Released on October 19, 1973 from RCA Records, Pin Ups is an album where it’s essentially an album of covers by David Bowie that pays tribute to the British/Australian bands of the 1960s that Bowie felt were influential to the Ziggy Stardust character. Produced with Ken Scott, the album marks as a farewell of sorts to the Ziggy Stardust persona that Bowie had played as it’s also the last album to feature guitarist Mick Ronson and bassist Trevor Bolder while Aynsley Dunbar would replace drummer Woody Woodmansey who had left Bowie that July shortly after Ziggy’s final concert on July 3, 1973. Also featuring Mike Garson on piano as well as saxophonist Ken Fordham and Geoff MacCormack on backing vocals. The album would serve as a tribute to British rock as well as a fitting farewell to Ziggy Stardust.
The album features twelve songs as three bands are featured prominently with two tracks each. The first is the band the Pretty Things as the album opener in the rocking Rosalyn and the blues-based Don’t Bring Me Down showcase Bowie’s love for the band as the former is just this fast, blazing rocker driven by its pulsating rhythms and Mick Ronson’s guitar while the latter is a more mid-tempo cut. The second band that also has two songs covered are the Who in I Can’t Explain and Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere. The former is given a bit of a slower tempo as Bowie and Ken Fordham both provide some saxophones to give the song a more raunchy feel while the latter remains faithful to its original as it includes an amazing drum solo from Aynsley Dunbar.
The third band that is prominently features is the Yardbirds’ in I Wish I Would and Shapes of Things as the former is a fast-paced rock track that definitely owes elements to the blues with Ronson providing a mixture of raunchy hard rock with some blues riffs as it also includes Bowie on the harmonica. The latter is a song with some changes in the tempo and time signature as it is faithful to the original with Ronson providing this fiery solo that is just incredible in its playing. Them’s Here Comes the Night is a track that also features tempo and time-signature changes where Bowie and Fordham provide some saxophone into the song as it is rocking but also a song that has this garage-rock feel that is so common with 1960s British Invasion music. Bowie’s take on Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play is quite faithful as it features these absurdist and playful lyrics of Syd Barrett along with some unique sound effects courtesy of a Moog synthesizer from Bowie as well as Mike Garson’s embellished piano and harpsichord playing.
Everything’s Alright by the Mojos is another upbeat cut with this amazing opening riff that comes straight out of a detective show as it is this raucous rock n’ roll track with fiery guitars, swanky saxophones, and rollicking pianos. Another fast, upbeat rock track is a version of the Easybeats’ Friday on My Mind where it has Bowie using the Moog synthesizer for sound effects while Ronson, Dunbar, and Trevor Bolder maintain a sense of power and ferocity into the song. The lone ballad in the album is a cover of the Merseys’ Sorrow where it features one of Bowie’s best vocal performances as it is this somber song that includes a cool saxophone solo as well as some low key piano flourishes from Mike Garson. The album closer is a bopping yet mid-tempo take on the Kinks’ Where Have All the Good Times Gone as it is very faithful to the original with Ronson providing some killer riffs to the song and Bowie providing some unique vocal flair to Ray Davies’ lyrics.
Released on June 16, 1972 through RCA Records, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a concept album about an alien from Mars who becomes a rock star overnight as he goes from being a Messiah to then die on the stage. Produced by Ken Scott and David Bowie, Bowie’s fifth studio release marks the breakthrough that would make him a superstar in Britain as he is joined by guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder, and drummer Woody Woodmansey as the backing band in the Spiders from Mars. It’s an album that is pure rock n’ roll with an air of bombast and lyrics that speaks to the freaks and outsiders who had no interest in 1960s idealism.
The album opener Five Years is this somber mid-tempo song as it relates to the last five years left on Earth as it features dark but poignant lyrics that begins the story of Ziggy as it would include this nice and steady rhythm from Woody Woodmansey’s drumming and later a soaring guitar solo from Mick Ronson. Songs like Moonage Daydream, Hang On to Yourself, Star, and Suffragette City are these rock songs that rely largely on Ronson’s blazing work on the guitar as Hang On to Yourself, Star, and Suffragette City are also supported by the bombastic rhythm section of Woodmansey’s drummer and Trevor Bolder’s bass. Moonage Daydream is a more mid-tempo track yet it features a solo by Ronson that is out of this world. Lyrically, the songs play up into elements of fantasy like Star and Moonage Daydream as it showcases exactly who Ziggy is and what he was doing.
The only cover in the album is a mid-tempo rock song in It Ain’t Easy that is written by Ron Davies that was also famously covered by Three Dog Night as the song features backing vocals by Dana Gillespie and keyboards by Rick Wakeman. The single Starman plays into the idea of a Messiah but it has lyrics that are hopeful as it plays into this alien coming to Earth and become the savior as it’s a song that says a lot which gives voice the freaks of the earth as it’s this wonderful mix of folk and rock with an element of science fiction. Ziggy Stardust also plays into the same tone lyrically while it’s more of a rock-based song in its mid-tempo presentation. Soul Love is another mid-tempo track that is a mixture of rock with elements of saxophone as it’s a cut in the album that features some oblique lyrics but are very direct in what Bowie is saying into Ziggy’s arrival on Earth.
Released on December 17, 1971 from RCA Records, Hunky Dory marks a crucial period in David Bowie’s career as it would be the first of several events in the course of nearly two years. The album marks Bowie’s first collaboration with producer Ken Scott who would be a key figure during this period co-producing this and the three albums that would follow in that period. The album also marks the first album to feature bassist Trevor Bolder who along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Woody Woodmansey to be part of the backing band that would become the Spiders from Mars. The album would be a mixture of folk, rock, and pop in very different styles yet it has away for all of these songs to gel together into what some consider to be the first of many masterpieces by David Bowie.
The album opener Changes is definitely a standard of the kind of songs Bowie would make as it’s this nice mixture of pop and rock with lyrics that could mean anything as it features these nice melodies and riffs in the background to a bopping rhythm. It’s among these great songs in Bowie’s repertoire as a songwriter as songs like the folk-based Kooks and Oh! You Pretty Things display Bowie’s mastery in creating the kind of pop music that is direct and to the point while having lyrics that be a little abstract but also fun. In the former, it’s a song that Bowie wrote about the birth of son Duncan and the kind of family the boy might encounter. The latter is a song driven more by a piano with Bowie bringing some melancholia despite its upbeat tone.
Another upbeat cut from the album Fill Your Heart is a song that Bowie didn’t write as it’s a cover of a Biff Rose track that was co-written by Paul Williams. In context with the rest of the album, it does fit in as it play into the many emotional aspects that is featured on the album. Even in folk-based ballads like Quicksand and The Bewlay Brothers as both songs contain some very dark lyrical content as the latter plays up into the concept of insanity and torment as it relates to Bowie’s older half-brother Terry Burns. The former is definitely a song that really plays down the concept of Messianic idolatry that definitely owes itself to Nietzsche. The very simplistic Eight Line Poem is a cut in the album that is Bowie at his most simple as it’s sort of a country-based song on the record and certainly one of the most overlooked deep cuts of any Bowie album.
Then there’s three cut where Bowie pays tribute to a trio of individuals who inspired him in Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, and Lou Reed. Song for Bob Dylan definitely has a bit of country flair while Andy Warhol is a more upbeat, folk-based tune. For Lou Reed, Queen Bitch is the most rock-based track on the album as it pays tribute of sorts to Reed and his work with the Velvet Underground. Then we have the song Life on Mars? which is often considered Bowie’s greatest ballad as it is largely accompanied by Rick Wakeman’s piano as it has these amazing chords and riffs as well as this sense of imagery in the lyrics that includes some soaring guitar solos by Mick Ronson.
From the 1990 reissue edition from Rykodisc comes four bonus tracks that features demos and rarities. Bombers from a rare album sampler is a song originally written for the Arnold Corns project as it was unreleased until it was re-mixed for the 1990 reissue as it’s mixture of piano rock with some guitar work from Ronson. Alternate versions of The Bewlay Brothers and The Supermen, the latter from The Man Who Sold the World, as the latter is a mixture of folk and rock with some unique tempo changes while the former features a more pronounced mix that plays more into the Mellotron as well as in the vocals. The demo version of Quicksand is definitely a gem in terms of what Bowie was doing with just his voice and an acoustic guitar.
