Aladdin Sane

David Bowie launched to stardom in early July 1972 through the release of his fifth studio album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and his performance of "Starman" on BBC's Top of the Pops. He promoted the record through the Ziggy Stardust Tour in the United Kingdom and the United States, writing new songs on the road that would appear on his next album. Aladdin Sane was the first album Bowie wrote and released from a position of stardom. Writing new material on the US leg of the tour in late 1972, many of the tracks were influenced by America and his perceptions of the country. The biographer Christopher Sandford believes the album showed that Bowie "was simultaneously appalled and fixated by America". The tour, combined with other side projects during the period, such as co-producing Lou Reed's Transformer and mixing the Stooges' Raw Power, Rather than continue the Ziggy Stardust character directly, Bowie decided to create a new persona, Aladdin Sane, who reflected the theme of "Ziggy goes to America" and, according to Bowie, was less defined and "clear cut" than Ziggy, and "pretty ephemeral". According to the biographer David Buckley, the character was a "schizoid amalgamation" that was reflected in the music. ==Recording==

Aladdin Sane was mainly recorded between December 1972 and January 1973 between tour legs. Like his two previous records, it was co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott and featured Bowie's backing band the Spiders from Mars – the guitarist Mick Ronson, the bassist Trevor Bolder and the drummer Mick Woodmansey. The lineup also featured the pianist Mike Garson, who was hired by Bowie at the suggestion of the RCA executive Ken Glancey and the singer-songwriter Annette Peacock; he remained with Bowie's entourage for the next three years. The pianist came from a jazz and blues background, which the biographer Nicholas Pegg believes veered the album from pure rock 'n' roll and expanded Bowie's experimental horizons. Buckley called Aladdin Sane the beginning of Bowie's "experimental phase" and cited Garson's presence as "revolutionary". Scott noted that Garson added elements to the arrangements that were not there before, including more keyboards and synthesisers. Garson later said that Scott as producer "got the best piano sound out of any of his performances for Bowie." The pianist was given a lot of attention from Bowie in the studio, who mainly wanted to see what Garson could do. Other musicians hired for the album and tour included the saxophonists Ken Fordham and Brian Wilshaw; the singers Juanita Franklin and Linda Lewis as backing vocalists; and longtime friend Geoffrey MacCormack (later known as Warren Peace), who subsequently appeared on later Bowie records in the 1970s. The first song recorded for the album was "The Jean Genie" on 6October 1972 at RCA Studios in New York City, after which the band and crew continued the tour in Chicago. Bowie produced the session himself. The band reconvened in New York with Scott in December, recording "Drive-In Saturday" and "All the Young Dudes", a track Bowie wrote and gave to the English band Mott the Hoople. Recording sessions continued in January 1973 at Trident Studios in London following the conclusion of the American tour and a series of UK Christmas concerts. Tracks recorded at Trident included album tracks "Panic in Detroit", "Aladdin Sane", "Cracked Actor", "Lady Grinning Soul", "Watch That Man" and "Time"; outtakes included the "sax version" of the 1972 non-album single "John, I'm Only Dancing" and "1984", left off Aladdin Sane and placed on Diamond Dogs (1974). A provisional running order included the remade "John, I'm Only Dancing" and an unknown track titled "Zion". The sessions concluded on 24January. == Music and lyrics ==

Like Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane is predominantly glam rock, with elements of hard rock. Side one The opening track, "Watch That Man", was written in response to seeing two concerts by the American rock band New York Dolls. According to the author Peter Doggett, the Dolls' first two albums were important in representing the American response to the British glam rock movement. Bowie was impressed with their sound and wanted to emulate it on a song. Pegg describes "Watch That Man" as "a sleazy garage rocker" heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones, specifically their song "Brown Sugar" (1971). The mix, in which Bowie's lead vocal is buried beneath the instrumental sections, has been heavily criticised by critics and fans. Biographers compare it to the contemporaneous sound of Elton John and the Stones' Exile on Main St. (1972). "Aladdin Sane (1913–1938–197?)" was inspired by Evelyn Waugh's 1930 novel Vile Bodies, which Bowie read during his trip on the RHMS Ellinis back to the UK. Described by Buckley as the album's "pivotal" song, it saw Bowie exploring more experimental genres, rather than strict rock 'n' roll. It features a piano solo by Garson, The music is heavily blues-influenced, leading Perone to contest: "This piece exudes the British blues spirit like no previous Bowie song." The lyrics were also an ode to Iggy Pop, Bowie calling the song's character a "white-trash, kind of trailer-park kid thing – the closet intellectual who wouldn't want the world to know that he reads". "Lady Grinning Soul" was one of the final songs written for the album. It was also a last-minute addition, replacing the "sax version" of "John, I'm Only Dancing" as the closing track. A possible inspiration for the song is the American soul singer Claudia Lennear, whom Bowie met during the US tour and also inspired the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", although the critic Chris O'Leary argues that the inspiration was the French singer Amanda Lear, a sometime girlfriend of Bowie's. Unlike other tracks on the album, "Lady Grinning Soul" has a sexual ambiance, lushness and serenity, and features what biographers describe as a Spanish-influenced acoustic guitar break from Ronson and a Latin-style piano part from Garson. The track has been described as a lost James Bond theme. == Title and artwork ==

The title is a pun on "A Lad Insane", which at one point was expected to be the title. When writing the album during the tour, it was under the working title Love Aladdin Vein, which Bowie said at the time felt right, but decided to change it partly due to its drug connotations. The cover artwork features a shirtless Bowie with red hair and a red-and-blue lightning bolt splitting his face in two while a teardrop runs down his collarbone. It was shot in January 1973 by Brian Duffy in his north London studio. In an effort to ensure RCA promoted the album extensively, Bowie's manager Tony Defries was determined to make the cover as costly as possible. He insisted on an unprecedented seven-colour system, rather than the usual four. The image was the most expensive cover art ever made at the time. The make-up designer was artist Pierre Laroche, who remained Bowie's make-up artist for the remainder of the 1973 tour and the Pin Ups cover shoot. Cann writes that Duffy and Laroche copied the lightning bolt from a National Panasonic rice-cooker in the studio. The make-up was completed with a "deathly purple wash", which Cann believes, together with Bowie's closed eyes, evoke a "death mask". The final photo was selected from a group featuring Bowie looking directly at the camera. These photos later became a signature image of the V&A's David Bowie Is exhibition. It was airbrushed by Philip Castle, who also helped create the silvery effect on Bowie's body on the sleeve. Regarded as one of the most iconic images of Bowie, it was called "the Mona Lisa of album covers" by The Guardians Mick McCann and one of the 50 greatest album covers of all time by Billboard in 2022. Pegg calls it "perhaps the most celebrated image of Bowie's long career". Upon release, the cover was polarising. According to Cann, some were offended and bewildered at Bowie's appearance, while others found it daring. Henry Edwards of The New York Times initially described the image as "the most cunning representation to date of this angel-faced, 25-year-old, English composer-performer as a disembodied spirit of the Space Age". In retrospect, Cann argues that a cover like Aladdin Sanes can be a risky move for artists whose success is relatively recent. Later publications have compared the lightning bolt design to that of the flag of the British Union of Fascists. == Release ==

RCA issued "The Jean Genie" as the lead single on 24November 1972. In its advertising, the label said it was "the first single to come from Bowie's triumphant American tour". The song charted at number two on the UK Singles Chart, making it Bowie's biggest hit to date. The single fared worse in the US, reaching number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was promoted with a video by Mick Rock, featuring bits of concert footage shot in San Francisco in late October 1972, interspersed with shots of Bowie posing around the Mars Hotel and actress Cyrinda Foxe. The second single, "Drive-In Saturday", was released in the UK on 6April 1973. Like the previous single, it was a commercial success, peaking at number three in the UK. "Time" was issued as a single in the US and Japan in April, and "Let's Spend the Night Together" in the US and Europe in July. In 1974, Lulu released a version of "Watch That Man" as the B-side to her single "The Man Who Sold the World", produced by Bowie and Ronson. Aladdin Sane was originally released in the US on 13April 1973 and in the UK six days later on 19April. With a purported 100,000 copies ordered in advance, the LP debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, where it remained for five weeks. In the US, where Bowie already had three albums on the charts, Aladdin Sane reached number 17 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, making it Bowie's most successful record commercially in both countries to that date. According to Pegg, this feat was unheard of at the time and guaranteed Aladdin Sanes status as Britain's best-selling album since "the days of the Beatles". Elsewhere, the album reached the top five in France, the Netherlands and Sweden, The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums notes that Bowie "ruled the [British] album chart, accumulating an unprecedented 182 weeks on the list in 1973 with six different titles." Following Bowie's death in 2016, Aladdin Sane reentered the US charts, reaching number 16 on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart the week of 29January 2016, where it remained for three weeks. It also peaked at number six on the Billboard Vinyl Albums the week of 18 March 2016, remaining on the chart for four weeks. == Critical reception ==

Critical reaction to Aladdin Sane was generally laudatory, if more enthusiastic in the US than in the UK. Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone remarked on "Bowie's provocative melodies, audacious lyrics, masterful arrangements (with Mick Ronson) and production (with Ken Scott)", and pronounced it "less manic than The Man Who Sold The World, and less intimate than Hunky Dory, with none of its attacks of self-doubt." Billboard called it a combination of "raw energy with explosive rock". In The New York Times, Edwards described Aladdin Sane as "the most expressive, if still uneven, album of his recording career". Similarly, Kim Fowley of Phonograph Record considered the record bad, save for "Time" and "The Prettiest Star". Fowley found the record's flaws to be "over-verbalised multi-symbolistic lyrics", not enough collaboration with Ronson when making it and the presence of Garson on piano. Other British writers gave more positive assessments, with Val Mabbs of Record Mirror citing it as Bowie's best work up to that point. Also writing for Phonograph Record, Ron Ross stated that with the record, Bowie has proven himself to be "one of the most consistent and fast-moving artists since the Beatles". Ross considered side one "the tightest, and probably the best, work Bowie has ever recorded". The writer Charles Shaar Murray of the NME felt Aladdin Sane was a strong contender for album of the year, further calling it "a worthy contribution to the most important body of musical work produced in this decade". The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote a few years later that his favorite Bowie album had been Aladdin Sane, "the fragmented, rather second-hand collection of elegant hard rock songs (plus one Jacques Brel-style clinker) that fell between the Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs concepts. That Bowie improved his music by imitating the Rolling Stones rather than by expressing himself is obviously a tribute to the Stones, but it also underlines how expedient Bowie's relationship to rock and roll has always been." ==Tour==

In February 1973, shortly after Aladdin Sane was completed, Bowie and the band returned to the road for the final portion of the Ziggy Stardust Tour, which Pegg refers to as the "Aladdin Sane Tour". The same personnel from the album returned for the tour, with the addition of the guitarist John Hutchinson, who had previously performed with Bowie in various projects throughout the late 1960s. With the exception of "Lady Grinning Soul", all tracks from Aladdin Sane were added to the setlist. Bowie drastically increased his stage demeanor for this portion of the tour, becoming more open and ambiguous compared to the shy persona of previous performances. He also underwent numerous costume changes during the shows, even representing the Aladdin Sane character through the use of mime and masks. This portion of the tour commenced in the United States before continuing to Japan in April. Bowie's stage presence was praised by Japanese audiences and reviewers. On his arrival back to the UK in early May, where Aladdin Sane had just topped the chart, Bowie's popularity had soared in his home country; the final UK leg of the tour sold out completely. The UK leg made small setlist changes and introduced backdrop banners containing the blue and red lightning bolt Bowie donned on the Aladdin Sane cover artwork. Despite a disastrous first show at London's Earls Court Arena, the remaining dates were successful, receiving acclaim from reviewers and audiences. The final date of the tour was 3July 1973, which was performed at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The performance was documented by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker in a documentary and concert film, which premiered in 1979 and commercially released in 1983 as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, with an accompanying soundtrack album titled Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture. At this show, Bowie made the sudden surprise announcement that the show would be "the last show that we'll ever do", later understood to mean that he was retiring his Ziggy Stardust persona. Although Ronson was told in advance, Bolder and Woodmansey were not, which led to rising tensions between the two and Bowie. Additional conflicts regarding compensation led to Woodmansey's dismissal from the Spiders in July. Bowie's next album, Pin Ups—a covers album devised as a "stop-gap" record to appease RCA—was recorded during the summer of 1973, released in October, and was Bowie's final album recorded with the Spiders, by then comprising only Ronson and Bolder. ==Legacy==

Retrospectively, Aladdin Sane has received positive reviews from music critics but most reviewers have unfavorably compared it to its predecessor. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic believed that Aladdin Sane followed the same pattern as Ziggy Stardust, but for "both better and worse". Like music critics, Bowie's biographers have mostly compared Aladdin Sane to its predecessor unfavourably. Pegg writes that it feels more rushed than Ziggy. Carr and Murray contend that "It was all too obvious that the heat was on... The songs were written too fast, recorded too fast and mixed too fast." Marc Spitz states that Bowie might have moved on from the Ziggy persona sooner had it not been for the pressure from his music publisher MainMan. Despite the record being critically viewed as inferior to its predecessor, Spitz calls it one of Bowie's classics and the songs "top-notch", and felt it ultimately showed that at the time Bowie was "still way ahead of the game". Pegg calls it "one of the most urgent, compelling and essential of Bowie's albums". Biographer Paul Trynka describes it as both "slicker and sketchier" than Ziggy, and argues that "[it] is in some ways a more convincing document on the nature of fame and show business than [its predecessor]". Doggett similarly describes Aladdin Sane as arguably a more "real" and "rewarding" album than its predecessor, with a "Stones-inspired, vivid production" outdoing the "somewhat flat sonic canvas" of Ziggy, but concludes that while Ziggy is more than the sum of its parts and has a long-lasting legacy, Aladdin Sane is "its songs, its sleeve, and nothing more". Perone finds the record not as accessible as its predecessor, deducing that with less "melodic and harmonic hooks" and lyrics that are "darker and more inwardly focused and analytical", the result is an album that is "not as well remembered" as Ziggy. Billboards Joe Lynch considered Aladdin Sane just as influential on glam rock as a whole as its predecessor. He states that both records "ensured [Bowie's] long-term career and infamy" and argues that both "transcended" the genre, are "works of art", and are not just "glam classics", but "rock classics". In 2003, Aladdin Sane was ranked among six Bowie entries on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (at number 277), and 279 in a 2012 revised list. It was later ranked 77th on Pitchforks list of the top 100 albums of the 1970s. In 2013, NME ranked the album 230th in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album was also included in the 2018 edition of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. ==Reissues==

Aladdin Sane has been reissued several times. Although the original 1973 vinyl release featured a gatefold cover, some later LP versions such as RCA's 1980 US reissue presented the album in a standard non-gatefold sleeve. The album was first released on CD in 1984 by RCA. In 1990, Dr. Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital, Southborough, Massachusetts, remastered Aladdin Sane from the original master tapes for Rykodisc, released with no bonus tracks. It was again remastered in 1999 by Peter Mew at Abbey Road Studios for EMI and Virgin Records, and once more released with no bonus tracks. In 2003, a two-disc version was released by EMI/Virgin. The second in a series of 30th Anniversary 2CD Edition sets (along with Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs), this release includes a remastered version of the album on the first disc. The second disc contains ten tracks, a few of which had been previously released on the 1989 collection Sound + Vision. A 40th anniversary edition, remastered by Ray Staff at London's AIR Studios, was released in CD and digital download formats in April 2013. This 2013 remaster of the album was included in the 2015 box set Five Years 1969–1973 and rereleased separately, in 2015–2016, in CD, vinyl and digital formats. A 12" limited edition of the 2013 remaster, pressed in silver vinyl, was released in 2018 to mark the 45th anniversary of the album. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the album was reissued on 14 April 2023 in vinyl picture disc and half-speed-mastered versions. == Track listing ==

All tracks are written by David Bowie, except "Let's Spend the Night Together", written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Notes • On the original UK LP label, each track (sans "Let's Spend the Night Together") was ascribed a location to indicate where it was written or took its inspiration: New York ("Watch That Man"); Seattle–Phoenix ("Drive-In Saturday"); Detroit ("Panic in Detroit"); Los Angeles ("Cracked Actor"); New Orleans ("Time"); Detroit and New York ("The Jean Genie"); RHMS Ellinis, the vessel that had carried Bowie home in December 1972 ("Aladdin Sane"); London ("Lady Grinning Soul") and Gloucester Road ("The Prettiest Star"). == Personnel ==

According to the liner notes and the biographer Nicholas Pegg: • David Bowie – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, saxophone, synthesiser, Mellotron • Mick Ronson – guitar, piano, backing vocals • Trevor Bolder – bass guitar • Mick "Woody" Woodmansey – drums • Mike Garson – piano • Ken Fordham – saxophone • Brian "Bux" Wilshaw – saxophone, flutes • Juanita "Honey" Franklin – backing vocals • Linda Lewis – backing vocals • G.A. MacCormack – backing vocals Production • David Bowie – producer, arrangements • Ken Scott – producer, engineer, mixer • Mick Moran – engineer • Mick Ronson – arrangements, mixer == Charts and certifications ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications ==Notes==