P46 ELTON JOHN
P47 PINK FLOYD
P48 JOYCE STREET
P48 THE KINKS
P50 PHAROAH SANDERS
P51 TEN YEARS AFTER
P51 LUCINDA WILLIAMS
DAVID BOWIE
Aladdin Sane 50th Anniversary Half-Speed Mastered (reissue, 1973) PARLOPHONE
9/10
Half-century vinyl reissue of Bowie’s uneasy embrace of stardom
From the lumbering pun of the title to the cover image of Bowie closing his eyes against the lightning bolt with which he had been anointed, this was Bowie’s reckoning with the acquisition of the fame which had long intrigued him. The balance between triumphant rock’n’roll and existential queasiness is a fine one, but Bowie treads it deftly, to a soundtrack dominated by the thuggish boogie of the Spiders From Mars. “Let’s Spend The Night Together” somehow sounds like more of a Rolling Stones song than the Stones’ own version did, and “Watch That Man” and “The Jean Genie” are key chapters in Bowie’s testament of glam angst.
Available as a black
