SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS)

Quite definitely the best Bowie record of all. Every track is a winner on this recording. He's helped out by Robert Fripp on guitar who stamps his personality all over this album. 'It's No Game pt1' is the first, hardest and most discordant song on the LP and Bowie sounds berserk on it!. Things calm down a bit with 'Up the Hill Backwards' but it's an odd little tune and a strange choice as a single. The title track is fantastic, particularly with the vocoded Dalek sounding vocals. We all know how great the two hit singles are so I'll skip them.

Side two opens with 'Teenage Wildlife' , a tune that sounds all over the place with seemingly random notes sprouting about everywhere but after a few listens becomes immensely enjoyable. 'Scream Like a Baby' sounds a bit 'Rocky Horror' to me but still a very unusual Bowie track. 'Kingdom Come' is dominated by Fripp's King Crimson like guitar loudness with Bowie hitting some screechingly high notes that he is now incapable of doing. 'Because You're Young' is probably the most 'Bowie' sounding track on the album - and that's no bad thing in my book. The outro is the lazy sounding version of 'It's No Game'. Who knows what on Earth the man is babbling on about? Nah, me neither.

Brilliant artwork with Bowie at his peak (he was 33 when this was released!). It's got just the right amount of experimentalism and it's raw and loud. The rest of his career will be forever judged on this 1980 Meisterwerk which set the benchmark for all further Bowie releases, which unfortunately he was never quite able to replicate. (Maybe with the exception of 'Outside' from '95) Not at all 'proggy' - but one of my all time favourite albums.

A great big 5 Star Award for this one!