HUNKY DORY

While I generally prefer Bowie's later-70s albums, I think Bowie made his masterpiece with this album (made before Ziggy Stardust). Yes, it has a couple of his most radio-accessible tunes, like "Life on Mars", "Changes", "Kooks" and "All You Pretty Things", but if you listen closely the lyrics here are actually quite profound, for-telling of the real changes that not only Bowie would like to see, but which did in fact happen, and wrapped up on a language celebrating the new generation and new kinds of thinking (perhaps something akin to the importance of Bob Dylan's "The Time's, they are...", but through the eyes of a master writer using fantasy to produce social commentary). But while those are all great songs in their own right, the real treasures of this album come later, in the more avant-garde and poetic pieces, like "Quicksand", "Andy Warhol", "Queen Bitch" and especially "The Bewlay Brothers". These are compositions with real weight and depth, and Bowie here is very poetic, while also producing tunes that are very musical. While I have listened to tons of other Bowie albums, it was always this albums that sparked the most questions - I wish he were still around so I could ask them. I give this album 9.0 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which puts this just into the 5 PA stars realm. This is the only 5-star Bowie album, in my opinion.

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