Aladdin Sane and David Bowie came out in time for all the freaks and geeks who felt left out by the machismo of rock and roll and its followers. I am not saying any type of genre belongs to any one group of people, but during the 70s things were more segregated even in music, but people like Bowie ripped down the barriers. For this album I wore headphones. I realised that we lose so much today with our mini-devices and mini-headphones.
Bowie is otherworldly. It is more realised on the song “Aladdin Sane (1913–1938–197?)“. Bowie believe there was a pending third world war. There is, but he was off by many years. It is coming. We all know it. Some of us worry about it as we fall asleep and we wonder if we will wake to news of it, but most of us are too busy looking at cat videos on YouTube. We are all fighting the wrong enemies. What I like or dislike should not cause people to lash out at me.
“Panic in Detroit” speaks of the riots that happened in Michigan in 1967. Bowie heard stories from Iggy Pop. A little late, but oh well. It might be my least favourite song on the album if I had not heard The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together“. A wasted opportunity.
The only song I had heard prior to listening to this album was “The Jean Genie“. It is a standard Bowie song.
I am surprised I had never listened to this album before today. It is am amazing album, but with one hiccup. I think it is a little less experimental after The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. 9.7/10.
an ocean roars 