Best Album Ever, Hunky Dory by David Bowie, Washington Square News
March 1, 2011
“Look out, you rock ‘n’ rollers!” Look out was right.
David Bowie’s glammed-up, spaced-out music on the weirdly wonderful 1971 album “Hunky Dory” was a departure from the hippy anthems of the late ’60s. Having already been the mime, the folkie and Major Tom, “Hunky Dory” was a distillation of all of these characters and the blueprint for the platform-wearing, glitter-covered glam-rock alien Ziggy Stardust, who was about to be unleashed on the world. “Hunky Dory” is where Bowie found a voice of his own, and his androgynous sex appeal and strange subject matter remain influential.
From the lyrical “Changes” to the spooky closing track “The Bewlay Brothers,” “Hunky Dory” is a mixture of different styles that come together to make the perfect pop album. One of the most powerful tracks is “Life On Mars?”, a dramatic ballad with an orchestral arrangement that’s too beautiful to be sappy. When Bowie crescendos and hits the high note at the beginning of each chorus, you’re right there with him, mesmerized by the sheer force of his unusual and pronouncedly British vocals.
Bowie’s versatility becomes apparent in the memorable sequence of songs paying homage to his three heroes: Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. “Queen Bitch,” Bowie’s ode to Reed’s seedy New York, displays the talents of his future stage foil and Spider From Mars, Mick Ronson. His choppy, slightly distorted guitar rattles the album like a nightclub hustler “pushing ahead of the Dames.”
And while Bowie was shaking things up, songs like the incomprehensible “The Bewlay Brothers” and the ode to the newborn Zowie, “Kooks,” show us that he was certainly hanging on to one late ’60s tradition: letting the freak flag fly. Still, you can afford to shave your eyebrows when you’re writing albums like this.
