After the freakish hard rock of The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie returned to singer/songwriter territory on Hunky Dory.
Not only did the album boast more folky songs ("Song for Bob Dylan," "The Bewlay Brothers"), but he again flirted with Anthony Newley-esque dancehall music ("Kooks," "Fill Your Heart"), seemingly leaving heavy metal behind.
As a result, Hunky Dory is a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class.
Mick Ronson's guitar is pushed to the back, leaving Rick Wakeman's cabaret piano to dominate the sound of the album.
The subdued support accentuates the depth of Bowie's material, whether it's the revamped Tin Pan Alley of "Changes," the Neil Young homage "Quicksand," the soaring "Life on Mars?," the rolling, vaguely homosexual anthem "Oh! You Pretty Things," or the dark acoustic rocker "Andy Warhol." On the surface, such a wide range of styles and sounds would make an album incoherent, but Bowie's improved songwriting and determined sense of style instead made Hunky Dory a touchstone for reinterpreting pop's traditions into fresh, postmodern pop music.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChangesDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 2 | Oh! You Pretty ThingsDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 03:12 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 3 | Eight Line PoemDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 02:55 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 4 | KooksDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 02:53 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 5 | QuicksandDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 05:06 | 11 MB | 30 MB |
| 6 | Fill Your HeartBiff Rose, Paul Williams | David Bowie | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 18 MB |
| 7 | Andy WarholDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 8 | Song for Bob DylanDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 04:12 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 9 | Queen BitchDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 03:18 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 10 | The Bewlay BrothersDavid Bowie | David Bowie | Play | 05:22 | 12 MB | 29 MB |
| 11 | Life On Mars | David Bowie | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 41 mins | 95 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 244 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Adams | Photo Scanning, Retouching |
| 2 | Jo Blair | Project Producer |
| 3 | Trevor Bolder | Bass, Trumpet |
| 4 | David Bowie | Composer, Guitar, Phasing, Piano, Primary Artist, Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor), Vocals |
| 5 | Aisha Cohen | Associate Project Coordinator |
| 6 | Scott Minshall | Design |
| 7 | Gavin O'Neill | Photo Scanning, Retouching |
| 8 | Terry Pastor | Artwork, Paintings |
| 9 | Nigel Reeve | Project Producer |
| 10 | Michael Ronson | Guitar, String Arrangements |
| 11 | Mick Ronson | Arranger, Guest Artist, Guitar, Mellotron, String Arrangements, Vocals |
| 12 | Biff Rose | Composer |
| 13 | Ken Scott | ARP Synthesizer, Engineer, Producer, Remixing, Spoken Word |
| 14 | Ray Staff | Mastering, Transfers |
| 15 | Richard Wakeman | Piano |
| 16 | Rick Wakeman | Guest Artist |
| 17 | Brian Ward | Back Cover Photo, Cover Photo, Photography |
| 18 | John Webber | Mastering, Transfers |
| 19 | Paul Williams | Composer |
| 20 | Mick "Woody" Woodmansey | Brushes, Drums |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |