All The Records I've Ever Owned

Year Released: 2003 Label: ISO, Columbia   Year Bought: 2003 The 1990s was a strange time for David Bowie. Venerated by Britpop greats such as Brett Anderson and Noel Gallagher, and honoured by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana's Unplugged set, it could have been a decade of him carrying out endless nostalgia tours and cashing in on his place as the Grand Dame of alternative music on both sides of the Atlantic. The trouble was, Bowie had done the whole be-your-own-tribute-act schtick in the late 80s with the Glass Spider tour - a period so unfulfilling it led him to forming Tin Machine. And no one needed that to happen again. So Bowie spent the 90s doing pretty much the opposite of what people wanted him to do, and refused to bring back Ziggy or the Thin White Duke, instead focusing on experimental music (which is actually a very Bowie thing to do). As the century ticked over, Bowie started making albums that were a bit more radio friendly, and after a well-received Glastonbury set a...

  Released: 2013 Label: ISO, Columbia When I bought: 2013 David Bowie is one of my absolute favourite musicians of all time. I'll probably go more into that another time, but suffice to say I was delighted when in 2013 the first new Bowie album for 10 years appeared. Ushered in by the sublime 'Where Are We Now?', The Next Day had no press campaign ahead of its launch. One day there wasn't a new Bowie record, then, the next day, there was. The album kicks of with a drum whack and we're straight off into the title track. A short intro and there's the Dame, sounding as vibrant and mischievous as ever. The track bounces along before winding up and up into a chorus that demands to be shouted: "HERE I AM! NOT QUITE DYING!"  Ah it's exhilarating. And, as we know now, depressingly apt. It's a hell of way to kick off your 25th studio album. And so the record rumbles on, filled with urgency, nostalgia and life. Many of the tracks on The Next Day would fi...