Year 1973, lasts April. Elvis Presley stars "Aloha from Hawaiiz", Queen signs her first record contract and NASA launches the Pioneer 11 spacecraft. While Pioneer 11 ventured beyond the well-known limits of the solar system, Ziggy Stardust was here on earth and a “land insane” would emerge: the United States.
Aladdin Sane is David Bowie's sixth studio album. Most of the songs were composed during their “Ziggy Stardust Tour”, already with the pressure that involved the success they had of their previous works. The album features an eclectic mix of musical styles, from glam rock to jazz, progressive rock and electronic music incorporations; including iconic songs such as "The Jean Genie", "Panic in Detroit" and the song that names the album, "Aladdin Sane".
The development of a pre-existing character
Being "Aladdin Sane" more than a character in itself, it is a both aesthetic and conceptual evolution of Ziggy Stardust. Generate impact and identity when your previous album is "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" should not be easy. Expectations were high and difficult to achieve.However, having already been consecrated, it was a figure with which everyone wanted to work. Everyone wanted to bring their brushstroke to the screen. Thus, the avant-garde aesthetic of this album is the result of the intervention of several people, and began to develop long before the album sees the light.
In 1973, hair was still the main battlefield between young and adult. Although the cut was quite similar to that of Rod Stewart, would appropriate to completely dye it from a anti-natural red that would be at least "lamic":
"I found the color more dynamic, so I wanted to have it as quickly as possible. I remember it was Schwarzkopf's red. I had to get used to the dryer sessions and this horrifying first-hand lacquer", told Bowie in a rereading of his work in 1993.The idea had obtained from the stylism of one of the models of designer Kansai Yamamoto. "It was a man wig, traditional in kabuki." Without knowing, it was the principle of a relationship with Kansai that would last decades and largely define the aesthetic "Aladdin Sane".
"The first time I saw Bowie in person was in New York. During the tour of Aladdin Sane in 1973. Aterricé at JFK and I went straight to Radio City Hall. When I first sat, the concert was about to begin. I've never seen anything like it. Bowie lowered the ceiling to a ball of disco mirrors. It took the mythical stripe monkey. Two participants, black dresses, approached him and pulled out of their costume. Below appeared another of my drawings. People stood up. They were playing the first chords of Space Oddity when the tears of emotion began to fall."[caption id="attachment_9382" align="aligncenter" width="620"]
Yamamoto created extravagant and theatrical costumes that reflected the aesthetics of the glam rock era.[/caption]
Kansai Yamamoto was an important figure in the 1970s Japanese fashion movement. His popularity came when he performed in the London Fashion Week of 1971, being the first Japanese modist to display there his creations caught Bowie's attention. From the beginning, the Japanese artist's drawings surpassed the genre, concept that Aladdin Sane also bought. Bowie's androgynous and extravagant style on this album and on his supporting tour was shaped with the help of Yamamoto, which design seven different outfits unique to the tour.
The Cover
The cover of David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" album is one of the most iconic in music history. The image features Bowie with a red and blue beam painted over his right eye. With its orange hair rojizo has been the subject of numerous interpretations and references over the years.The image was created by British photographer Brian Duffy, who had previously worked with Bowie in his 1972 photo shoot, which became the cover of "Ziggy Stardust". Bowie asked Duffy to create something similar to "Aladdin Sane", but with a different touch.
Duffy decided he wanted to do something more graphic and artistic than just take a picture of Bowie.
The photo session took place in the study of Duffy in London, and the cover was created using a double exposure technique. Duffy photographed Bowie in several different poses, and then superposed the images to create the final image. The process of creating the cover took several hours.
According to Brian Duffy's son, Chris (who had accompanied his father that day to the studio) the idea of the lightning on Bowie's eye came from the logo of a pan burial in the kitchen of the place.
"In the study we had a kind of mobile makeup table with mirrors and wheels. I remember David sitting in front of that with Pierre Laroche, and obviously they had talked about using that ray... Well, Pierre began to apply what he saw as a rayito on David's face and when Duffy saw him, he said: "No, no, what the hell they do, like that." Literally drew it in the face and said to Pierre: ‘Now, Rellénalo’... In fact, it was Duffy who made the initial form, I'm not saying that he himself made it. Then, Pierre took about an hour to finish it correctly. The red distal was so bright because it was actually lipstick".
The Sound
Something fragmented, the narrative and mixture of different genres make it eclectic and difficult to follow the first listening. The sound of the album was much heavier and more energetic than its predecessor, developing a concept with which it was already working, but with a much more avant-garde goal. "Watch That Man", "Cracked Actor", "Panic in Detroit" and "The Jean Genie" reflect the spirit of the 70. In the last two he played Mick Ronson (Mott the Hoople and The Spiders from Mars) as the lead guitarist, who was also the arranger of most songs on the album.Another key contributor to the album was Mike Garson (Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins), pianist and keyboardist whose piano style became an integral part of Bowie's sound in the 1970s. His most prominent contribution to the album is his only piano in the song "Aladdin Sane".
Lastly, not anyone can afford to version a Rolling Stone song, and even more, put Mick Jagger in choruses, but Bowie had them in "Let's Spend the Night Together".
Although it was released more than half a century ago, the album remains in effect and a model of influence. For its 50th anniversary, a space re-edit was released with a set of additional tracks that include unprecedented versions and alternative mixes of some of the album's most iconic songs. With its avant-garde and eclectic style of different genres and styles, "Aladdin Sane" remains a landmark in Bowie's career and a timeless classic.
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