PIN UPS

I can't believe this album receives such low ratings! For me, this is one of the most enjoyable albums in the Bowie canon. The recording is crisp and immaculate, the band are on FIRE, and Mike Garson's crazy piano is all over the place: a delight!

Even though I respect and enjoy nearly all of Bowie's 1970s albums, few of them give me as much pleasure as PIN UPS. Not even ZIGGY STARDUST. Laugh if you like, but PIN UPS has far more pizzazz than comparable albums by John Lennon and Bryan Ferry.

Hell, I've never even HEARD the 1960s originals of "Rosalyn", "Everything's Alright" or "Friday on my Mind". But I can't imagine they're as much fun as Bowie's. Where I do know the originals (as with "Here Comes the Night", "Shapes of Things", "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone"), I can easily tell that Bowie has a great time camping up those original vocals by the likes of Van Morrison and Ray Davies. Aynsley Dunbar actually surpasses Keith Moon's drumming on "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere", which also benefits from the superior recording technique of the early 1970s. Dunbar shines once more (and frenetically so!) in "Friday on my Mind", while in "Shapes of Things" Mick Ronson has a whale of a time emulating Jeff Beck's epic solo.

The only tracks that don't work too well are "I Can't Explain", which is unforgivably slowed down, and a rather turgid ballad called "Sorrow". The latter may, however, be of some historical importance as it's the earliest track I'm aware of where you can hear Bowie croon, using his voice's lower register. Also, Syd Barrett freaks may not be too happy with Bowie's cover of "See Emily Play", since it lacks the subtlety of the Pink Floyd original. But it is bearable.

If you don't mind buying a second-hand copy, go for the (remastered) Rykodisc reissue from 1990, which boasts two fascinating bonus tracks: Jacques Brel's melodramatic "In the Port of Amsterdam" (Bowie solo, using acoustic guitar) and Bruce Springsteen's very own "Growing Up" (Bowie with band). It turns out Bowie actually was a Springsteen fan from day one. (Something virtually no one would have believed in the late Seventies, when Bowie and Springsteen seemed to have two mutually exclusive fan clubs.)

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