STATION TO STATION

"Station To Station" is the tenth studio album of David Bowie and was released in 1976. It's generally regarded as one of his most significant musical works. "Station To Station" is also notable for being a vehicle for his last great persona, the Tim White Duke. Impeccably dressed in a white shirt, black pants and vest, Duke was a hollow man who sang love songs with a desperate intensity while feeling nothing. The character has been described as a dement aristocrat, a zombie amoral and an Aryan superman without any kind of emotions. This character greatly inspired David Sylvian to create his own style. Japan's sound was still noticeably influenced by music acts such as David Bowie and Roxy Music.

"Station To Station" was a transitional album for Bowie. It presents a new direction with the use of synthesizers and motorik rhythms influenced by German electronic bands like Kraftwerk and Neu! This trend would culminate in some of his best and most acclaimed studio works, the "Berlin Trilogy", "Low", relesed in 1977, "Heroes", also released in 1977 and "Lodger", released in 1979, all recorded with the participation of Brian Eno. It has been described as one of his most accessible albums and at the same time more impenetrable. It was recorded soon after he completed filming for Nicholas Roeg's movie "The Man Who Felt The Earth". The cover of the album even shows a scene from the movie.

The final result of "Station To Station" is that this is an album that is both, musically accessible and lyrically elliptical, a transition between the plastic soul of "Young Americans" and the chilly electronic hum of his "Berlin Trilogy" that would follow. But, if "Young Americans" often felt like a studied genre exercise, "Station To Station" filtered that rhythmic influence through some of Bowie's obsessions at the time, the austere Krautrock of Kraftwerk and Neu!, and his occult obsession by Nazism. But, perhaps the most bizarre thing about "Station To Station" is that an album of such sinister origin would turn out to be Bowie's highest charting album ever in the U.S. A., until "The Next Day" in 2013.

"Station To Station" has six tracks. All songs were written by David Bowie, except "Wild Is The Wind" written by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin. The first track is the title track "Station To Station". This is Bowie's lengthiest song on any studio album of him, with above 10 minutes. The lyrics contain several literary and mystical references and it's also the song that presents Bowie as Thin White Duke. Musically, this is a fantastic musical journey in rock and funky music styles and became as one of the best and most important tracks of Bowie's musical career. The second track "Golden Years" became the first song to be released as a single. Originally was written for Elvis Presley, but was rejected by him. Written under the musical influence of funk and soul, it's a very good song, but it's more similar in style to his previous studio album "Young Americans" than the rest on "Station To Station", which received more influences from electronic music. The third track "Word On A Wing" was written while he was filming "The Man Who Sold The World". The Christian element of this song is another form of Thin White Duke tests his indifference through religion. This is a wonderful song full of emotion and with a beautiful piano performance that reminds us, his previous musical style. It's a very touching song where Bowie exposes his weaknesses with truly sincerity. The fourth track "TVC 15" was the second song chosen to be released as a single. This song was inspired by an episode, during a drug period, when he was hallucinated and believed the television set was swallowing his girlfriend. It's an excellent funk rock song very catchy and very intense. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the most interesting and original songs that Bowie ever wrote. The fifth track "Stay" was the third song of the album to be released as a single. Like many of the tracks on the album, this is one more piece of music driven by a funk riff. It features a chamberlain, the American precursor of British mellotron and it features also an excellent guitar performance all over the song, and a very solid percussion work. The sixth and last track "Wild Is The Wind" is the only cover song on the album. This is a great version of the original song and represents one of the best musical moments on the album. I agree with ZowieZiggy when he wrote that we are in presence of one of the best vocal performances from David Bowie and, like him, I can also listen to the song till the exhaustion. This song represents a perfect way to close this magnificent, surprising and excellent musical work.

Conclusion: "Station To Station" belongs to my old vinyl collection as one of my oldest albums. "Space Oddity", "The Man Who Sold The World", "Heroes", "Stage", "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" and "Let's Dance" are the other oldest Bowie's albums in my musical vinyl collection. So, I know it since it was released and it was always one of my favourite Bowie's albums too. It's true that "Station To Station" isn't a really progressive album. However, it's an excellent art rock album and very experimental too, to be loved and appreciated by any true progressive fan. So, I can strongly recommend it for all progressive people with a very open mind. If David Bowie was never a truly progressive musician, he always was an aesthetic artist and an experimental rock musician that explored several styles of music.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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