"Man of Words, Man of Music"(1969) by David Bowie

Huge step in a different direction for young Bowie - as much as I liked his debut 1967. album, this was something completely unexpected and probably far closer to than-current music scene. Inspired by  Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" he composed "Space Oddity" that turned out to be his first truly successful hit single (climbing to UK Top 5) and the whole album was released around this success - it is truly a masterpiece that stands the test of time. Even now, decades later after its initial recording, I get shivers down my spine every time I heard that unforgettable introduction "Ground control to Major Tom" - here again we get Bowie lyricist reaching deep inside and coming up with something original and bizarre. Where on his debut album he described oddball characters who were particularly british, this time he came up with story that appealed to everybody. Everything that he had earlier (strange stories, sound effects) was this time used in a heat of inspiration and worked - "Space Oddity" is one of all-time classics in Rock music history and deservedly so.

The rest of the album is so-so. Maybe it is too much to expect same heights of inspiration for duration of 10 songs collection. Perhaps Bowie wisely decided one unusual song character is enough. So the rest is psychedelic rock with lots of mystical meandering, occasional Dylan-esque rambling ("Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed") and routine love ballad ("Letter to Hermione") but nobody can convince me that this new "yeah yeah baby yeah" poise speaks anything more eloquently than those charming little portraits from debut album. What is interesting here is that for the first time Bowie works with some really good musicians,like producer Tony Visconti (beginning of fruitful collaboration that lasts to this day) and Rick Wakeman (responsible for sound effects on "Space Oddity") so music reflects this new chapter - rock guitars and all, completely different from his debut two years ago. I don't care much for his supposed masterpiece "Cygnet Committee" (it takes too much effort to understand lyrics) but "Janine" points at his work in future decade and "An Occasional Dream" is a lovely, gentle, acoustic folk ballad sung with tenderness, I actually really like this one. The whole album basically stands on the shoulders of "Space Oddity" and the rest doesn't really live to expectations