AtoZ
This month…
P46 DE LA SOUL
P46 ELTON JOHN
P47 PINK FLOYD
P48 JOYCE STREET
P48 THE KINKS
P50 PHAROAH SANDERS
P51 TEN YEARS AFTER
P51 LUCINDA WILLIAMS
DAVID BOWIE
Aladdin Sane 50th Anniversary Half-Speed Mastered
(reissue, 1973) PARLOPHONE
9/10
Half-century vinyl reissue of Bowie’s uneasy embrace of stardom
From the lumbering pun of the title to the cover image of Bowie closing his eyes against the lightning bolt with which he had been anointed, this was Bowie’s reckoning with the acquisition of the fame which had long intrigued him. The balance between triumphant rock’n’roll and existential queasiness is a fine one, but Bowie treads it deftly, to a soundtrack dominated by the thuggish boogie of the Spiders From Mars. “Let’s Spend The Night Together” somehow sounds like more of a Rolling Stones song than the Stones’ own version did, and “Watch That Man” and “The Jean Genie” are key chapters in Bowie’s testament of glam angst. Extras:6/10. Available as a black vinyl LP or a picture disc.
ANDREW
MUELLER
BETTMANN/GETTYIMAGES
LLOYD COLE & THE COMMOTIONS
Rattlesnakes (reissue, 1984)
UMC
9/10
Cole and co’s superb debut, back on vinyl
Some records are imbued with an indefinable magic that’s almost impossible to recapture: so it is with Rattlesnakes, which courses with a tender fire akin to Forever Changes co-written by Leonard Cohen. Arthur Lee and Cohen are both mentioned in Cole’s lyrics, along with the likes of Eva Marie Saint, Norman Mailer and Simone de Beauvoir, with the 23-yearold coming across as a wisecracking, timeless mix of Reed, Dylan and Cary Grant. Nothing on these 10 tracks is brash or overdone, from the exquisite “Perfect Skin” and sweetly melancholic “Down On Mission Street” to the precocious finale, “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?”.