David Bowie Record Collection

In Bowie's day, records were the most popular form of playing music and lets say vinyls were inexpensive compared to today. As we know, Bowie was a musical legend and had the most iconic image in pop culture. Bowie is an inspirational role model to me in the sense that he learned me that to never accept society's expectations and be outrageous and have a range of images in order to find your identity. 

Yet again I am going to write a lengthy post so if I were you I'd grab a cup of tea or a drink and enjoy the read of my David Bowie record collection. Be aware of the many photos ahead!

So for the last few years, I have been interested and enthusiastic about vinyls. I think they are much more unique and distinctive compared to CDs and iPods and they have a classy feel and a blast from the past. I have collected these from my dad as he has a massive record collection and I thought I would start and appreciate listen to some music on my record player. For my birthday, my parent bought me a record player and it's the most beautiful one I had ever seen. For me, listening to Bowie on a record player is heavenly and I could not think of a better hobby. 

On each record and each of his work, Bowie has a different identity and has a different element about his work nothing is the same as his other works. After rambling on, I am going to review each record and pick out my favourite songs. 

Hunky Dory

This is probably one of Bowie's most famous works and it has to be one of my favourites, it's a classic. The album Hunky Dory was released in 1971 and it opens with the song 'Changes' which clearly highlights the changing conventions in society. Changes is such an inspirational song and has a lovely rhythm to it. Other favourites of mine is 'Oh! You Pretty Things', 'Life on Mars', 'Quicksand', 'Song for Bob Dylan' and 'Queen Bitch', these are all the songs that I feel Bowie is conveying a true message about society and perceptions they have. 

Heroes

Another classic work of Bowie's is his Heroes album and this is closely my favourite alongside with 'Hunky Dory'. Bowie's work 'Heroes' was released in 1977 and clearly the most popular song has to be 'Heroes' and to be honest this is my favourite song on the record. It's a little different from Bowie's other work but has that reflective stance and makes you think about difficult situations and relationships. I also like the songs on the album 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Sense of Doubt',  and 'Blackout' again they have that reflective feeling and enjoyable to listen to.

Space Oddity 

Like Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's creation of 'Major Tom' was one of the most famous roles of all of his works. The album was released in 1969 and the reception was all over the news about Bowie's new creation and his new identity. Some of my favourites from this album are 'Letters to Hermione', 'An Occasional Dream' and 'The Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud' which all highlight that freedom humanity has and the love and relationships we wish to have.

The song Space Oddity itself is about an astronaut and historically alludes to the space history. With Bowie's 'Major Tom', we see an astronaut who is trying to find himself universally and shows escapism one can have in the world. Space Oddity's theme is also seen in Bowie's music 'Ashes to Ashes' and his new deep single 'Blackstar'. 

LOW

For me, this piece of Bowie's work does not seem as famous and to be fair has to be a favourite of mine because the songs on the album do not seem as popular. It was released in 1977 and one of his later works.

As we see, Bowie is wearing black clothing all symbolising that 'low' depressing stage in life and how life can be dark but mixed with the vibrant orange gives it that rebellious tone. 

My favourites on this album are 'Sound and Vision', 'Speed of Life', 'Be My Wife', 'Weeping Wall' and 'Art Decade'.

The Man Who Sold The World

This album is great to listen to if you are feeling the hard rock and heavy metal genre, I do not always fancy this genre but when I'm getting ready and wanting that party mood I play this.

My favourite song is 'The Man Who Sold The World' and the lyrics and title are clearly parallel to Bowie's iconic image because everybody had interest in him and the whole world could find that personal identity with him. Others favourites of mine are 'The Width of a Circle', 'All the Madmen', and 'Running Gun Blues'.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Like Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust is another one of Bowie's famous creations and it shows the idea that Ziggy is Bowie's alter-ego. The creation of Ziggy Stardust raised questions about Bowie's sexuality alongside with Aladdin Sane and yet again when the album was released in 1972 Bowie's name was more prominent in the news. 

My favourite songs are 'Five Years', 'Starman', 'Moonage Daydream', 'It Ain't Easy', 'Ziggy Stardust' and 'Suffragette City', for me, all these songs highlights this spiritual concept of the world and the idea that everybody is different and have their own identity and personality. 

Diamond Dogs

Out of all Bowie's identities, I would say this creation from Diamond Dogs does raise many questions about music and Bowie himself. It was released in 1974 and I feel this album is more of a political allegory as it relates to literature such as 1984 and also raises issue about the body image and Bowie's ideologies about society. 

From this album, I would say that my favourite songs are 'Sweet Things', 'Diamond Dogs', 'Rebel Rebel' (we can Bowie is being more rebellious in this piece of work), '1984' (nice message about Orwell's novel 1984) and 'Rock 'n' Roll with Me'.

I hope you enjoyed this piece I know you Bowie, rock lovers out there might be interested in my collection. Let me know if you would like more music industry related blog posts or any kind of blog post.

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