David Bowie-Aladdin Same (1973)

With an overwhelming personality that plays with ambiguity with the same ease with which he moves through the most diverse musical genres, David Bowie is one of the most important presences that rock has had throughout history.
His chameleon facet has led him to have both detractors and fans, and this has earned him to make some of the most emblematic albums ever made.
In 1973 he published his sixth album "Aladdin Sane", where his rock essence remains despite losing some force, and retains the brilliance of his predecessor albums "The Man Who Sold The World", "Hunky Dory" and "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust ... "), where powerful themes such as the rhythmic "Watch That Man", the consistent "The Jean Genie", the intense "Aladdin Sane" or the version of the Rolling theme "Let's Spend The Night Together" make him another one of the masterpieces of the "Grand White Duke".

David Bowie-The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1972)

The Glam Rock phenomenon was an ambiguous movement. Behind the outlandish makeup, sequins, and high heels hid rockers who sold not only an attitude but also a style that was the pure essence of rock. Far removed from labels or classifications, they were simply at the service of music with plenty of riffs and melodies, not without provocation and a lack of inhibitions, driven by a great desire for freedom.

David Bowie was one of the pioneers of this eccentric trend. From the outset, his remarkable ambiguity between masculine and feminine, along with the distinctive feature of having one eye of each color, would become the paradigm of gay power. He would later continue his chameleon-like career, transforming into an unclassifiable, avant-garde, and surprising artist. 

As early as his 1969 album "Space Oddity", Bowie displayed this tendency with a work where acoustic pieces were prominent, a style he continued in "The Man Who Sold the World" (1970) and "Honky Dory" (1971), where he showcased a more electrified sound thanks to his band The Spiders From Mars and especially his guitarist Mick Ronson, a fundamental figure in David Bowie's career during those years. Later, with his band, Bowie created the character who would become the icon of glam rock, "Ziggy Stardust", a science fiction being from outer space with orange mohawk hair (a precursor to punk rock) and a lightning bolt painted on his face. 

Ziggy captivated Bowie to the point that they became one and the same, fulfilling each other's roles until, some time later, Bowie was forced to destroy his own creation. But before that, he had created a universe of fantasy, galactic rock, and flamboyant style, built on gems like "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders of Mars" (1972) and "Aladdin Sane" (1973). 

"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders of Mars" is undoubtedly the masterpiece of glam rock and of David Bowie in particular, where he was able to steer that style towards a more hard rock direction, an apocalyptic and visionary concept album, with a repertoire full of classic tracks such as the sublime "Moonage Daydream", "Suffragette City", the beautiful "Starman", the rocking "Five Years", and the superb "Ziggy Stardust". 

But on July 3, 1973, on the stage of the Hammersmith Odeon in London, Bowie, or rather Ziggy, committed his own "rock 'n' roll suicide" before the bewildered eyes of the audience, ending the reign of the king of glam rock. 

Thus began a new stage in the ever-diverse career of the now "White Duke" that would make him one of the most respected and influential artists of all time, a true classic for any of the facets he explored throughout his career.

David Bowie-Scary Monsters (1980)

"Scary Monsters" marked David Bowie's most "conventional" return after several albums of electronic and post-punk soundscapes reflected in the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" ("Low", "Heroes", and "Lodger"). On this occasion, the Thin White Duke once again delights us with a repertoire full of catchy songs, yet simultaneously boasting complex musical arrangements. For this fourteenth album, the British musician reunites with some of his regular collaborators, such as Robert Fripp and Carlos Alomar on guitars and Tony Visconti on acoustic guitar, in addition to other prominent musicians like Pete Townshend, Andy Clark, George Murray, and Dennis Davis. Songs like the addictive "Ashes to Ashes" alone make this album essential to Bowie's career, but it also features other great highlights like "Scream Like a Baby", which still retains glimpses of the creative brilliance of his earlier period. Other standout tracks like "Because You're Young", "Up the Hill Backwards", "Teenage Wildlife", and the surprising "It's No Game (Part 1)" make up one of his greatest recordings. With this album, David Bowie closed out a decade of immense creativity, producing some of the best albums in the history of rock music.

David Bowie-Hunky Dory (1971)

David Bowie's third album arrived almost a year after "The Man Who Sold the World", the work that cemented the British musician's status as a glam rock megastar and where he once again displayed that sexually ambiguous image. This time, Bowie delights us with a work brimming with folk, pop, rock nuances and hints of cabaret music, an album that became a clear landmark in the history of pop-rock. Composed of enormous compositions such as the elaborately arranged and prodigious “Life On Mars”, the sentimental “Andy Warhol”, the cheerful pop “Kooks”, the glam rock “Queen Bitch”, the innocent and playful “Fill Your Heart”, and the energetic “Changes”, all of them demonstrated the enormous creative capacity of a genius like Bowie, as chameleon-like as he was prodigious, with an extraordinary personality. His greatness lay in combining such a multitude of styles in an astonishing way without ever becoming musically incoherent. For this third release, Bowie enlisted his right-hand man Mick Ronson on guitar, Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Trevol Bolder on bass, and drummer Mick Woodmansey, and under the supervision of producer Ken Scott, they created one of the fundamental albums in the Thin White Duke's career and one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

David Bowie-The Man Who Sold The World (1970)

David Bowie's third album marked, among other things, the beginning of his glam rock journey, although it is also, to some extent, one of his most intense works, imbuing his music with a powerful hard rock sound, a style that was the pinnacle of rock music at the time. On this new album, the Thin White Duke began to gravitate towards the sounds that would forever elevate him in the following years, as would soon be proven with the iconic "Ziggy Stardust". To begin with, "The Man Who Sold the World" already features several future members of Spiders and Mars: guitarist Mick Ronson and bassist, arranger, and producer Tony Visconti, both of whom would be fundamental to this release. Released by Mercury Records in the United States, it came out near the end of 1970, while RCA Records released it in the United Kingdom (and subsequently worldwide) six months later in April 1971. The album opens with a powerful "The Width Of A Circle", a titanic, nearly nine-minute track of mighty rock, where Ronson showcases his six-string prowess. In a similar vein are the frenetic "Black Country Rock" and the orchestral and melodic "All The Madmen". "Saviour Machine", on the other hand, is a strange piece somewhere between gothic and psychedelic, while "She Shook Me Cold" is the rare exception, a chaotic, odd instrumental that might seem like it was recorded as filler to pad out the album's runtime. The final two tracks are the enchanting "The Man Who Sold The World" and the powerful "The Supermen". This third album became one of David Bowie's best works and the prelude to his most musically creative works such as the aforementioned "Ziggy Stardust" or the fantastic "Aladdin Sane", "Hunky Dory" and "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars".

David Bowie-Low (1977)

By 1977, David Bowie had been away from his glam rock journey for several years, a time during which the Thin White Duke had flirted with other styles after that period of feathers and sequins, such as the soul and rhythm and blues influences of his previous albums, "Young Americans" (1975) and "Station to Station" (1976). For his next album, "Low", Bowie had the essential collaboration of Brian Eno, who gave it a more electronic sound, but without losing the freshness and charm of the British singer's compositions. In addition to Eno, "Low" also featured musicians such as guitarist Carlos Alomar, a regular collaborator since "Young Americans", bassist George Murray, drummer Dennis Davis, keyboardist Roy Young, and guitarist Ricky Gardiner. Recorded between Chateau d'Hérouville Studios in France and Hansa Studio in Berlin during the final months of 1976, this new release comprised two distinct parts: a first side focused almost exclusively on more conventional sounds and a second dedicated to more atmospheric and instrumental tracks. The dark and rhythmic "Speed ​​of Life", with its irresistible melody, opens this work, considered by many to be one of their transitional albums, yet resulting in one of their lesser-known gems. The robotic "Breaking Glass", the electronic pop of "Sound and Vision", and the atmospheric "Always Crashing in the Same Car" conclude a dense and profound side of music that is as captivating as it is elegant. The second side features the dark and spacey "Warszawa", the ambient "Art Decade", and the experimental "Weeping Wall" and "Subterraneans". An album where Bowie once again demonstrated his different musical facets, with a collection of brilliant and unusual songs, thus achieving another essential work within his extensive and eclectic discography.

David Bowie-Diamond Dogs (1974)

David Bowie's eighth album is undoubtedly the third classic work of his glam period, if we consider the previous one, "Pin-Ups", as a transitional record. Therefore, we could consider "Diamond Dogs" as the natural conclusion of the emotional spectrum that runs from "Ziggy Stardust" to "Aladdin Sane". While "Ziggy Stardust" came from space with a message of hope and descended into the degeneration of rock and roll, and "Aladdin Sane" reveled in the resulting collapse, "Diamond Dogs", for its part, presented a post-glam vision of a post-apocalyptic future inhabited by punk bands of starving youths, in which a horrific totalitarian society emerges. This latter work is often linked to Bowie's own aborted project, "1984", due to its cannibalistic and savage treatment of the songs. For the recording of this new album, Bowie made several changes to his regular band, replacing longtime members Mick Ronson and Trevor Bolder with Alan Parker (guitar) and Herbie Flowers (bass), respectively. He also brought in a second drummer, Tony Newman, while keyboardist Mike Gerson and percussionist Aynsley Dunbar returned. Bowie himself handled lead guitar, Mellotron, and Moog synthesizers. “Diamond Dogs” features deceptively conventional glam rock songs, such as the title track “Diamond Dogs” and “Rebel Rebel”, which alternate with irresistibly captivating tracks like the sweeping and majestic trilogy of “Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)” and the mournful lament of “We Are the Dead”. On the other hand, the inclusion of the funky influences of "1984" foreshadows Bowie's transformation into a modern, electronic soul robot, a transformation we would see on his next album, "Young Americans". In conclusion, "Diamond Dogs" captured Bowie freeing himself from the chameleon-like glam rock model he had championed up to that point, incorporating a wider range of musical influences into his eclectic style.