Limited 180 gram vinyl LP pressing. Aladdin Sane is the sixth album by David Bowie, released in 1973. The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, it was the first album he wrote and released as a bona fide rock star. It was one of six Bowie entries in Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest albums of all time (at #277) and ranked No. 77 on Pitchfork Media's list of the top 100 albums of the 1970s. Lacking the thematic flow found on it's predecessor, Aladdin Sane was described by Bowie himself as simply "Ziggy goes to America"; most of the tracks were observations he composed on the road during his 1972 US tour, which accounted for the place names following each song title on the original record labels.
It's no surprise that ALADDIN SANE and PIN UPS came out in the same year. Each drip with the seedy sexuality of London's late '60s sexual revolution. Yet, while PIN UPS was a mid-'60s sampling of influences--a glorified cover album--ALADDIN SANE was all Bowie.
Stepping out of the Ziggy Stardust shadow (Bowie would announce his temporary retirement from the stage later that year), ALADDIN SANE was the aftermath of Ziggy's visit, a brutal memoir of the drugs, sex and glamour that a young starlet could find at the time. "Forget that I'm 50/'Cause you just got paid," Bowie croons, adopting the persona of a "Cracked Actor," and one wonders how far stardom had pushed Bowie. Was he indeed a lad insane?
The macho guitar rave-ups are a brilliant spewing of the PIN UPS influences. Mick Ronson's searing guitar is beautiful trash, made of Stonesy grind and dangerous Kinks-like riffing. Bowie is at an evocative peak, his vocals at once voyeuristic and enticing. His cover of "Let's Spend The Night Together" sends an unwashed shiver up the back, and his youthful exuberance on "Panic In Detroit" is charmingly believable.
ALADDIN SANE showed that Bowie was an artist with staying power that reached beyond his previous Martian Cult status.
- Format: Vinyl
- Released: 02/26/2016
- Genre: Pop / Rock
----
Tracks
| A1 | Watch That Man | 4:30 |
| A2 | Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) | 5:15 |
| A3 | Drive-In Saturday | 4:38 |
| A4 | Panic In Detroit | 4:30 |
| A5 | Cracked Actor | 3:01 |
| B1 | Time | 5:10 |
| B2 | The Prettiest Star | 3:28 |
| B3 | Let's Spend The Night Together | 3:10 |
| B4 | The Jean Genie | 4:06 |
| B5 | Lady Grinning Soul | 3:53 |
