My brother had all the David Bowie albums up to Station To Station in 1976 so I was indoctrinated at an early age. I would also sometimes play them when he wasn't in ! When he moved out though, I never bothered to replace them with copies of my own. Many years later I saw a 2 LP collection of Hunky Dory and The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust under the title Rock Galaxy. As these were my two favourite Bowie LPs I bought it ( for £4.99 apparently ) and looking at the cover again I can see it must have been an import from Germany, and the inside sleeve is half in German and half in English. It seems to have been released in 1981.
Anyway, despite it being presented as one double album, I have always viewed this as the two separate LPs as the mix and track orders are exactly the same as the originals.
Unlike other Bowie albums, the dominate instrument on Hunky Dory is the piano, which was played by Rick Wakeman, who was at that time a member of Straws and not yet famous in his own right. However, there is also the occasional hint of the rock direction that would become the Spiders From Mars on the Ziggy Stardust album.
Another odd feature of Hunky Dory is that whilst it regarded by many critics as his best piece of work, and includes several widely familiar songs, none of the tracks were a UK chart success for David Bowie. "Oh ! You Pretty Things" was a big hit for Peter Noone, "Life On Mars" and the line "Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy "was the inspiration for BBC retro speculative fiction police drama of the same name, the "calling a cab" section of The Killers "Mr Brightside" is clearly taken from "Queen Bitch", and the stuttering of "Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes" has become synonymous with David Bowie. In "Stella Street", the BBC comedy mockumentary of the late 1990s based on the fantastical premise that various celebraties have come to live in a street in Surbiton, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger run the corner shop but when they decide to go on holiday and have David Bowie run the shop in their absence, the first comment from the Bowie character on seeing the shop is "there's going to be some ch-ch-ch changes..........."
For anyone not familiar with most of the tracks on Hunky Dory it is probably David Bowie at his most melodic, easily accessible, unashamedly commercial, but still with complex song structures with as many ideas in one song than some song writers come up with on a whole album, and there is a plethora of memorable lyrics.
Side One contains perhaps the three strongest songs. The aforementioned "Changes" starts with slow piano and strings before a piano riff with more than a hint of music hall leading into a mournful, lyrically wistful verse building into the dramatic "Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes, turn and face the strain" refrain. The song has many memorable lines : "I watch the ripples change their size but never leave the stream of warm impermanence", And these children that you spit on as they try and change their worlds are immune to your consultations","look out you rock and rollers, pretty soon now your gonna be older" and "strange fascinations, fascating me". The song finishes with some slow, woozy saxophone. Strange how it was never a hit !
"Oh ! You Pretty Things" follows a not too dissimiliar pattern, just voice and piano to begin with, a big piano riff leading into a rising, whimsical chorus where the other instruments join in. The dark lyrics are offset by the bouncy nature of the tune, "homosapiens have outgrown their use, all the strangers came today and it looks as though they're here to stay", "written in pain, written in awe, by a puzzled man who questioned what we were here for", "look out my window and what do I see, a crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me".
"Eight Line Poem" is a fairly forgettable, mostly a piano piece with a gentle electronic guitar spoilt by the eight lines.
"Life On Mars" again starts with just piano and voice, building to a soaring vocal and more great lyrics "It's a god awful small affair to the girl with the mousy hair","Take a look at the sailors fighting in the dance hall, oh man, look at those cavemen go", "see the mice in their million hordes, from Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads". There's a big dramatic finish followed by a fading solo piano reprise.
"Kooks" is a bouncy, whimsical song to a young child from a hippy parent's point of view. "Don't pick fights with the bullies or the cads, cos I'm not much cop at punching other people's dads". It has some nice strings, trumpet and another georgeous hook.
"Quicksand" also starts with voice and lone instrumentation but this time it is a slow acoustic guitar with the piano joining in for the second verse. The strings enter as the song builds to its climax. I never really liked this song but it sounds pretty good now. There's another great line of "I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man, just a mortal with the potential of a superman"
As the title suggests the side two opener "Fill Your Heart" is an upbeat, happy song with a jaunty piano, strings and a saxophone break. "Happiness is happening, dragons have been bled" sum up the mood, and there are what appear to be duck noises to finish.
Then come the three tribute songs. The studio count in and chat on how to pronouce Andy Warhol and the clapping at the end on "Andy Warhol" were probably very trendy in 1971 but to me now sound a bit boring. However, its a decent song, with pacy acoustic guitar and chanted chorus.
"A Song For Bob Dylan" slows the pace a little. "Now hear this Robert Zimmerman, I wrote a song for you, about a strange you man named Dylan, with a voice like sand and glue". There's more tinkling of the ivories but Mick Ronson is finally given the chance to play some screeching guitar as well as achingly melodic solo.
"Queen Bitch" is a tribute to Lou Reed/Velvet Underground and is perhaps the only song that could have appeared on the follow-up Ziggy Stardust album, with driving acoustic guitar, bass and feedback electric guitar. Indeed, there is an Old Grey Whistle Test clip often shown on the BBC with Bowie playing this and "Starman" in his Ziggy persona. The guitar riff is reminiscent of early Velvet Underground but there is also a hint of "Three Steps To Heaven". It could even also be call glam-rock !
"The Bewlay Brothers" is an unusual ending to the LP with the song not really fitting in with the sound and mood of the rest of the album. It is mainly slow, gently strummed acoustic guitar and voice, with the other instruments only on the rising chorus. There is no piano on this track just a small mellotron part.I always thought this was probably the least interesting song on the album but listening now it sounds OK. I still don't like the way it ends with the mock cockney vocal though, it's more like an out-take from "The Laughing Gnome" !
Track Listing :
1. Changes
2. Oh ! You Pretty Things
3. Eight Line Poem
4. Life On Mars
5. Kooks
6. Quicksand
7. Fill Your Heart
8. Andy Warhol
9. Song For Bob Dylan
10.Queen Bitch
11. The Bewlay Brothers
Released 1971
UK Chart Position : 8
Singles :
Changes ( 1972 - )
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