The Bow-Man: '77 - '80

Sure, sure, Bowie's persona and talent were defined early on with Ziggy Stardust and the like, but I've always warmed up to the product of his later years, especially during his "Berlin era" when he was crossing paths with such luminaries as Eno, Fripp, and Iggy Pop. The albums Low, Heroes, and Lodger at that time abandoned the pop formulas of the previous two albums in favor of his most experimental triad of albums to date. And '81's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) nicely rounded out the lot before Bowie moved on to being the pop smash of '83. Among the four albums mentioned, 'Monsters is the most accessible for me while still retaining some of the qualities of the Berlin era albums. The question? Which album is your favorite?

Low, his best since Hunky Dory.

Low, followed by Scary Monsters.

First vote for Lodger. Could just as easily have gone for Low.

Small sidenote: I find it rather amusing that what I personally consider part of Bowie's musical peak is a period of time that he doesn't remember too much of (snort snort). If David performs tunes from any of these albums today, he needs a piece of paper with the lyrics printed on.

He doesn't get any higher than Low!

The Berlin period was of great interest to me and so I followed it during the time of it's arrival, but still returned to the first 4 albums of his early period. I appreciated the early material and particularly in the area of Bowie's writing and Mick Ronson's arrangements. Space Oddity, Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory, and Ziggy Stardust were the first monumental Glam Rock releases that presented more in the area of musicianship and writing. Some of his songs were just as impressive as The Beatles. And that's what I thought ...hearing the stuff at age 15 and in many aspects of composition, the song "Life On Mars" is to the level of any outstanding Procol Harum or Beatles' song. I have the same appreciation for the first 4 Roxy Music albums. They were a unique band , but also revealed is the influence Bowie had in songs like "The Thrill Of It All". Or The Tubes song "Boy Crazy" was more stylistically based on the later writing of Mr. Bowie. The Berlin period was influential to other artists and Bowie can surely be credited as a unique writer that changes his style and creates something original , other than to be taken with a grain of salt. He has a gift for writing and a special skill that ....to me personally...places him with other great writers like Godley & Creme, John Lennon, Ray Davies ...even though they were successful many years before Bowie, he was quite like them in the sense that he was a sincere writer that progressed in his writing...while many other writers during his period of popularity did not.

The Berlin trilogy is a great run of records....side 2 of Lodger is my favorite side; Heroes my favorite complete LP; Warszawa my favorite "song".  Each is a jewel in Bowie's long discography.