David Bowie
Aladdin Sane (45th Anniversary Silver Vinyl Reissue)
Parlophone
Jun 14, 2018
Web Exclusive
Here’s your opportunity to buy a vinyl copy of Aladdin Sane to replace the MP3’s that you downloaded from iTunes, to replace the CD that you bought to replace the original vinyl copy of the album you bought 45 years ago (if you’re old enough). But hey! This time, it’s on silver vinyl!
Stepping away from the extraordinary marketing of this release and concentrating on the music for a moment, what we have here is David Bowie consolidating his position as a rock and roll star. Aladdin Sane is an extraordinary document of an extraordinary time, which saw Bowie muscle his way (in an artfully effete and aesthetic way, of course) to the top of the tree. No one is more rock star-y than a ‘70s rock star and Bowie was the starry-est of them all.
Aladdin Sane is faultless. From the enigmatic sleeve to the compositions, via the crack team of musicians and the pin sharp production, everything aligns to create music that sounds alive and utterly vital, 45 years after it was made. Its predecessor, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was a great record, but Aladdin Sane aces it. Ten tracks. All incredible. From the opening bone-dry chords of Mick Ronson’s guitar slashing into “Watch That Man” through to the grandiose fade out of “Lady Grinning Soul,” no one puts a foot wrong. No one apart from bassist Trevor Bolder whose eagerness to get to the chorus of “The Jean Genie” earns him an audible rebuke from Bowie.
Imagine the greatest period of your life. Now imagine having the perfect document of that period and being able to share it with the world. Imagine then, sitting back and watching as thousands of musicians, visual artists, and God only knows who else, scurry away with blown minds and a pocketful of your ideas to inspire them. That’s Aladdin Sane. Every music fan needs five or six Bowie records in their collection. Aladdin Sane is three of them. (www.davidbowie.com)
Author rating: 10/10
Average reader rating: 8/10
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June 14th 2018
11:14am
Aladdin Sane is a great album, but very far from Bowie’s best. Still for a person wanting to get into Bowie it may be a good starting point. Very eclectic and very accessible.
June 14th 2018
5:48pm
That’s the beauty of Bowie; he is so wide ranging and our opinions reflect this. I’d say ‘Aladdin Sane’ is among his strongest albums taken as a whole piece.