Aladdin sane

The name of the album is the pun A Lad Insane. An early version of the album's title was “Love Aladdin Vein,” which Bowie dropped, partly due to his drug connotation. ^[7] Although the technically new “character” of Bowie, Aladdin Sane (Aladdin the Reasonable) was essentially a development of Ziggy Stardust in his appearance and personality, as evidenced by photographs of photographer Brian Duffy and Bowie's concerts during 1973. The culmination was the “resignation” of Ziggy Stardust at a concert at Hammersmith Odeon in July of that year. In addition, this album did not have a common concept that was present with its predecessor ^[8] .

Bowie described “ Aladdin Sane ” simply - “Ziggy goes to America”, the themes of most of the songs - his observations on the road, he composed them during his tour of the United States in 1972 - this is the reason for the geographical names after each title of the song on the original envelope of the record ^[3] . Biographer Christopher Sandford believes: the album showed that Bowie “was shocked and inspired by America” ^[9] .

According to Bowie, his mixed feelings from this trip were caused by “a desire to be on stage and perform his songs, but on the other hand, in fact, I did not want to ride these buses with all these strange people ... So Aladdin Sane was divided in half ” ^[10] . This kind of “schizophrenia,” and Bowie described it that way, was conveyed on the cover with his make-up, where the lightning symbolizes duality of consciousness, although David later told friends that the “crazy guy” from the title track was inspired by his brother Terry, who was given the diagnosis of schizophrenia ^{[10] [11] [12]} .

Most of Aladdin Sane was recorded at Trident Studios in London from December 1972 to January 1973, between parts of an American tour in support of Ziggy Stardust . The desire to release the album as soon as possible influenced the songs “Watch That Man” and “Cracked Actor”, the final mixing was criticized for the excessive influence of the Rolling Stones , it buried vocals and harmonics, respectively ^{[3] [13]} . Bowie and producer Ken Scott later denied this proposal for Watch That Man, claiming they released a remix that highlighted the vocals as management and RCA Records intended, which was closer to the original, which was ultimately released ^{[ 13] [14]} .

Aladdin Sane showed a more hard rock sound than his predecessor ^[13] , especially in the compositions “ Panic in Detroit ” (built around the drummer’s beat) and the dizzying cover version of the Rolling Stones song “ Let's Spend the Night Together ” ^[3] . The album was also notable for its study of unusual musical styles, such as avant-garde jazz in the title track and the Brechtian cabaret “Time”, the latter being known from the passage “Time ... masturbating fell to the floor”. The well-known pianist Mike Garzon brilliantly played on these compositions ^[13] ; his work also appears in Lady Grinning Soul, a ballad in the spirit of a bond inspired by singer Claudia Linnir ^[3] .

The two singles that entered the album preceded its release, “The Jean Genie” and “ Drive-In Saturday ”. The first - (recorded at New York RCA studios during the first part of the Bowie American tour in late 1972) was a heavy R&B pant with lyrics based on Iggy Pop ^[15] , the second was a futuristic do-wop track describing the time when the population rethought the technique of sex, watching old porn movies ^[3] . “Time” was subsequently released as a single in the US and Japan, and “ Let's Spend the Night Together ” in the USA and Europe. In 1974, Lulu released a cover version of Watch That Man as side B of the single The Man Who Sold the World , produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson .

With nearly 100,000 pre-order copies ^[13] , Aladdin Sane debuted at the top of the British charts and reached # 17 in America, making Bowie's most commercially successful album in both countries at that time. The criticism reaction, usually laudatory, was more enthusiastic in the US than in the UK ^[15] . Rolling Stone drew attention to “Bowie’s provocative tunes, impudent lyrics, masterful arrangements (with Mick Ronson) and production (Ken Scott)” ^[5] , and Billboard called the record a combination of “raw energy of explosive rock”. However, in the mail columns of the British music press, Bowie was accused of a “sale”, and Let it Rock magazine complained that the album had more style than content, believing that the disc “had nothing to say, with everything to say it” ^[15] .

Bowie performed all compositions except Lady Grinning Soul on tour in 1972-73, and many of them were on the 1974 Diamond Dogs tour. Live versions of all the songs except The Prettiest Star and Lady Grinning Soul have been released on various discs, including Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture, David Live , and Aladdin Sane - 30th Anniversary. “The Jean Genie” is the only song from the album that Bowie has performed at concerts throughout his career. However, in recent years, the song “ Panic in Detroit ” has also regularly appeared in the musician’s repertoire, its abridged version was recorded in 1979, but was not released until it finally hit the track “ Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) as a bonus track” "Reissued by Rykodisc .

In the summer of 1973, the Canadian rock band “ The Guess Who ” launched the “Real Rock Against Glam Rockers Like David Bowie” ad campaign to promote their No. 10 album and single from it, “Glamor Boy”. As part of promoting their song, band manager Don Hunter made a statement a la David Bowie about the album "Aladdin Sane", with the title "Not Just Another Pretty Body." After the initial distribution of this statement in The Guess Who music circles, David was frightened of the possibility of a lawsuit and withdrew his statement ^[16] .

• In the first season of the “ Fry and Lori Show ”, one of the sketches mentions the famous phrase from the song “Time” “Time ... masturbating fell to the floor”. And when Fry , as a teacher, asks Laurie - “What is this?” He replies - “This is a quote, David Bowie.” Fry is indignant - "What else is Derek Bowie?"
• In 2011, the album cover took 30th place in the list of the best album covers of all time according to readers of the online edition of Music Radar ^[17] .

All songs are written by David Bowie, except those noted.

1. Watch That Man New York - 4:25
2. " Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) " RHMS Ellinis - 5:06
3. Drive-In Saturday Seattle - Phoenix 4:29
4. Panic in Detroit Detroit 4:25
5. Cracked Actor Los Angeles - 2:56
6. "Time" New Orleans - 5:09
7. "The Prettiest Star" Gloucester Road - 3:26
8. “ Let's Spend the Night Together ” ( Mick Jagger, Keith Richards ) - 3:03
9. "The Jean Genie" Detroit and New York - 4:02
10. Lady Grinning Soul London - 3:46

Notes: In the original full-length version, the first side contains tracks 1-5; second side 6-10.

Aladdin Sane was first released on CD in 1984 via RCA Records .

1990 Rykodisc / EMI

Dr. Toby Mountain of Northeastern Digital , Southborough, Massachusetts ^[18] . Remastered the original material Aladdin Sane and released it on the compilation, without bonus tracks.

1999 EMI / Virgin

Peter Mew remastered the album at Abbey Road Studios without bonus material, with the same set of tracks as on the 1984 CD .

2003 EMI / Virgin

In 2003, the 2-disc version was released by EMI / Virgin Records. Second in the 30th Anniversary 2CD Editions series, as well as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 2002. The two-disk edition includes a reissued version of the first disk. The second disc contains ten tracks, some of which were previously released on the CD as bonus tracks in the 1990–92 reissue.

Bonus CD (EMI / Virgin 2003)

1. “John, I'm Only Dancing” ('sax' version) - 2:45
2. “The Jean Genie” (single mix for single A-side, 1972) - 4:07
3. “Time” (edit for single A-Side, 1973) - 3:43
4. “All the Young Dudes” (mono mix) - 4:12
5. "Changes" (Live) Boston Music Hall - 3:20
6. "The Supermen" (Live) Boston Music Hall 2:42
7. “Life on Mars?” (Live) Boston Music Hall - 3:25
8. "John, I'm Only Dancing" Boston Music Hall - 2:40
9. “The Jean Genie” (Live) Santa Monica Civic Auditorium - 4:10
10. “Drive-In Saturday” (Live) Cleveland Public Auditorium - 4:53

Musicians

• David Bowie : vocals , guitar , harmonica , keyboards , saxophone
• Mick Ronson : guitar , piano , vocals
• Trevor Boulder : Bass
• Mick "Woody" Woodmansi : drums

Additional Musicians

• Mike Garzon : Piano
• Ken Fordham: Saxophone
• Brian "Bux" Wilshaw: saxophone , flute
• Linda Lewis backing vocals
• Juanita "Honey" Franklin: backing vocals
• Warren Peace (GA MacCormack): Backing vocals

Producers

• David Bowie : producer , arrangement
• Ken Scott : producer , audio engineer
• Mick Moran: Audio Engineer
• Mick Ronson : arrangement

Album

Single

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