THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS

I agree with the reviewers who say this is not his best work, and it's not even progressive really. Out of all the Bowie albums this one gets the greatest number of ratings and I think the highest score too, but there's a reason why Bowie is considered prog RELATED. The songs are mostly top 40 oriented and have sort of a cacophonic edge to them that for me is just unpleasant listening. The exceptions would be the very first song, Five Years, and Starman (which along with the song Space Oddity might be the two best tunes he ever did). There IS a concept holding the album together and I suppose people like that sort of thing; other than that I don't really see this as prog. Listeners who want prog would be better served by the albums Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold the World. Credit to Bowie for having such a variety though; he's all over the map from prog to not prog to straight rock and roll. I really want to give this two stars but I'm going to give it three, just barely, and not a penny more.