Aladdin Sane

Once Ziggy Stardust was released, David Bowie was on the road for almost a year and during that time the Aladdin Sane album was recorded and rush-released in early 1973.

David Bowie: Aladdin Sane

It's not unfair to say that the album is a little undercooked but given the circumstances, it stands up pretty well, in fact, I believe it to be way more interesting than Ziggy.

The songs are mostly Bowie's impressions of America, with lyrics written mostly using "cut-ups", random phrases placed together and either re-written or improvised upon etc. As such, they're mostly God-awful when judged literally...but they're also pretty interesting at times.

However, the real buzz around Aladdin Sane was Bowie's confidence, shining through on virtually every track. While it may not be a great "album" as such, it really is a fantastic collection of musical tracks.

Watch That Man opens with beefy Mick Ronson guitars, a Stonesy riff and fragmented lyrics from an American party which sounds suspiciously like the publicity party scene from Spinal Tap.

"...Shakey threw a party that lasted all night, everybody drank a lot of something nice. There was an old fashioned band of married men, looking up to me for encouragement...

And then the very limp-wristed summation of the evening:

It was so-so..."

                     Watch That Man

Then comes the awesome title track, Aladdin Sane. By 1973 Bowie's touring band, The Spiders From Mars were augmented by several extra musicians, of which the most notable was jazz pianist, Mike Garson. He introduces himself with an insane piano solo, a couple of minutes into Bowie's impenetrable story of a boy (A Lad Insane) trapped just before the start of the new world war (1913-1938-197?). The lyrics are, of course, total crap:

"...Motor sensational
Paris or maybe Hell
(I'm waiting)
Clutches of sad remains
Uh-uh uh-ah uh-uh
You'll make it

Who will love Aladdin Sane?..."

            Aladdin Sane

...but the sound is fan-bloody-tastic! Garson assaults his piano with an unashamed lack of reverence, pulling out unexpected sounds that assault the unexpected like lethal shards of glass from a violent explosion. His solo is, without a doubt, the most unexpected and memorable that I've ever heard in pop music and is to me, still exciting. Bowie, of course, should be given top marks for the bravery of putting it on the album's title track.  

Drive In Saturday, the album's single let the album breathe, with a change of pace, a nice repetitive chorus (repeated ad nauseam on the fade-out) and some godawful post-apocalyptic lyrics. It took me over 30 years to reseach what the song was actually about and to my surprise, with some additional info, the song almost makes sense.  

Here we go: Apparently, at some time in the future, people have forgotten how to f*** and have taken to looking at videos to relearn the basics. FYI, I've edited the lyrics to highlight this narrative. The full lyric actually flows much more pleasantly but tends to bury the meaning. 

"...Let me put my arms
Around your head
Gee, it's hot, let's go to bed
Don't forget to turn on the light
Don't laugh babe, it'll be alright...

....And try to get it on like once before
When people stared in Jagger's eyes
And scored
Like the video films we saw...

...She's uncertain if she likes him
But she knows she really loves him
It's a crash course for the ravers
It's a Drive-in Saturday..."

       Drive In Saturday 

Then comes the urgent, creepy and very atmospheric Panic In Detroit about a Radical-left terrorist group.

"...He looked a lot like Che Guevara, drove a diesel van
Kept his gun in quiet seclusion, such a humble man
The only survivor of the National People's Gang
Panic in Detroit, I asked for an autograph
He wanted to stay home, I wish someone would phone
Panic in Detroit..."

                   Panic In Detroit

Panic In Detroit is pumped along by some brutal ace guitar from Mick Ronson and some fairly unexpected, urgent congas and while it may not be a great song, it's a wonderful noise, effectively repacing the album after the stars and glitter of Drive In Saturday. Even better, it helps set up the end of (what was) Side 1, where Ronson's Panic In Detroit  guitars up a notch (if that's possible) to slime-ball into dirty pre-grunge, crunching relentlessly through the filthy story of a fading movie star who's debasing a young hooker in Cracked Actor:

"...Crack baby crack, show me you're real, smack baby smack is all that you feel. Suck baby suck give me your head before you start professing that you're knocking me dead...oh stay, won't you stay..."

The guitars pump relentlessly and you're left with the question of just who hates who? 

Flip the disc over (Man, CD's are handy but they just aren't fun!) and Mike Garson tip-toes the band into the grand and utterly pretentious Time:

"...Time - He's waiting in the wings
He speaks of senseless things
His script is you and me, boy...

...The sniper in the brain
Regurgitates in pain
Incestuous and vain
And many other last names..."

          Time

...but damn, it sounds great! Unfortunately the album kinda stalls here with 3 fillers...two of which are pretty good, but unfortunately don't really fit the feel of the album:

The Prettiest Star...a limp-wristed re-make of his 1970 single, Ronson provides tasteful guitar and slightly butch backing vocals, which counterpoint Bowie's outrageously fey lead vocal, helping make the track lots of fun.

Let's Spend The Night Together...turns the Rolling Stones' 1967 slow-groove invitation to sin into a totally camp, intentionally over-the-top, amyl-nitrate rave-up. Parents, lock up your sons, bad-boy Bowie's back in town.

Young David also adds an outrageous extra lyric, as well. Towards the end, the song grinds to a sudden halt and Bowie (virtually) minces:

"...They said we were too young     (blast of rude synthesizer)

 Our kind of love was no fun           (another blast of rude synthesizer)

 But our love comes from above     Do it 

 Let's make... love..."                   Ooooh!

The third filler is the Jean Genie,  apparently written about Iggy Pop and a pun on gay French author, Jean Genet (pronounced Jon Jennay). While Jean Genie is a favorite of many, I've always considered Jean Genie a silly headbanging riff with nonsensical, unimpressive lyrics: 

"...He'll scratch in the sand
Won't let go your hand
Says he's a beautitian
Sells you nutrition
Keeps all your dead hair
For making up underwear
Poor little greenie..."

     Jean Genie 

Jean Genie was released as a single at the same time as The Sweet's unashamedly glam Blockbuster, which also had the same derivative riff. Frankly, I think Blockbuster was the better song but both singles were Top 5 in the UK simultaneously.

I feel that Aladdin Sane, as an album, only resumes with the final track, the magnificent Latin ballad, Lady Grinning Soul. Again, the words are totally abysmal:

"...Cologne she'll wear
Silver and Americard
She'll drive the Beetle car
And beat you down
At cool Canasta..."

  Lady Grinning Soul

but the feel is glorious and courted with Garson's exquisite piano and Ronson's sensitive acoustic guitar solo, Lady Grinning Soul is remarkable. I swear that some day a clever Hollywood executive will tag it (with new lyrics) to the end of a tear-jerker and make a mint!    

So, that's Aladdin Sane, Ziggy's impressions of the USA:

• cold English white-boy alienation in the wilds of the USA
• sensuous ballads
• grungey rock &
• the unfortunate results of poor attendance at Lyrics 101

I love it! Aladdin Sane is fragmented, tense and exciting all at the same time. Seldom heard, it's well worth checking out, if only for Mike Garson's solo on the title track...but really, there's a lot more to it than that! 

David Bowie: Aladdin Sane

"...Aladdin Sane is one of the most pretentious albums I've ever heard...and one of the most exhilarating! From the 'passionate' outbursts of Time to the grittily 'authentic' guitars of Cracked Actor, this album is a theatrical rollercoaster! Great fun..." Amazon reviewer Dean Dirge

"...There is no doubt that this album stands the test of time. It is packed with classics for one - Drive in Saturday, Panic In Detroit, Jean Genie...Together, the tracks on this album create an almost sci-fi, surreal mood. Is it the best that Bowie has produced ? I think so...whatever, this album is very, very good..." Amazon reviewer Jimbo

"...Is it rock & roll? Is it dramatic pop-balladry? Is it Bowie trying to sound like everyone else but himself? I think it's mainly a portrait of the artist in mixed up transition..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer johnrizz

"...Ziggy Stardust created the monster, Aladdin Sane saw it rampaging all over town. Even in its remastered guise, this album is a masterpiece of tinny, treble-heavy glam rock, dominated throughout by the late, much-missed Mick Ronson's searing guitar...David Bowie as 'rock star never got any better than this. Absolutely essential..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer Paul S. Whiston

Aladdin Sane framed poster

In July 1973, D.A. Pennebaker (see John Lennon Sweet Toronto) filmed what was to be Ziggy/Aladdin's last ever gig at the Hammersmith Odeon, in London but the film was never released because Bowie was unhappy with the sound quality.

Though the soundtrack has been available for quite a few years (I purchased the bootleg back in 1973!), the movie has now been recently released on DVD with a remastered soundtrack and it's sounding pretty good. However, don't expect the camera work to be anything like contemporary coverage. It's basic and at times, very ragged. 

The track listing scans all of David Bowie's albums with a concentration on the-then newer works but really, it's the outrageous costumes and the modest lighting rig creating stunning effects that make you ask two questions:

Was this extraordinary theatrical music really happening 35 years ago? &

Why is rock music now so dull?    

For more info, see:

• wikipedia Aladdin Sane
• NME's glimpses of Aladdin Sane, Russell Harty TV show & in the recording studio, 1973
• Music Scene Aladdin Sane on the road, 1973
• Music Scene great Aladdin Sane pictures, 1973 
• the Aladdin Sane tour programme
• the Aladdin Sane tour's costume gallery 
• wikipedia Ziggy Stardust LIVE