David Bowie – Aladdin Sane LP

Description

Ziggy Stardustwrote the blueprint forDavid Bowie‘s hard-rocking glam, andAladdin Saneessentially follows the pattern, for both better and worse. A lighter affair thanZiggy Stardust,Aladdin Saneis actually a stranger album than its predecessor, buoyed by bizarre lounge-jazz flourishes from pianistMick Garsonand a handful of winding, vaguely experimental songs.Bowieabandons his futuristic obsessions to concentrate on the detached cool of New York and London hipsters, as on the compressed rockers “Watch That Man,” “Cracked Actor,” and “The Jean Genie.”Bowiefollows the hard stuff with the jazzy, dissonant sprawls of “Lady Grinning Soul,” “Aladdin Sane,” and “Time,” all of which manage to be both campy and avant-garde simultaneously, while the sweepingly cinematic “Drive-In Saturday” is a soaring fusion of sci-fi doo wop and melodramatic teenage glam. He lets his paranoia slip through in the clenched rhythms of “Panic in Detroit,” as well as on his oddly clueless cover of “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” For all the pleasures onAladdin Sane, there’s no distinctive sound or theme to make the album cohesive; it’sBowieriding the wake ofZiggy Stardust, which means there’s a wealth of classic material here, but not enough focus to make the album itself a classic. -All Music Guide