David Bowie

The dreamy gaze, long blonde hair gathered between the hands. A silent-movie diva's pose. Greta Garbo. A timeless image, an old retouched photo with a late-19th-century flavour. Ambiguity, sophistication. This is how David Bowie, just one step away from the "glam" consecration of "Ziggy Stardust", offers us the first of his masterpieces. The former protégé of Lindsay Kemp, the ex-hippy who sang about the moon landing with a hit space ballad ("Space Oddity"), the proto-glam-rocker of a dark and controversial record like "The Man Who Sold The World", finds himself at a crucial point in his career and his life: he has recently changed manager, firing the loyal Kenneth Pitt in favour of the shrewd Tony Defries (the architect of his success but also the source of countless future problems), while his marriage to Angela Barnett (who had just given him little Zowie) provides strong support for his professional choices.

Inspired by the cultural ferment of London and the nascent "glam" phenomenon, at the start of 1971 Bowie develops an aesthetic whose sharpest weapons are ambiguity and shape-shifting; to fulfil his remaining contractual obligations to his old record label, under the pseudonym Arnold Corns (a nod to Barrett's Arnold Layne), he releases a couple of singles; for the occasion, in a thoroughly Warholian move, he hands the frontman role to his eccentric stylist Freddi Buretti and puts out a handful of songs (including a prototype version of "Moonage Daydream" and the suggestively titled "Man In The Middle"), already dripping with transgression and a desire to shock; although the impact is minimal, this is certainly a prelude to the events that would upend his career the following year.

Contrary to these premises, the future Ziggy will wear no mask to make his first great work: "Hunky Dory" is a David Robert Jones record, the sound of an artist now fully aware of his own expressive means and ready for the big leap. The album thus emerges from a moment of strong inspiration, aided by fortunate collaborations; after the Hype experience in 1970, Bowie brings back the excellent guitarist Mick Ronson, who arrives with bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick "Woody" Woodmansey in tow as a kind of dowry: the future Spiders From Mars; having lost Tony Visconti, who went off to support the (glittering) rising star Marc Bolan, he wants the experienced Ken Scott behind the desk, fresh from the triumph of George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass". He plays guitar, sax and piano, as far as his ability allows (as he ironically states in his own handwritten liner notes); for the more elaborate parts there's an exceptional guest, Rick Wakeman of Yes (given complete creative freedom), whose magical flourishes on the keyboard further enrich the compositions. But the lion's share of the credit goes to Ronson's orchestral arrangements: besides being able to shred on six strings like no one else, he's also a refined pianist and musician (a role still sadly underrated). The result is one of Bowie's most ambitious albums.

"Hunky Dory" (slang for "all's well") is a kind of musical manifesto and a summation of the English artist's gifts as both performer and composer. The first half of the record (following the original vinyl split) is devoted to a sort of "classicism" that finds natural expression in the ballad form, with rich, mostly piano-based arrangements enhancing writing that is already impeccable in itself: at least three songs are still regarded as staples of the Bowie catalogue to this day. It opens with "Changes", a hugely successful pop song with an unforgettable chorus, long considered an anthem to reinvention, but actually a bittersweet reflection on life's critical turning points; the hit "Oh You Pretty Things", beneath its breezy musical surface, hides a lyric with obscure Nietzschean references; after the piano-and-guitar-only interlude "Eight Line Poem", comes "Life on Mars?", the "classic of classics".

Musically it's a tribute (bordering on parody) to Frank Sinatra, strongly marked by an orchestral arrangement that exudes grandeur in every note and a textbook vocal performance; contrary to what one might think, it isn't a "space"-themed song at all: the title refers to a TV show, and the lyric is a visionary succession of images from consumer society (Lennon, Mickey Mouse, Ibiza) seen through the eyes of a girl fleeing reality and taking shelter in the fiction of a film.

The following "Kooks", one of the most delightful moments, is an affectionate, tender tribute to the newborn of the family, a highly catchy little tune driven by a vaudeville piano and underscored by simple trumpet lines from Trevor Bolder; closing side one is "Quicksand", a secret and most precious gem of the Bowie songbook, a sweet acoustic ballad whose lyrics, with their references to Aleister Crowley and their bitter philosophical musings, reveal one of the darkest sides of the future Thin White Duke. The subtle unease left in the listener is swept away at the start of side two by the freshness of "Fill Your Heart", the only cover on the record (written by American Biff Rose, one of the major inspirations of that period), built around a delightful arrangement centred entirely on Wakeman's piano.

The next three songs are crucial, both to the album's overall balance and for their significance. "Andy Warhol", "Song For Bob Dylan" and "Queen Bitch" (dedicated "some V.U. white light returned with thanks") are more than tributes — they're already something else: the assimilation and reinterpretation of lessons learned from the greats. The first is an ironic, irreverent portrait of the pop-art guru, acoustic and almost amateurish in feel, with one of Bowie's funniest lyrics: the intent is clearly affectionate (the original liner notes read "Andy Monument"), but as far as is known, its subject didn't much appreciate the song (reportedly preferring Ziggy Stardust's eccentric footwear instead!). The song explicitly dedicated to Robert Zimmerman is an invocation cast as pleasant folk-rock: its author believes that Dylan is losing his role as leader and, while inviting him to retrace his steps, implicitly puts himself forward to fill this kind of "power vacuum". The music of "Queen Bitch" instantly brings to mind the Velvet Underground (the impression of Lou Reed's voice is unmistakable), but in truth, right from the title, we're already in glam territory: Bowie thus reveals himself as a key figure in rock, introducing the lesson of the then-obscure New York band (not obscure to him: back in 1966 his old manager had given him a promo copy of "Velvet Underground & Nico") and going on to surpass and reshape it in turn: the road is now paved for the glories of "Transformer".

But "Hunky Dory" hasn't finished surprising us yet, closing ominously with "The Bewlay Brothers", an obscure psychedelic folk piece with a circular, claustrophobic structure, recalling Syd Barrett and the acoustic nightmares of the earlier "The Man Who Sold The World". The lyric, dense with cryptic imagery, centres on the peculiar relationship between Bowie and his half-brother Terry, who suffered from schizophrenia and was already undergoing psychiatric treatment at the time (he would die by suicide in the mid-80s; he is the subject of 1993's "Jump They Say").

The starting point of a musical journey that would soon prove exhilarating, "Hunky Dory" is probably the most representative record of Bowie the artist, presenting all the key elements of his songcraft in an elegant, effective "pop" guise (in the Warholian sense). But above all, "Hunky Dory" showcases the skill its author had acquired in rewriting rock's vocabulary using already-familiar forms, while unmistakably stamping them with his own imprint, giving life to a unique artistic universe that for many has represented (and still represents) a guiding light in the dark. And no less importantly, it's an album that remains a joy to listen to even today, frivolous and profound, grandiloquent, reverent, irreverent and beguiling all at once. Ladies and gentlemen, David Bowie.

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27/10/2006