CC 2004: David Bowie
- Space Oddity (1969) - ***
- The Man Who Sold the World (1970) - *** 1/2
- Hunky Dory (1971) - *****
- Ziggy Stardust (1972) - *****
- Aladdin Sane (1973) - *****
- Pin Ups (1973) - ** 1/2
- Diamond Dogs (1974) - *** 1/2
- Young Americans (1975) - *** 1/2
- Station to Station (1976) - *****
- Low (1977) - *****
- Heroes (1977) - *****
- Lodger (1979) - ***
- Scary Monsters (1980) - *****
- Let's Dance (1983) - ** 1/2
- Tonight (1984) - * 1/2
- Never Let Me Down (1987) - *
- Black Tie White Noise (1993) - **
- Outside (1995) - **
- The Buddha of Suburbia (1995) - * 1/2
- Earthling (1997) - ** 1/2
- The Deram Anthology 1966-1968 (1997) - ***
- Hours (1999) - ** 1/2
- I Dig Everything: 1966 Pye Singles (1999) - ***
- All Saints: Collected Instruementals 1977-1999 (2001) - **
- Heathen (2002) - ***
- Best of Bowie (2002) - ****
- Reality (2003) - ** 1/2
This is a new entry in an old series I am slowly bringing up to date. I'm calling it Critical Consensus 2004. Several people have requested updates of the older series, and since critical opinions shift, I am revamping the entire system. I am averaging the opinions of several excellent music critics to produce a list of each artist's albums. Rather than using a number system, which was perhaps a bit clunky, I will now be using a five-star system. I've ditched placing the albums in a recommended purchasing order, instead using a more traditional chronological order.
These are not my opinions, although, since I have chosen the critics used (and I'm using many), my taste will perhaps seep through a bit.
Terribly nerdy, I know, but maybe this will help people only now beginning to dabble into certain artists' bodies of work.
Scale:
***** - Masterpiece
**** 1/2 - Classic
**** - Great
*** 1/2 - Good
*** - Above Average
** 1/2 - Average
** - Below Average
* 1/2 - Bad
* - Terrible
1/2 - One of the worst albums ever
Whoops! A big boo-boo in my calculations led to too many 5-star ratings. Several of the top-rated entries in these lists should have averaged out to 4 1/2 stars (hence the scarcity of that rating on the lists). I'll try to correct these. I'll then unarchive the lists.
Sorry, all.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs