Search - David Bowie :: Aladdin Sane-30th Anniversary

Classic, Must-Have Glam Era Bowie -- 30th Anniversary Packag

Rich Latta | Albuquerque, NM - Land of Entitlement | 04/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm sorry to read that some people dislike the packaging of this special release and have had "copy control" problems. I have no idea why one reviewer went off about the "horrible remastering" - sounds great to me, but maybe problems are more evident on the home theater system he uses. Personally, I think this 2 CD special edition is really cool. It's exactly like a miniature book with each CD on the inside of each side of the binding. I do get really annoyed with CD packaging that does a poor job of containing the CDs, but the sleeves on this one don't bother me much - you just have to be really careful when taking them out. The rare pictures (including pictures of promo posters and rare single covers), and the informative essay and time line of events are all great.



The album itself (disk 1) is one of Bowie's best - fantastic rock 'n roll with elements of do-wop, cabaret, soul, classical and avant-garde in the mix. This is glam rock at its best - loud, raunchy, and loaded with killer riffs - but the mellower tracks are great as well. I'll refrain from carrying on endlessly about this music, but I gotta say it's worth getting alone for the addition to the band of super-talented pianist Mike Garson. In particular, his bizarre solo on the title track is a mind blower. It's hard to pick a favorite cut, but "Aladdin Sane" may be mine, thanks especially to Mr. Garson. Least favorite - "Let's Spend the Night Together," although I still like it a lot. This Rolling Stones cover is more amped up than the original and it's loaded with wild synth effects. I gotta admit that the "Our love comes from above/Let's make love" interlude towards the end is a bit cheesy, but I still think it's fun (unlike a friend of mine who thinks that part practically ruins the song - he feels the same way about the "Wham bam thank you ma'am" part from "Suffragette City" . . . Oh well, to each his own opinion - that's his hang up). Keep in mind that that kind of thing was much more shocking and explicit back in the day.



The bonus disk is nice to have, but there's really nothing essential here. The "sax version" of "John, I'm Only Dancing" isn't really that rare and I personally have no use for truncated versions of "The Jean Genie" or "Time." It's nice to have a copy of "All the Young Dudes," although Bowie made a really good move by giving it to Mott the Hoople (whose re-recording of it became a hit). Bowie's version just doesn't have enough spark. It's a bit lethargic at the chorus; the saxophones don't create as much energy as the song needs. But it's still a great song and his generous gift to Mott helped relaunch their career (I personally don't care that much for Mott's music anyway, but I'll digress). The remaining songs are live versions - very good, but again, not essential. Still, it's a pleasure having them in my collection. I recommend this set for the Bowie fan, others really only need the original album."

On-tour compositions.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After the triumph of 'Ziggy Stardust', David Bowie wrote a number of songs while on tour that would end up becoming the "Aladdin Sane" album. Featuring the "Spiders from Mars" band (guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey) with pianist Mike Garson added to the mix, Bowie's compositions found him exploring not only the glam sounds he had made his own, but also taking older pop forms and bringing them into his idiom.



Nowhere is the latter illustrated in his head first cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together". The song is taken fiercely uptempo, with Bowie's voice ranting above frantic piano and Ronson's churning rhythm guitar. But an embracing of doo-wop and Phil Spector style pop is clearly illustrated on cuts like the superb "Drive-In Saturday" (with one of Bowie's most powerful vocal deliveries on record) and "The Prettiest Star". Bowie also tackles blues rock, with the churning "The Jean Genie", with its snarling lead vocal and chugging guitar line. Also in the mix was a decent take on '60s rock ("Watch that Man"), something totally bizarre (the indescribable title track, which after a decade since I first discovered this album in college I STILL can't make my mind up about), and a jagged, frantic and fierce moody glam workout ("Panic in Detroit") that probably proves to be the real highlight of the album.



The bonus disc in this set proves to be a nice compliment with a handful of live tracks, the rare "sax version" of "John, I'm Only Dancing" (the original version was on the 'Ziggy Stardust' limited release) and the until recently unheard studio take of "All the Young Dudes" by Bowie.



"Aladdin Sane" does end up with a bit of a rushed feel-- the songs sound like they were written on a tour-- but this lends a nice, nervous energy to it that is sort of hard to describe. Bowie was cooling off a bit with this one-- it's not quite as essential as his previous couple albums, but it's still a fantastic record. Recommended."

Legendary album, great sound, nice book packaging, ATROCIOUS

Andrew Claps | Detroit, MI, USA | 02/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Aladdin Sane" is one of my three favorite Bowie albums, the others being "Ziggy" and "Scary Monsters." Along with "Ziggy," it marked the absolute zenith of Bowie's glam period. There isn't even a REMOTELY mediocre tune on it. The track list reads like a greatest-hits package, containing all-time classics like "Panic in Detroit," "Watch That Man," "The Jean Genie," and "Drive-In Saturday," to name but four.



With "Aladdin," Bowie's songwrting was at an incredibly high level, and Mick Ronson and Co. contributed some of the best support they ever gave (and that's saying a lot!).



The 30th Anniversary edition was a nice idea and generally well executed. The sound quality is excellent. It's the best I've ever heard the album sound, be it on CD or LP. Like most of the Virgin reissues, it's a little forward sounding, but that little "bump" really gives the music a nice sense of presence and drive.



I own the copy-controlled version, but I had no problems with skipping or burning the discs.



I love the booklet and informative liner notes, but the cardboard "sleeves" that contain the CDs are absolutely horrendous. When I pulled the discs out (no mean feat, given they were stuck in there pretty good), they were horribly scratched. Why oh WHY do record companies do this? I can't recall the number of times discs have been scratched because of the same annoying packaging. American companies could learn a good leasson from the Japanese, who make extensive use of rice-paper sleeves, which do an incredibly good job of protecting the CDs. Because the discs were so marred, I felt compelled to burn them onto some clean CD-Rs. My burning hardware is pretty good, and now they sound even better!



Anyway, the verdict is this: One of the best albums in a career chock full of great ones, first-class sonics, nice booklet and liner notes, and absolutely reprehensible CD containment. For the latter, I feel compelled to deduct a star, but everything else about the package is top-notch and deserves 5 stars.



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