REVIEW: David Bowie

David Bowie
David Bowie
© 1967 Deram

David Bowie is, without a doubt, one of the most prolific and influential figures in the world of popular music. Over the course of his lengthy career, he has constantly revised his image and sound, his talent and successful brand often helping to shape the landscape of popular music. Today, he is such a musical landmark, it is almost difficult to imagine that, at one time, “Davie Jones” was a unknown musician, playing in a variety of mod acts such as The Manish Boys.

In theory, Bowie’s relative anonymity should have changed with his debut album, David Bowie. This was not to be, however. Though critically well received, sales of the album and its singles were poor and, instead, it would be 1969’s Space Oddity that would bring Bowie into the realm of stardom. Since then, David Bowie has fallen into a void, often overlooked by fans and dismissed by historians. But is this obscurity earned, or is the album a hidden treasure?


Unfortunately, the truth is more the former. David Bowie is a clunky mishmash of mid-60s pop, psychedlia, and vaudeville, a collection of novelty songs that bears little resemblance to the more confidently experimental Space Oddity. Unlike Bowie’s later genre-bending efforts, this album fails to ever find a cohesive voice, with most of the songs coming across as a sort of generic 60s mush.

“Sell Me A Coat”


It reminds me of the scene in Spinal Tap where they flashback to their 60’s hit “(Listen to the) Flower People.” While that scene is hilarious, the comedy comes from parody of the Flower Power ethos. David Bowie, unfortunately, is no parody.

This is not to say that the album is all bad, or even entirely serious. Indeed, its greatest strength is the album’s demonstration of Bowie’s quirky wit, with a few songs overcoming their blandness to be genuinely funny or, at least, intriguingly weird.

“Rubber Band”


“Please, Mr. Gravedigger”


Ultimately, the album’s highlights are not enough to render this genuinely worthwhile, particularly compared to some of Bowie’s other albums. Additionally, while it is interesting to listen to the album as the humble beginning to a titanic career, even the historical context fails to render the album worth much attention to any but fans.

RECOMMENDED IF… you are a Bowie fan; Amazon has the MP3 album for sale for a reasonable price that may help offset the album’s weak listenability.