The Bottom Line: This is a great David Bowie album in his years before Ziggy Stardust. This album shows his maturity and growth as a songwriter and artist.
thevoid99's Full Review: Hunky Dory [Remaster] by David Bowie
Note: As a celebration of my one year anniversary at this website, I will review one of my favorite albums of all-time. David Bowie’s 1971 masterpiece “Hunky Dory”.
As the early 70s began, David Bowie already had a hit single with “Space Oddity” in 1969 and was becoming one of most promising new artists by 1970. In 1971, Bowie hooked up with guitarist Mick Ronson and producer Tony Visconti for his third album “The Man Who Sold The World”. After the release of “The Man Who Sold The World”, Bowie went to New York City for the first time and met up with pop-art icon Andy Warhol and two artists he admired who would become his longtime friends, alt-rock pioneer Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground and punk rock godfather Iggy Pop of the Stooges. Later in 1971, Bowie released what many fans considered his first great masterpiece “Hunky Dory”.
“Hunky Dory” was an album that showed Bowie’s maturity as a songwriter, performer, and artist. In his first two albums, Bowie was stuck in 60s folk-pop style that was big at the time but he wasn’t sure what to say. After some soul searching and exploring the world of gay clubs in London, Bowie found new ideas on how to write songs and bee an individual at the same time. Around that time, songwriters were singing about their own lives and a sense of realism that was going around in the world. Bowie wasn’t interested in any of those ideals nor did he want to become a hippie. After the success of “Space Oddity”, Bowie along with Mick Ronson gave his songwriting some new clout by adding a hard rocking guitar sound that would become a prototype for punk rock and was featured on “The Man Who Sold The World” album. On “Hunky Dory”, Bowie mixed in the rock sensibility of “The Man Who Sold The World” with a dash of folk and pop that would lead Bowie to be one of the greatest artists of all-time.
The first song off of that album is a pop-rock classic that defined Bowie called “Changes”. “Changes” features an elegant piano-pop performance from Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman along with string arrangements from Mick Ronson and Bowie’s excellent vocals telling the ideal of change around the world which featured the classic chorus “Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes/Turn and face the strain/Ch-ch-Changes/Don’t have to be a richer man/Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes/Don’t want to be a better man/Time may change me/But I can’t trace time”. “Oh! You Pretty Thing” is another piano-pop classic that was originally written for Herman Hermit’s singer Peter Noone which featured references to homosexuality that featured flowing pop melodies and a solid rhythm section of bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey who along with Ronson would be a part of the Spiders from Mars band with Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. “Eight Line Poem” is a lovely country-like tune with Mick Ronson’s masterful guitar work along with wonderful piano performance from Rick Wakeman and Bowie’s masterful vocals and lyrics about the world of South London and served as a tribute to Beat writer William S. Bourroughs who would become a true influence in Bowie’s songwriter style later on in his career.
The album’s big highlight is the powerful “Life On Mars?” which is filled with lush orchestral arrangements from Mick Ronson who brings in two mesmerizing guitar solos backed by Rick Wakeman’s piano. Bowie’s vocals in the song are probably at its peak in this song especially on the chorus of “Sailors fighting in the dance hall/Oh man! Look at those caveman go/It’s the freakiest show/Take a look at the Lawman/Beating on the young guy/Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know/He’s in the best selling show/Is there life on Mars?”. The lyrics that parallel a world of cinema into real life show Bowies’ craftsmanship as a lyricist and songwriter. Probably Bowie’s greatest song in his pre-Ziggy Stardust album, it’s a shame Barbara Streisand had to cover it and over blow it. Only Bowie could sing “Life On Mars?” the way it’s supposed to be.
“Kooks” is a lovely acoustic-pop gem about the birth of Bowie’s son Duncan “Zowie” Haywood Jones (now Joey), who was born on May 30, 1971, filled with lovely string arrangements and piano performance from Wakeman. “Quicksand” is a dark, acoustic gem about the self-analysis on fascism and the human race backed a luscious orchestra, solid piano performance from Rick Wakeman, and acoustic guitars from Bowie and Ronson with Bowie’s vocals at a very hypnotic tone. “Fill Your Heart” is an obscure pop song written by Bowie’s friends Biff Rose and Paul William that Bowie put into the album to give attention for his songwriting friends backed by Wakeman’s pop-piano style, luscious orchestra, and Bowie’s excellent performance on the saxophone.
The next three songs on the album are tribute songs to three of Bowie’s favorite icons. “Andy Warhol” is an excellent acoustic jam with Bowie singing about the pop-art icon that he would later play in a movie twenty-five years later to rave reviews. “Song For Bob Dylan” is a lovely mid-tempo rocking tune that is highlighted by Ronson’s powerful guitar work and Wakeman’s piano performance in this excellent tribute to songwriting legend that has been an influence to many songwriters in rock music. “Queen B*tch” is a sexy, rocking tune that is highlighted by Ronson’s hard-rocking guitars and a powerful rhythm section of Bolder and Woodmansey is this powerful tribute to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground where Bowie would perform with Reed on Bowie’s 50th birthday in 1997. “The Belway Brothers” is a dark, acoustic tune that features weird mellotron tracks and Bowie’s haunting vocals in this tune about the relationship between himself and his mentally instable half-brother Terry (who later be the subject of his 1993 song “Jump They Say”).
“Hunky Dory” is an excellent masterpiece from David Bowie. The album would be the first in a series of albums that Bowie would help define his career. Though he reached his maturity as a songwriter on “Hunky Dory”, Bowie was just getting started. A year later, he transformed himself into an alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust that would help define the era of glam rock. While he would later be famous as his role as Ziggy Stardust, “Hunky Dory” serves as a true testament for Bowie as a singer-songwriter and performer. For those who want to find Bowie’s work before the Ziggy Stardust era, “Hunky Dory” is the album to pick.
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