David Bowie - Pin Ups

This album tends to turn critics a number of different shades of angry purple. After Bowie had taken two gigantic steps forward with Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and one very small step backward with Aladdin Sane, he seemingly catapulted himself a zillion steps backward on Pin Ups. I tend to not agree, but I'm one of those weirdos who wouldn't have freaked out when Dylan went electric.

Anyway, Pin Ups is good for what it is. The liner notes explain that this album features David Bowie covering some of the artists that influenced his work. It's an interesting idea, and can't be compared to Bowie's other albums because it was never intended to be. There are a couple odd choices on the album, such as the bafflingly bad cover of The Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" (the original is a great song and highly recommended to those who have never heard it).

While there may be a few covers that fall a bit flat, the cover of The Pretty Things' "Rosalyn" is simply superb. It certainly passed the "will my two-year old daughter dance to this?" test. Anyway, for those of you who simply can't abide Bowie stepping back into the 60's right when he was reinventing and redefining the 70's, you can skip Pin Ups. For those of you who are a little more open minded, there are some good things happening on this album.