David Bowie
Aladdin Sane [50th Anniversary Half Speed Master]
PARLOPHONE
Along with the mesmeric edits of director-turned-mixmaster Brett Morgen on the soundtrack accompaniment to his new film Moonage Daydream and its deep reliance on everything Ziggy-era, a re-release of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, such as this 50th anniversary edition, nestles into a good space. Already clarion-clearly produced by Ziggy mixer Ken Scott for (mostly) ship-in-a-bottle precision, the 2023 album’s sound is bracing nearly to a fault, with what was rushed in its original release subtly made right.
What was the rush in the first place? Fame, fame, fame, and Bowie’s teeth-gnashing mediation on that which Ziggy Stardust wrought as the songwriter penned Aladdin Sane during his 1972 tour of the United States. Called “Ziggy Goes to Washington” by Bowie himself, its tightly wound aggro-glam-rock-meets-elegant-cabaret-jazz tones give the vocalist just enough room to offer tautly expressed, overly wordy witticisms on White Panthers (“Panic in Detroit”), Hollywood trashiness (“Cracked Actor”), live-fast-die-young mortality (“Time”), the unease of ascending madness and paranoia (“Drive-in Saturday,” the title track), the lost women in his life (“Lady Grinning Soul”), Iggy Pop (“The Jean Genie”), and more.
Guided by Mike Garson’s windingly complex avant-jazz piano and Mick Ronson’s silvery guitars in rave-up chord crunch and razor’s-edge solo mode, the album is more ornately arranged (again, Ronson) than its immediate predecessor, and has an almost breathless zeal as Bowie coos, croons, and camps his way through its pointed, elegant abstraction as if sucking down a mix of cocaine and helium (that’s a compliment). And for all of its oxygenated sound, lyrically it’s a more down-to-grimy-Earth and city-street recording than Bowie’s then-fascination with sci-fi and futurism tended to inspire.
Aladdin Sane at 50? Still bold and beautiful, with just a bit more crunch and punch.
