Hunky Dory - David Bowie > Reviews > Hunky Dory a personal overview...

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	It's Bowie
Disadvantages:	None come to mind

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The year 1971 was a very productive one for David Bowie he had just signed to a major label RCA and now he had an American lawyer called Tony Defries as his manager who with his "Mainman" company was building up public expectations for Bowie to be the next big thing.
He had written a huge amount of material than would later feature on the "Hunky Dory" album and "Ziggy Stardust" album, which for many fans of Bowie's remain essential purchases and are seen by many as his biggest contribution to the world of music.

Bowie had in place the musicians that would become "The Spiders from Mars", with the drummer Mick "Woody Woodmansey who along with Mick Ronson where retained from the previous "The man who sold the World" sessions, Tony Visconti had been replaced on bass guitar by Trevor Bolder and Visconti's production duties where now by Ken Scott (who had worked on the previous album T.M.W.S.T.W. as the engineer he had done the same duties for the late Gus Dudgeon on productions for Elton John).
The only part-time member of Bowie's band was pianist Rick Wakeman, who nearly quit the band he was in at the time called "The Strawbs" to tour with Bowie in the end Wakeman turned down the offer. (Rick Wakeman had appeared playing keyboards on the "Space Oddity" single and album in 1969)

"Hunky Dory" was recorded at Trident Studios in London with the "Actor" (Bowie) assisting Ken Scott with the production.
For this collection of songs Bowie had acquired a more melodic style after the hard rock of the recording before and is in fact is one of the more conventional recordings in his back catalogue.
The sound of Rick Wakeman's piano and Ronson and Bowie's acoustic guitar dominate the album, with the sound of Mick Ronson's string arrangements on the epic sounding "Life on Mars?" and the easy listening "Changes" which gave the tracks a more dramatic sound.

However don't let the easy listening of the music take away the disturbing imagery on songs such as "Oh you pretty Things" released as a single by Peter Noone, catalogue number RAK 114 (from the group Herman's Hermits) in the April of 1971 with Bowie playing piano throughout Noone sings the same as the Bowie Hunky Dory version but on the line "the earth is a Bitch" Noone sings "the earth is a beast" this is an example of a singer failing to achieve any empathy whosoever for the lyrics of a song, could this be why it was a hit?(It reached number 12 in May 71)
For the next Peter Noone single release instead of the A-side Bowie penned the track that appeared on the B-side "Right on Mother", which is open letter to his mother which stated the surprise Bowie felt at his mothers acceptance of him living with his first wife Angie, this track also has Bowie clumping away on the piano.
(The A-side was called "Walnut Whirl" catalogue number RAK 121)
It is rumoured somewhere in the vaults of RAK there are more tracks lurking!

Hunky Dory the title alone is misleading as it hides the fact the album is a collection of attractive melodies, seductive arrangements and choruses with the juxtaposition of lyrics which for the most part where as complex as the previous album, which had attacked the listener with a full frontal assault of the audio kind with the heavy power trio of Ronson, Woodmansey and Visconti, now with the release of this album the songs came gift-wrapped in sheer prettiness you the listener are taken off guard and leave you wide open for the observations, predictions and fantasies of the material.
The album itself was released on the 17th of December 1971; I have to ask the question was this some sort bizarre attempt to tempt the casual shopper at Christmas?

The first track taken off the album for a single was the opening track "Changes" released on the 7th of January 1972 catalogue number RCA 2160 there where both stereo and mono versions available both strangely with the same catalogue number. (Day before Bowie's 25th birthday)
Both the single and the album flopped; it wasn't until the release of the next album "Ziggy Stardust" that Hunky Dory received the attention it dissevered.

Now too the album itself, which as I have stated before opens with the track "Changes" this song starts with the elegant piano sound of Rick Wakeman and Ronson's string arrangement, these set the scene for the reflective verses and stuttering chorus used by the band "The Who" to great effect, the Ch-Ch-Changes vocal would become an organising principle for Bowies music, Bowie neatly states in the song "Look out all you Rock and Rollers", for him rock was done from the outside as an actor and never becoming a rocker in reality just passing comment and watching from afar.

I remember being at a date of the "Sound & Vision" tour in 1990(March 24th 1990) where everyone including myself where pogoing to the chorus of this song, Ch-Ch-Changes was like a starters pistol with the audience all jumping in unison when this line was sung.
This track has never been a hit single but is usually included in any best of or greatest hits compilation that record companies put together such is the popularity of the track with fans and critics alike.
The next song is the Bowie take on the song that Peter Noone had already taken into the U.K. charts, "Oh you Pretty Things" sounds "McCartneyesque" in construction but if you listen closely to the words with it's reference to "Cracks in the sky" and other indications of split personality reveal a man ready for the psychiatrist's couch. This song segues start into "Eight line Poem", which is a hushed still life with Ronson's light country style guitar, this is framed by Bowies leisurely piano chords which is the perfect backdrop for Bowie's parody of an American singing style that most of his contemporaries where using at the time (Rod Stewart, Elton John) the theory being if you sounded American you got closer to the blues master print and so you sounded more authentic.
Bowie, quite properly ignored this thinking, and in doing so paved the way for artists like Johnny Rotten who years later would do his own thing.

" Life on Mars?" is a masterwork where the song is build around the delicate piano playing which collides with the bombastic guitar sound of Ronson along with his huge string arrangement.
Bowie weaves a tale of an alternative world where the heroine of the song attempts to escape her existence by going to the movies, only to discover that the film she is watching is her life, as she watches she sees herself going to the cinema, as a paradox the song returns to the scene of urban chaos with Bowie exclaiming, "Oh man! Look at those cavemen go, it's the freakiest show …. is there life on Mars?" Listen very carefully and you can hear the same chords from the song "My way" the standard written for Sinatra.
Years earlier Bowie had written words for this song Sinatra rejected them, the B.B.C. have shown a very strange film of Bowie singing his version, it still has to see the light of day.

A short respite is provided by the track "Kooks" which is an affectionate warning to his newly born son Zowie (he prefers the name Joe these days) with the line "And if you ever have to go to school don't pick any fights with the bullies or the cads", " Cause I'm not much cop at punching other people's dads" he tells his son not to draw attention to him self, the track itself has some playful trumpet playing from Trevor Bolder.
The light fluffy mood of "Kooks" is quickly darkened with the arrival of "Quicksand" which deals with the futility of the human condition and how the philosophies he follows of Zen, Homo Superior and the occult clash and the fact that fascism came from similar roots, this is over delicate 12 string acoustic guitar. There is some name-dropping and some highbrow references to Alistair Crowley, a diabolist and self styled "wicked man in the world" this song works because of one of the most moving melodies of any Bowie song, the line Bowie sings "playing in a silent film" he is setting himself up as a bit-part actor waiting for a starring role, in the days of vinyl that was the end of side 1. This track also appeared as the B-side to the single "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (catalogue number RCA LPBO5021)

What was the second side starts with the cover song "Fill your Heart" this is a track written by the American songwriter team of Biff Rose and Paul Williams which is a shining example of this albums forced jollity.
The words to the track read like some forgotten Hippy manifesto with its talk of "happiness is here today and lovers with minds free of thoughts unkind, this is weird in view of Bowies own lyric content, which glorifies individualism and self absorption, this doesn't take any from the fact that it's a damm fine pop song which has strings and piano dominating the track.
Bowie has never been one to hide his influences so with the track "Andy Warhol" he paid homage to Warhol, who made non-talents into celebrities even if it was just for 15 minutes.
The track itself has some studio back chat at the start and some Ronson and Bowie killer Spanish-styled guitar work in the middle 8, the "Rolling Stone" journalist John Mendelson referred to the track saying "extraordinary all - acoustic - guitar arrangement" (Bowie at the time said at the time he was trying to do with acoustic guitars what "The Velvet Underground did with electric guitars.
The track "Song for Bob Dylan" is the one song on the album for me that just don't really work, Bowie doesn't know whether to parody Dylan or just be himself and in being indecisive misses the mark.
The redeeming fact of the song is that it has a catchy melody and a winning chorus.

When I was younger this was my favourite song on the album, "Queen Bitch" is probably the best song that Lou Reed didn't write, if you read the small writing on the back cover of the album it says in brackets (some V.U. white light returned with thanks) the influence of "The Velvet Underground" on this track is very obvious, it's a rocking tale of cross-dressing and gay love set against the power chords of Ronsons guitar, with the line "She so swishy in her satin and tat in her frock coat and bipperty-bopperty hat, Oh God I could do better than that" is this a plea or a statement? This track also appeared as the B-side to the "Rebel Rebel" single (catalogue number RCA LPBO.5009)

The original grand finale for this album is one of the most important songs in Bowies early back catalogue as it deals in fictional form with his relationship with his late half-brother Terry, "The Bewlay Brothers" is a song where the lyrics are full of imagery centred yet again on the malleability and deceptive qualities of the individual lines like "Now my brother lays upon the Rocks/ He could be dead. He could be you" and a homosexual relationship is also implied with the lines "In the Crutch-hungry Dark/Was where we flayed our mark" when asked about the songs content Bowie replied "It's Star Trek in a leather jacket". Whatever the meaning of the song actual or fictional the track evidently means a great deal to him as he named his music publishing company after the track, only recently has Bowie performed the song live. Only with the passing of time and listening very carefully myself has this become one of my personal favourite early Bowie songs.

When the first re-issue of this album in 1990 (catalogue number CDP 79 1843 2) came out EMI tacked on some extra tracks which where as follows "Bombers" which is a very poor song it covers the same ground as "Running Gun Blues " from the "The Man Who sold the World " album the next track is an alternative version of "The Supermen" from the same album, more interestingly included is a demo for "Quicksand" and the closing track is again "The Bewlay Brothers" this time an alternative mix.

Hunky Dory is available from 101.com priced £4.99 but only the standard 11-track version from 1999 this now has a booklet that has pictures of Bowie in various looks that where abounded such as the "Oscar Wilde" and an "Egyptian Pharaoh" looks (catalogue number 724 3 521899 0 8) and not the harder to find 15-track version from 1990

I have put this together after realising I have been listening to this album for over 30 years, and I find it strange that when I get disillusioned with the current music scene which has become so "hit" orientated I can find entertainment from Bowies third flop album in a row, this just would not be allowed to happen today. I think personally the music world is the poorer for it, for if musicians can't make glorious mistakes and follies where is the place for musical growth?
We will end up with music that is mass-produced and sterile and choice will taken away from the music buying public, not a world I want to live in.
I will now get off my soapbox!