CC00010: David Bowie
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:24
Tags:
- Singles: 1969-1993 (10)
- The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust (10)
- Hunky Dory (10)
- Heroes (10)
- Low (10)
- Station to Station (9.5)
- Aladdin Sane (8.5)
- Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (8.5)
- Diamond Dogs (8)
- The Man who Sold the World (7.5)
- Young Americans (7)
- Lodger (6.5)
- Space Oddity (6)
- Let's Dance (6)
- Pin-Ups (5)
- Stage [live] (5)
- The Buddha of Suburbia (5)
- Earthling [US] (5)
- Black Tie White Noise (4.5)
- David Live (4)
- Ziggy Stardust [live] (4)
- Outside (4)
- Tonight (2)
- Never Let Me Down (2)
Author Comments:
This is the tenth in a continuing series I call Critical Consensus. I am averaging the opinions of several excellent music critics to produce a list of each artist's albums. The albums will each have a rating between 1 and 10. The albums will be listed in a recommended purchasing order, so new fans will have an idea of where the best place to start buying an artist's work is. 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.
It would be interesting to see selected Critical Consensus lists by Producer. If you took Low and Heroes from this list, and Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree from U2's, Brian Eno would have produced at least four "10" albums. I wonder if any of his Talking Heads work would also warrant a "10"?
A producer CC would be very interesting, but it would also be an even bigger headache than the regular CC lists. Not only are most critical sources notorious for having incomplete producer data, making it hard to make a list of albums a producer has worked on, but the time spent shuffling between different artists to find criticism on that one or two albums a producer worked on would take forever, especially for prolific producers such as Sir Eno and T Bone Burnett. I may try this when I screw up more courage, but having just finished the massive Miles Davis CC, I admit to being a big coward right now!
Oh, and welcome, Johnny W!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
While it's hard to know how much credit to give a producer, I've found alot of the stuff Daniel Lanois has worked on to be exceptional.
I agree; his work with U2, Eno, and Gabriel is excellent, and his production / co-re-invention of Emmylou Harris on Wrecking Ball ranks as one of the greatest jobs behind the knobs I've heard in quite some time. I do think he went a bit far with Dylan's Time Out of Mind, layering sparse echoes and effects at points I would have prefer the sound brutally stripped down to Dylan's voice and instruments, but considering his excellent body of work, this is a very minor quibble.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs