Hunky Dory - DAVID BOWIE*****

Changes/Oh You Pretty Things/Eight Line Poem/Life On Mars/Kooks/Quicksand/Fill Your Heart/Andy Warhol/ Song For Bob Dylan/Queen Bitch/The Bewlay Brothers

Hunky Dory was the third in a series of brilliant albums from David Bowie, but he was still struggling to achieve a lasting commercial breakthrough. Fortunately his next LP release would change all that and retrospectively propel his earlier albums into the charts, and place the single Life On Mars in the UK top three. (US:93 UK:3)

“Hunky Dory is one of Bowie's finest albums. The music is exciting and the lyrics are groundbreaking, yet sometimes confusing. This was Bowie at his most brilliant.”

“Hunky Dory is a colourful pop rock record with glam-rock, folk and art rock influences with a rich piano sound. High quality songs like the out of this world Life On Mars, the cheerful Changes or the melancholic Quicksand made this a real breakthrough for one of the greatest performer in pop business.”

“The birth of Bowie's glam era sees all the different strands of his past efforts coming together to create an album which would mould and shape fashions to come. It's the most confident and self-assured of Bowie's pre-Ziggy album releases.”

“The songs are beautifully developed with thought provoking lyrics and gorgeous melodies. Every time I come to this album, especially after not hearing it for a good while, I'm just thrown back on how excellent and how well it works.”

“A catchy pop album that is by turns exhilarating, folky and meditative. Almost every melody is memorable, without any need to skip. The first two tracks get the album off to a banging start before settling into a more mellow flow. The array of sounds that Bowie uses makes the album feel like taking a journey. This might be the quintessential album to showcase his songwriting and versatility.”

“Hunky Dory is much more acoustic based with lots of piano thrown in but most of all is an album of unbelievable songwriting, songs don't come much better than these. The album is really well structured as well, each side has happy and upbeat songs for the most part but it finishes off with a darker, emotive and more powerful song.”

“Bowie effortlessly moves from one musical genre to another. Only he could give us an album with something as though provoking as Changes or as silly as Kooks and make it all work. It rocks, it swings and it even makes you think.”