Aladdin Sane: Remastered [Enhanced, Original recording reissued]

If Hunky Dory brought David Bowie to the publics attention and Ziggy Stardust catapulted him into the stratosphere, then it was Aladin Sane that consolidated his position, as well as moving the music even further forward.

I have hugely fond memories of discovering this record back then, goggling at the gatefold sleeve almost in disbelief (I was a very naive teenager back then) and marvelling at the music on offer - the progress in music recording and production allowing a far denser and more powerful sound than on his previous recordings, which sounded superb on the sixth form stereo as I recall...

The musicianship is superb, the jazzy piano giving a totally different feel to some of the tracks and the compositions to me have far more abandonment and "danger" to them - WONDERFUL!. David was on a magical roll at this time and really leading the pack in my view.

I'm not sure if this is the right Bowie album to start with (I'd go to Hunk Dory or perhaps even earlier to start with), but I suspect most who buy this will be familiar with it anyway.

RECOMMENDED!

If it has "David Bowie" on the cover, I tend to buy. Hence I've now got the 40th Anniversary version of this disc to go along with that last anniversary disc, the EMI release, the Japanese Mini LP, The Rykodisc release and original RCA. Oh, and the vinyl from yesteryear. Why? Obsessive compulsion I guess. All these "remasterings" can get a bit much, can things really get better?

I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of people following on from this review who will be hailing this as the definitive version, or saying it's "close to the vinyl" - you'd think 40 years after the first release of this recording we'd be demanding it to sound better, not the same. But I digress.

First the sound - is it better than ever before? I don't think so. I think it's on a par. It sounds nice, there is a ton of detail, everything is as it should be. But if someone is perfectly happy with the last version, I really don't see this one changing much. I found the previous reissue of Ziggy Stardust in a 2013 remaster a little brittle (which pits me against those who proclaimed it as some kind of sonic revolution). This doesn't suffer from that, so that's a plus. For example the cymbal hits in Panic in Detroit can be a problem on this record, yet they're nicely contained here.

Frankly this album has been reissued so many times surely the only way it could sound significantly better is if some new technology is created, or high-resolution versions become available. Improvements are always going to be marginal at this point. Yet people like myself keep hoping and dreaming, and buying!

In short then, yes this sounds excellent, it is perhaps equal to the very best this album has ever sounded - at least in my collection. However, anyone expecting a night and day step up from previous releases are going to be disappointed, imo. Except we live in a world where new is always hailed as better.

Where this CD does win is in the packaging, which almost wins a ten out of ten. Almost. They have brought back the original gatefold, with the original artwork, which is nice. But they also went a step further and included the lyrics on the inner bag. Not enough? Well, they included the invitation to join Bowie's fan club that shipped in original copies of the vinyl. These are much appreciated, and really show they're going that extra mile. I already had them as part of the Japanese mini lp, but it's good to have them here too.

Still, I can't go too overboard on the packaging - who ever thought it was a good idea to put a big blue bar down the front of the cover art proclaiming "40th Anniversary 2013 remaster" needs their heads testing. Iconic cover made..... Having gone the extra mile on reproducing the cover and inserts, this is a poor choice, imo. Have they never heard of stickers? Oh well.

The music is clearly 5 out of 5. The sound on this remaster is excellent. And the packaging is almost perfect. The lack of bonus tracks is going to be problematic to some, especially as previous releases had them - but on the plus side at least we have the original album here as it should be heard, as one complete experience. Should you upgrade from a previous version? Hm. The 1999 remasters are good, as was the last anniversary release. If you have those then I wouldn't rush. Previous to that, yes, pick this up.

Aladdin Sane is Bowie at his Rock best, and this LP stands the test of time. Recorded and released in 1973, "The Jean Genie" was already a massive hit. On balance, Bowie needed a couple of songs and covered the Stones' "Let's Spend The Night Together" by bringing an erotic push to the song. The other song, "The Prettiest Star" featuring Marc Bolan on lead guitar, was added to the LP but had already been a single in 1970. Nevertheless, the track is worthy and memorable. "Time" is offensively good, but the real gem here is the final track, "Lady Grinning Soul" - quite frankly, Bowie's greatest love song. Coming out of the Ziggy haze, "Aladdin Sane" the title track kills off our hero once and for all. "Panic In Detroit" and "Cracked Actor" are just simply great rock tracks, and "Drive In Saturday" was a single and echoes Bowie's following lyrics which mastered his songs in the early 70s. Let's not forget Mick Ronson's work and pay tribute to his wonderful understanding of Bowie and music. The obvious raunciness is here with the power-rock, no more so evident than the CD/LP's opener, "Watch That Man." And so, The Spiders are no more, and the curtain comes down. Ziggy has left the building.