Bowie's previous album "David Bowie" (1967) was his last folk music album. Bowie's next album "The Man Who Sold The World" (1971) was his first glam rock album. Right in between the two was "Space Oddity" (1969). Bowie managed to get the best of both worlds into this 10-song masterpiece. "Space Oddity," the title track, was his first commercial success (much due to the fact that it tied into the moon landing), and a nice yarn at that. Not one of his greatest, but it paved the way for songs like "Changes." "Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed" is just about as close to glam as he gets on this one, with about 3 minutes of guitar solo at the end. "(Don't Sit Down)" is the little insert which, like "Her Majesty" from The Beatles' "Abbey Road," seems almost as an afterthought. However, unlike "Her Majesty," this is quite good for all its 40 seconds. It's main flaw is that it could ONLY exist at 40 seconds. Any more, and it wouldn't be as nice. "Letter To Hermione" is his bitter plea to his recently departed (left, not dead) girlfriend Hermione Farthingale. Not much of a song, but the end ("He treats you well"/"He brings you out in style"..."And when you kiss it's something new"/"But did you ever call my name just by mistake?") is good enough to make just about any girl come back (don't you think she wishes she did, now?). "Cygnet Committee" is the grand gem of this album. 9 and a half minutes long, and great for every second of it. It weaves a talk good enough for a novel and the end brings to mind every great plea of human history, from Patrick Henry to Martin Luther King, Jr. "Janine" is a nice little steel guitar rockabilly number, which would probably go over with the Garth Brooks crowd even today. As a footnote, it's also one of those multi-decade numbers...as song from the '60s, with a sound like the '70s, in a film about the '80s, made in the '90s ("Whatever" (1998). "An Occasional Dream" is another about the failed dreams about his relationship with Hermione...much better then "Letter To Hermione." It's one that takes a while before you like it, though. "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" sounds like something from a Disney movie in more ways then one. But, the thing that strikes you most about it is the grand sound, which sounds like a national philharmonic orchestra. The song is great too, another nice bit about freedom. "God Knows I'm Good" is to his folk music days what "Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed" was to his glam rock days. Sounds so folky, it sounds like a leftover from the '60s. But, if you listen to the plot, it really does typify what folk music was all about...plot...social commentary. A nice simple story good enough for a short story. The title does a nice little twist at the end, good stuff. "Memory Of A Free Festival" is one of his earliest hippie songs, which were later perfected on "Hunky Dory" (1971). With an end refrain borrowed from "Hey Jude" and "Give Peace A Chance," this is the perfect song to end this album, sticking in your mind and making you want to listen to the album all over again. And, believe me, if you're a real Bowie fan, you'll want to. However, and there is a however, if this is going to be your first Bowie album, your making a big mistake. Go over and pick up "The Best Of David Bowie 1969/1974," then "The Best Of David Bowie 1974/1979." If you like those, you'll LOVE this.Best wishes, Marc-David Jacobs (AgentMarcFBI@hotmail.com) Space Oddity
The zoned-out photo of David Bowie on the cover of his 1969 album, Space Oddity, is a good implication of the product inside. Space Oddity is bizarre music. Take "Cygnet Committee" with its stark, cryptic, metaphysical language and dramatic cries of "I want to live/Live!" for example or "Unwashed and Someone Slightly Dazed," the story of an aristocrat's daughter who encounters a dirt-encrusted sooth-sayer, described as a "phallus in pigtails" or "Memory of a Free Festival" with its chant of "The sun machine is coming down/And we're gonna have a party!" The hit title track, the dreamlike story of doomed astronaut, Major Tom, may actually be the most upbeat and conventional track on this remarkably creepy album. Like its stunning follow-up, The Man Who Sold the World, Space Oddity is an early Bowie album that, despite not gathering the acclaim of latter efforts, such as Ziggy Stardust and Station to Station, simply blows me away. Mr. Bowie has never been renowned for the melodic, Syd Barrett-ish space-folk employed on this album but he surely knows how to compose such psychedelic-flavored folk very well. Space Oddity is wonderfully ambiguous, creepy and compelling.
There are truly some outstanding lyrics and songs here. Allow me to begin with my personal favorites: "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed," (hence my review title), "Janine," "Cygnet Committee," and "Memories of a Free Cloud Festival." Yes, we all know the title track (even non-Bowie fans know it well), but I don't think that it's the best track on this album. Perhaps I would think otherwise it I hadn't heard the song, oh, about ten thousand times. Do I exaggerate? Perhaps. But I do know that my non-Bowie fan friends (and I'm one of those truly obsessive Bowie fans out there, as in "Oh I adore this musician I must absolutely own everything he has ever released and not only listen to all his albums day in and day out-- an offhand allusion there to his album "Never Let Me Down"-- but I must also make everyone in my circle listen to Bowie with the hope that they will, if not at least love his music as I do, then they should certainly appreciate him as a musician!"), recognize "Space Oddity," and will at least humor me when it is played, by singing along. :)There is so much more to this album. It is a breakthrough, yes; somewhere between the adorable likes of his early early stuff (such as "Love You Till Tuesday," "Little Bombadier," and his exquisite cover of "Penny Lane") and, say, "Hunky Dory," or "Alladin Sane," etc, etc., but it is a stupendous breakthrough, nevertheless. Critics may say that he was "finding his voice" with this album, that with this album he was becoming the David Bowie persona that would change and change again for his audience, and I must agree, but I'm not certain that it is necessary to listen to this album while comparing it to the rest of his oeuvre. Genius, yes. Way before his time, naturally. His lyrics appeal to my most poetic side while still compelling me to sing (or at least hum) along to his melodies. And "Space Oddity" does this; the songs grasp you, make you want to sing along, spaced out as you change lanes, but you cannot help but to ponder the metaphorical/metaphysical/ philosophical aspects of his lyrics: "And I want to Believe/ In the madness that calls "Now."/ That's a light's shining through,/ Somehow. . . And I Want to Believe. . . I Want to Live. . ." Even so, there are some lyrics that are maddingly simplistic and unforgettable: "So take your glasses off and don't act so sincere. . ." The best of all possible worlds, perhaps? That is to say, the profound and philosophical realm merging with the simplistic and beatific realm of happiness and well-being. . ."It was God's land/ It was ragged and naive/ It was Heaven. . ." It may sound exhaustingly cliched, but this album definitely captures the transition between the peachy blissed-out state of the sixties and the new awareness/consciousness of the seventies. . . I had yet to be born, but, on listening to this album, I get this feeling of transition. Not only historically, considering the events of that era which would influence my generation, but also in listening to the lyrics which would eventually evolve (?) into those of "The Thin White Duke." A peculiar transition, and a welcome one. This album is a must for any Bowie fan. - Psychedelic - Progressive Rock - Bowie - Classic Rock'
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