Battle cries and champagne just in time for sunrise

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

07/10/73 : Aladdin Sane - David Bowie

From one cool album cover to another, here we have one from a certain David Bowie - never heard of him!  I think I might have listened to this album before, but don't remember anything about it - I'm expecting to quite like it.

As I always find with Bowie albums, the singles stand out because I already like them, which is certainly the case here.  But I also knew "The Prettiest Star" (no idea why) and, of course, "Let's Spend The Night Together" which actually means I knew (and liked)  60% of the album already.  But, unlike some other Bowie albums, I actually also liked the rest of it as well - it's a good mix of challenging and accessible (which is a balance he didn't always get quite right).  There is also some absolutely cracking piano work on this album - which isn't the sort of thing I usually notice.

We're at #8 on its 24th week of a 47 week run having peaked at #1 for the first five weeks, and spending its first 30 weeks in the top ten.  It's spent another 36 weeks in the charts on another eight runs over the years, including a 20 week run in 1983 for no obvious reason.  The top five this week are the usual fare of Slade, The Rolling Stones, Gilbert, Status Quo and Rod Stewart with the highest new entry being an Art Garfunkel solo effort at #14.  And yes, Karen is the highest woman but she's made it as high as #6 and there are another FOUR women in the charts along with her - these truly are liberated times!  This week's Bowie count is five, closely followed by Max Bygraves with SingalongaMax volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 all in the charts - the mind boggles.

Wikipedia, of course, has a huge amount on the album (343 milliPeppers) - it has more on the album artwork than most albums get for everything (although I must say I'd never noticed the teardrop before).  I must confess I didn't bother reading most of the entry, although I did check out who was responsible for the piano work on the album - Mick Garson, who has also worked with Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, St Vincent and Duran Duran over the years, which is QUITE the mix.  Back to the album, I also learned that the album title was a pun on "A Lad Insane" which I had never even considered!  The critical reception uses a word I can't say I'd ever use - "critical reaction to Aladdin Sane was generally laudatory" and people are still pretty keen on it, although there's a general consensus that it's not as good as Ziggy Stardust, his previous effort.  The commercial reception was OK as well, I guess.

"Customers also listened to" Mick Ronson, Mott The Hoople. Roxy Music and T. Rex - no massive surprises there, methinks.  At first listen, this is up there with the best Bowie albums for me - I really enjoyed it and might even make an effort to revisit it (and there haven't been too many of his for which that's even been a consideration)

30/09/73 - Not quite the finest album of the year
14/10/73 - Odd album, cool cover