ALADDIN SANE

"Aladdin Sane" is the sixth studio album of David Bowie and that was released in 1973. It was the follow up studio album to his breakthrough previous studio album "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars". It was also the first David Bowie's album that he wrote and released as a real rock star. Despite many critics agree that it contains some of his best musical material, the general opinion about its overall quality, has often been a bit divided. However, it was one of the five Bowie's entries in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The others are: "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars", "Hunky Dory", "Low" and "Station To Station".

The line up on "Aladdin Sane" is David Bowie (vocals, guitar, harmonica and saxophone), Mick Ronson (vocals, guitar and piano), Trevor Bolder (bass guitar) and Mick "Woody" Woodmansey (drums). The album had also the participation of Mike Garson (piano and synthesizers), Ken Fordham (saxophone and flutes), Brian "Bux" Wilshaw (saxophone and flutes), Juanita "Honey" Franklin, Linda Lewis and G. A. MacCormack (backing vocals), as guest artists.

"Aladdin Sane" has ten tracks. All songs were written by Bowie except "Let's Spend The Night Together" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard. The first track "Watch That Man" was very probably a real shock for those who were used to Bowie's music because it represents a real cut with his usual sound. This is a Bowie's version of a typical Stones' rock song. It isn't a bad song, but sincerely it isn't my cup of tea. This is one of my less favourite songs on the album. The second track is the title track "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)". It's without any doubt the most experimental track on the album. This is a completely different song. It's a chaotic and decadent track, and I specially love the avant-garde way of playing the piano. The final result is an amazing and excellent piece. The third track "Drive-In Saturday" was the second single of the album and was released a week before the album. It's a song strongly influenced by doo-wop style of music and it returned to the post apocalyptic Bowie's future world. This is a very futurist nostalgic nice song with some interesting and good lyrics. The fourth track "Panic In Detroit" is a very interesting and good song that is based probably on descriptions of revolutionary riots that occurred in 1967 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Musically, it's a typical glam rock song with an excellent percussion work and beautiful female backing vocals. The fifth Track "Cracked Actor" is a hard rock song clearly inspired in L.A. The song has various allusions to sex and drugs, and is about an encounter of a Hollywood star with a prostitute. It's an energetic song, very nice and pleasant enough to listen to. The sixth track "Time" was the third song of the album chosen to be a single. It's a song which was based in the Broadway Vaudeville cabaret music, in the style of Jacques Brel, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. This is an excellent and brilliant track with a very dark and decadent style, and once more we have an amazing piano work. The seventh track "The Prettiest Star" was the song chosen to be released as the B side of their single, "Time". It was also a song originally released as a single in 1970. Bowie wrote it for his first wife Angela Barnett. The version on the album is a track with a more glam rock influence. This is another good song on the album, a love song with very good quality. The eighth track "Let's Spend The Night Together" is also a song of the album released as a single. It's a cover of a Stones' song, originally released as a single by The Rolling Stones in 1967. Sincerely, and like "Watch That Man", it's another song that definitely isn't my cup of tea. This is undoubtedly my less favourite track on the album. The ninth track "The Jean Genie" was the first song chosen to be released as a single to promote the future release of the album. It became the big hit single of the album. It's a very good straight rock song with a killer riff and science fiction lyrics. This is without any doubt the most famous song on the album and it became also an essential classic Bowie's song. The tenth and last track "Lady Grinning Soul" was composed in the style of being a soundtrack of a James Bond movie. Once more we have another amazing piano work on this album. This is a song with a very warm musical atmosphere wonderfully sung by Bowie. Definitely, this is one of my favourite songs of the album and represents an excellent way to close the album.

Conclusion: "Aladdin Sane" was an album written when David Bowie released his "Ziggy Stardust" live tour. Most of the songs were composed on the road during his 1972 American tour. It was essentially a real development of "Ziggy Stardust" in its appearance but in an American style. Bowie himself described it as simply "Ziggy Goes To America". However, it seems to me that "Aladdin Sane" is a very different album from "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars". Musically, we are in presence of a very different musical work and it has also, in my humble opinion, a little bit less quality than its predecessor. So, "Aladdin Sane" remains an excellent album and an essential Bowie's piece of music, as almost many other David Bowie's albums, but it isn't part of my favourite albums from him.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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