for an urban barbecue restaurant.  We've got one in Orlando called "Pig Floyd's"

[Barrister]

Nice review Sav.
BB--what movie was that from, the Piggy Stardust? I know I've seen it, but can't remember now.

It was from Ted Lasso.  In the episode in Amsterdam Coach Beard comes back to the bus dressed as Bowie, but wearing a pig nose.

[Jacob]

To me the most obvious Piggy Stardust:

[Josephus]

Nice review Sav.
BB--what movie was that from, the Piggy Stardust? I know I've seen it, but can't remember now.

It was from Ted Lasso.  In the episode in Amsterdam Coach Beard comes back to the bus dressed as Bowie, but wearing a pig nose.

That's it👍

[Savonarola]

Nice review Sav.
BB--what movie was that from, the Piggy Stardust? I know I've seen it, but can't remember now.

I thought it was a reference to Lord of the Flies (Piggy wears glasses.) 

Shows what I know, although William Golding's "Lord of the Glam" sounds like an idea that has legs.  (If nothing else Tony Visconti should use that as a title for his autobiography.)

[Savonarola]

The Wailers - Catch a Fire (1973)

As I mentioned before, I usually put this album on when I go through Detroit's east side, especially in the area by the Packard Plant.  While there are a number of upbeat songs, there are some that sound flat out apocalyptic.  "Concrete Jungle" and "400 Years" just seem to capture the vibe of that part of the city.

In my opinion this is The Wailers best album; they never harmonized better and they were never better produced.  Having Peter Tosh write and sing lead on a couple songs adds a depth to the album.

The album has a perfect end with "Midnight Ravers", but listening to it with the bonus tracks ("High Tide or Low Tide" and "All Day All Night" works out too.  I think that's because "All Day All Night" manages to sound like a sinister song, despite the lyrics.

[Savonarola]

Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon

More of the continuation of the work he did on "Paul Simon."  He does more harmonizing and has someone to sing the falsettos, so some songs sound closer to Simon and Garfunkel then what was on his previous album.  It's a decent album all around "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a Rock" are the big hits off of it.  I think anyone with a  Christian religious background will immediately recognize that he lifted the melody for "American Tune" from "Oh Sacred Head, Now Wounded."

Had Paul Simon ended his musical career at the end of the 70s, I think his studio albums from the era ("Paul Simon," "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" and "Still Crazy After All These Years,") would be remembered as solid continuations of Simon and Garfunkel adapted for the '70s.  They're good, but none of them are as remarkable as either the first side of "Bookends" or "Bridge Over Troubled Water".  As it is, though, listening to these it feels like we're just killing time until we get to "Graceland."  (Of course no one at the time had any way of knowing that.)

[Savonarola]

Hawkwind - The Space Ritual (1973)

A lot of the bands I've listened to of late are ones that I have heard before and from artists that I've followed extensively.  I never listened to much Hawkwind (although I once saw The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain perform Silver Machine (oh and that's not a guitar on the end, it's a bass ukulele. ()))  I think that's one reason that I have mixed feelings on this album: on the one hand the music is great, they rock really hard and it's so tight that it's hard to believe that it's recorded live; on the other the Astral Poetry is kind of stupid.  I love the Moody Blues, so it's likely that if I had listened to this when I was younger I would think Hawkwind was brilliant (if a tad goofy) as well.

[Josephus]

The Pineapple Thief -- It Leads to This

[Syt]

Def Leppard - Let's Get Rocked.

A song I probably haven't listened to since the 90s? I had the album "Adrenalize" on Cassette - one of the less terrible birthday gifts from my sister. Popped up randomly on a Spotify playlist.

Still fun, but man, those lyrics ...

Just reaffirms the trope that hair rock bands only have songs about rock or chicks or rock and chicks.

I'm your average, ordinary everyday dude
Drivin' with my baby, to get her in the mood
She's dialin' through my radio, and I'm a-ready to make my move
What she got ain't rock'n'roll, and it really blew my groove

It was (Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven)
It makes me wanna scream
(Bach, Tchaikovsky, violins)
Turn it off, that ain't my scene
Well, I'm sorry girl, here's my confession
I suppose a rock's out of the question?

Seven-day weekend, up all night
In at the deep end, hang on tight
It won't take a minute, it won't take long
So get on in it, come on, come on, come on