What are your favorite 70s albums by Bowie?

[KevShmev]

I, along with a friend, am currently doing a deep dive through his 70s albums.  So much great stuff.

Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane are the easy 1-2 for me, and for now, 3rd place is tough for me between The Man Who Sold the World and Low.  I am anxious to get to Station to Station again to see how this one is for me this time around.  I have a feeling that one might sneak up on me.

Hunky Dory has some of his best songs ever, but has a few misses for me.

Diamond Dogs is consistently very good, and Young Americans was a great left turn and quite good, Fame aside.

Not real wild about the 2nd and 3rd albums of the Berlin trilogy ("Heroes" and Lodger), but maybe this time around I will take more of a liking to one or both.

[TAC]

 

[NoseofNicko]

Low
Station to Station
Heroes

[HOF]

Have never heard a full Bowie album. Never found his music all that interesting to be honest.

[NoseofNicko]

Never found his music all that interesting to be honest.

That’s because you have never heard a full Bowie album. 

[HOF]

Never found his music all that interesting to be honest.

That’s because you have never heard a full Bowie album. 

That’s a fair point! More that of his popular songs, I haven’t enjoyed them enough to want to listen to a full album. For instance, I like the song Heroes, but prefer pretty much everyone else’s version of it. I should probably check that whole album out at least for the Fripp contributions.

[KevShmev]

That’s a fair point! More that of his popular songs, I haven’t enjoyed them enough to want to listen to a full album. For instance, I like the song Heroes, but prefer pretty much everyone else’s version of it. I should probably check that whole album out at least for the Fripp contributions.

Or maybe check an album out to see how good it is, not just because a prog guy just happened to contribute a little.

And I hear ya on his popular songs. I have never liked Changes or Fame, two of his most popular classic rock staples, but it took hearing full albums for me to really grasp his greatness, and I do think he can be a bit of an acquired taste.

[HOF]

That’s a fair point! More that of his popular songs, I haven’t enjoyed them enough to want to listen to a full album. For instance, I like the song Heroes, but prefer pretty much everyone else’s version of it. I should probably check that whole album out at least for the Fripp contributions.

Or maybe check an album out to see how good it is, not just because a prog guy just happened to contribute a little.

And I hear ya on his popular songs. I have never liked Changes or Fame, two of his most popular classic rock staples, but it took hearing full albums for me to really grasp his greatness, and I do think he can be a bit of an acquired taste.

I mean, I think Fripp is really great (even if I don’t like all of his stuff), so that should at least be a little extra reason to check that one out. But yeah, I probably need to give more of his stuff a try in general.

I will say I prefer what I’ve heard from Bowie in the 80s. Under Pressure is a great song. Something like Let’s Dance is at least kind of fun. Whereas something like Space Oddity never appealed to me.

[Nekov]

I voted for Spiders and Dogs since those are the two Bowie albums I've listened to the most from this era. I was tempted to vote Heroes since I love that song. I'm used to listening to 80s and 90s Bowie more than 70s Bowie, but I might give it a run at some point in the future. He was such a prolific and diverse musician that it's hard to get bored with his stuff.

[Stadler]

Never found his music all that interesting to be honest.

That’s because you have never heard a full Bowie album. 

That’s a fair point! More that of his popular songs, I haven’t enjoyed them enough to want to listen to a full album. For instance, I like the song Heroes, but prefer pretty much everyone else’s version of it. I should probably check that whole album out at least for the Fripp contributions.

HOF, I could have written all of this.  I don't DISLIKE Bowie, but I haven't LOVED him enough to actually go and dig in to the albums.  And the deeper tracks I've heard covered - The Bewlay Brothers, Moonage Daydream - don't change that.  I have a couple greatest hits - well, one, the Sound + Vision set - but I suppose I could go and give it a once over, though.

[HOF]

Never found his music all that interesting to be honest.

That’s because you have never heard a full Bowie album. 

That’s a fair point! More that of his popular songs, I haven’t enjoyed them enough to want to listen to a full album. For instance, I like the song Heroes, but prefer pretty much everyone else’s version of it. I should probably check that whole album out at least for the Fripp contributions.

HOF, I could have written all of this.  I don't DISLIKE Bowie, but I haven't LOVED him enough to actually go and dig in to the albums.  And the deeper tracks I've heard covered - The Bewlay Brothers, Moonage Daydream - don't change that.  I have a couple greatest hits - well, one, the Sound + Vision set - but I suppose I could go and give it a once over, though.

Right, I don’t dislike him. I’m aware of his reputation and his impact, and I admire the fact that he was always exploring new territory. I even like his voice well enough. Just never really got into him. Will have to put him on the list to explore further at some point though.

[Fritzinger]

I'm one of the weird ones who don't think Bowie's best period was not in the 70s (like I do with Rush). I think David had his best years in the 90s until his passing. In fact, in my opinion, Blackstar is his masterpiece by far. But I also love Heathen and The Next Day.

Anyway, my vote is not very spectacular: Heroes, Low, Station, in that order 

[Orbert]

I picked Ziggy Stardust just because it's one that I've listened to countless times and I guess it's a fave because of familiarity as much as anything else.

Young Americans keeps some of the early Bowie weirdness, but channels it into some more accessible stuff.  Some really cool, catchy songs there.

Station to Station is something like the other end of that.  Longer, introspective, almost proggy tunes.  But still with a touch of darkness and weirdness.  I've always loved Bowie's ability to go in directions I don't expect, even if I'm not completely taken by the results.

I picked those three, but I've listened to all of these and I don't think there are any that I dislike.  Bowie was amazing.

[soupytwist]

Hunky, Ziggy, Sane and Station are the ones for me.  Probably giving the overall edge to Station.

As a collection of albums I'm not overly keen on the Berlin trilogy as some - although between them they do have many great songs, I'm just personally not a huge fan of the ambient nature.  I absolutely hate Young Americans, awful plastic soul easily my least fav Bowie album!

[KevShmev]

For me, Bowie was like Peter Gabriel in that I failed miserably by trying to really get into him by listening to a compilation or greatest hits.  I know it sounds like a cliche, but listening to a couple studio albums from start to finish is the way to go if someone has any interest in becoming more of a fan.  Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane are the places to go. 

[Mladen]

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Low

These two were immediate choices. And then I spent minutes on figuring out if I'm going with Station to Station or Lodger. I ended up voting for Lodges, because I really do think it's underappreciated.

[Stadler]

For me, Bowie was like Peter Gabriel in that I failed miserably by trying to really get into him by listening to a compilation or greatest hits.  I know it sounds like a cliche, but listening to a couple studio albums from start to finish is the way to go if someone has any interest in becoming more of a fan.  Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane are the places to go. 

See, now that's a recommendation I can get behind. I'm a huge Peter Gabriel fan, just because, but I don't think I would have had I just picked up his "Greatest Hits" record.

[TheSoylentMan]

I went with Diamond Dogs and Low. I don't know his whole discography super well, but I've at least listened to most of the big ones. I wasn't expecting to like Diamond Dogs as much as I do; I don't hear it talked about as much as Ziggy or Aladdin Sane, but it really clicked with me. I love how dramatic and theatrical it is, especially the opening suite. It's a very "visual" album. I like the glam edge mixed with the more lush piano-based stuff; somehow it works. And the vocal performance on Sweet Thing is awesome.

I have the Rykodisc release with a couple bonus tracks, and those are good too. There's a "demo version" of Candidate that's basically a completely different song.

[KevShmev]

For me, Bowie was like Peter Gabriel in that I failed miserably by trying to really get into him by listening to a compilation or greatest hits.  I know it sounds like a cliche, but listening to a couple studio albums from start to finish is the way to go if someone has any interest in becoming more of a fan.  Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane are the places to go. 

See, now that's a recommendation I can get behind. I'm a huge Peter Gabriel fan, just because, but I don't think I would have had I just picked up his "Greatest Hits" record.

I think Bowie and Gabriel are similar in that they were so all over the place stylistically in their primes that a greatest hits almost sounds discombobulated.  In the case of Bowie, it didn't help either that I actively disliked the majority of his classic rock "hits."  I never liked Fame or Changes (still don't), and Rebel Rebel is just okay.  Like PG, much of the magic is in the songs that didn't get played on the radio.

[HOF]

For me, Bowie was like Peter Gabriel in that I failed miserably by trying to really get into him by listening to a compilation or greatest hits.  I know it sounds like a cliche, but listening to a couple studio albums from start to finish is the way to go if someone has any interest in becoming more of a fan.  Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane are the places to go. 

See, now that's a recommendation I can get behind. I'm a huge Peter Gabriel fan, just because, but I don't think I would have had I just picked up his "Greatest Hits" record.

I think Bowie and Gabriel are similar in that they were so all over the place stylistically in their primes that a greatest hits almost sounds discombobulated.  In the case of Bowie, it didn't help either that I actively disliked the majority of his classic rock "hits."  I never liked Fame or Changes (still don't), and Rebel Rebel is just okay.  Like PG, much of the magic is in the songs that didn't get played on the radio.

I got Peter Gabriel’s Hit collection fairly early on in my history with him, and that one works pretty well as a collection of songs. I dunno, I grew up with both PG and Bowie on the radio and was compelled to investigate PG further but not Bowie. Though a big part of it for me was also getting into Genesis.

[Zoom E]

Hunky Dory is my favourite, followed by Ziggy Stardust, and the Man Who Sold the World.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

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[KevShmev]

There's a certain magic to Bowie's work in the 70's that I seldom get from his contemporaries. He's an artist that becomes endlessly rewarding with a deep dive beyond just his big hits and with repeated listens. Hell, even Man Who Sold the World, which I have at the bottom here, is still a fine record. Can we also just appreciate how insanely prolific he was in this decade? 10 albums (not counting the covers album) of great music throughout in that short a time span is pretty wild. They may not be very lengthy albums, but it really speaks to how much of a wellspring of creativity the man was, considering each album came with a change in sound and style.

Amen to this.  I can't say I love all of those albums, and there are some major duds on some of them, but his good stuff is really great, and few artists were as prolific AND adventurous as him in the 70's.