DAVID BOWIE - ALADDIN SANE @ 50

 

Celebrating its golden jubilee with half a century on the shelves, it’s David Bowie’s sixth studio album and second during his initial commercial breakthrough as "Ziggy Stardust", Aladdin Sane. After taking the charts by storm with his previous record, it would exceed that success, commercially, though perhaps not quite artistically.

Aladdin Sane was written and recorded during breaks between grueling touring schedules as Bowie and RCA sought to maximize his exposure following the success of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Aladdin Sane, the title being a play on the phrase “a lad insane”, continued the narrative of the previous record, introducing the titular character as a means to explore the personality fragmentation symbolized by the lightning bolt across Bowie’s face. Thematically, the record deals with a lot of the ups and downs of life on the road, fame and how those dichotomies can split a personality. This was the first album Bowie wrote from a position of stardom, so the view from the mount of fame plays a significant role in the concepts explored.

Because production for the LP was squeezed into snatched free time between touring legs, this didn’t leave Bowie a lot of time to develop ideas or stockpile songs from which to cherry pick later. This meant that, overall, the quality of the material on the album maybe wasn’t quite as consistent as the previous few records, though there are clearly essential songs which managed to find a home in its grooves. The title track and Jean Genie are the obvious standouts. Musically, being on the road and performing live put an emphasis on a harder rock sound, though a bit of British music hall camp can also be found lurking about the edges. The Rolling Stones were a significant influence at this period as is evidenced by Bowie's cover of Let’s Spend the Night Together.

Recording for the album took place mainly between December 1972 and January 1973, and was split between Trident Studios in London and RCA’s NYC facility. The Spiders From Mars band, comprising Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey, contributed heavily to the album’s creation, though after a run of three albums with Bowie, this would be the last to feature this lineup. Though the album focuses on a heavier rock sound, it also starts to bring in some more experimental leanings, and many consider this the beginning of that trajectory, a disposition which would lead him into stranger and darker realms throughout the remainder of the decade until his crowing achievement in that vein with Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980.

For the cover of the LP, Bowie is seen in what has become his most iconic form, in fully Ziggy glory, lightning flash blazing across his face. It is perhaps the most recognizable image of Bowie ever created. It was shot in January 1973 by Brian Duffy in his north London studio. Duffy would later photograph the sleeves for Lodger (1979) and Scary Monsters. In an effort to ensure RCA promoted the album extensively, Bowie’s manager was determined to make the cover as costly as possible. He insisted on an unprecedented seven-color system, rather than the usual four. The resulting image was the most expensive cover art ever made at the time. The make-up designer for the shoot was Pierre Laroche, who remained Bowie's make-up artist for the remainder of the 1973 tour and the Pin Ups cover shoot. Laroche copied the lightning bolt from a National Panasonic rice-cooker that happened to be in the studio. The make-up was completed with a "deathly purple wash", which together with Bowie's closed eyes, evoke a "death mask".

After its release, it quickly became Bowie’s biggest selling record to date, but critics picked up on the uneven songwriting in comparison to the previous records, though they still praised it overall. It certainly deserves its legacy as being considered an essential entry in Bowie’s catalogue, capturing the artist at a peak in his creative and performing abilities. In some regards, perhaps it’s Bowie merely riding the wave of his success for a time, but history has clearly shown that he was just taking a bit of a breather before his next artistic ascent.

DAVID BOWIE - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS @ 50

Celebrating a half century since landing on the planet Earth, David Bowie’s breakthrough LP, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, was released 50 years ago today, on June 16th, 1972. Bowie’s fifth studio album would prove to be the one which finally broke through on the charts and launched his career into the stratosphere.

Bowie had been slogging away in relative obscurity since the mid 1960s, releasing his first album in 1967 and gradually navigating his career towards a position which would ultimately set him apart from his peers. He’d do so by creating a distinctive character which transcended the mundane boundaries of mere pop stardom and cast him in the role of a mythological alien-savior. While his previous incarnations had tried to exploit his “freak” potential, the idea of creating a fictional alter-ego was the key to putting him in a context which maximized his eccentricity while making it more palatable by virtue of its other-worldliness.

Before Ziggy, he blurred the lines of gender on his previous effort, Hunky Dory, where he lounged in his long hair and gown like Lauren Bacall or Greta Garbo. That sort of gender-bending ultimately had limited appeal and the album flopped on the charts despite good reviews. Part of the problem was that it was recorded with new label RCA when they’d already got wind that he was planning a major image overhaul, so the label stalled on their promotion in anticipation of his transformation. Hunky Dory & Ziggy are musically extremely closely linked. The songs were all written at the same time, the musicians are mostly the same on both albums and they were recorded nearly consecutively with only a brief gap between them. But by the time Ziggy was ready to release, the label were finally ready to commit to Bowie’s new concept and appearance and they were prepared to promoting him with some vim and vigor.

Even though Hunky Dory and Ziggy were closely aligned musically, Ziggy had something else going on that wasn’t developed on the previous record. It was this conception of an alien being coming to Earth in an attempting to save it as the planet was facing an apocalyptic near future, only to become corrupted by fame. This worked to envelop the project in a coherent narrative. This was further reinforced by the look and sound of the band, which took the glam-rock glitz of Marc Bolan and cast it as extraterrestrial chic. The character of Ziggy Stardust also borrowed from Bowie’s American friends and inspirations, Iggy Pop & Lou Reed. He managed to fuse elements of all of them and more into his characterization and it worked brilliantly to help shroud Bowie with a stature and mystique that effectively made him seem like a superstar even before the fans had picked up on his presence.

Once the album hit the shops, it wasn’t long before it started to gain momentum with its traction largely increased once the band made a pivotal appearance on BBC’s Top of the Pops. It was one of those historic moments when any kid with a TV and latent aspirations of rock stardom was gonna find a fire lit in their soul once they saw Bowie confidently strutting his stuff in front of the camera. One can imagine little Sid Vicious, Peter Murphy, Gary Numan, Bono and dozens of other future stars glued to their sets and feeling the switch get flipped that would propel them into the careers they’d have in a few short years thanks to having seen the Starman on their TV.

Since its release, it’s become recognized as one of Bowie’s most influential and significant works. Not only did it set him up for future success, it retroactively pulled a lot of his back catalogue out of obscurity, foisting albums like Hunky Dory and singles like Space Oddity into hit status as well. And while a lesser artist would’ve become trapped in the Ziggy persona, Bowie quickly transitioned to other characters in order to establish his chameleon like nature as a trademark, setting fan expectations to be prepared for his wild and frequent shifts. In many respects, it remains his most iconic work and a starting point for many when beginning the journey of exploring his career.

Personally, his success at this stage also came at a cost and signaled the beginning of his own private decline into drug abuse, something he’d ultimately have to overcome within a few years, but fortunately for him and his fans, he managed to pull out of that spiral. In a way, he lived the life of Ziggy maybe a bit too closely, so it makes sense he’d want to change out of that wardrobe and try on another suit quick enough.