SPACE ODDITY

SPACE ODDITY is, of course, not a prog album, but I must admit it almost felt like one when I first discovered it in the 1970s. Not that it featured a plethora of sudden tempo changes or screaming synthesizer solos. It was the CLIMAXES wot did it! As a sentimental teenager I tended to feel prog's greatest triumphs were the dramatic climaxes to extended compositions such as "Ritual" and "Supper's Ready". And on SPACE ODDITY the young Bowie seemed to provide just the same sort of thing with "Cygnet Committee". It's nearly ten minutes long, so surely you could call it Bowie's very own epic? I mean, most of the excitement is provided by Bowie's voice (backed by acoustic guitar, bass and drums) which gradually moves from slow, cabaret-like singing to rapid, anguished shouting: surely that's excitement enough? And then, to top it all, you've got Mr Rick Wakeman accompanying our hero and going berserk on electric harpsichord. Surely all this is much proggier than "Cans and Brahms"!

The remainder of the album cannot lay claim to any prog credentials, even though mellotron freaks will be familiar with the title track. It is filled with sensitive (and occasionally sentimental) acoustic and theatrical ballads, and there's at least one track ("Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed") which foreshadows Bowie's glam rock phase, even though it goes on for too long. I'm also fond of the starry-eyed "Memory of A Free Festival", which sounds almost like a Jon Anderson solo song. Ah, Youth...