[Review] David Bowie: Pin Ups (1973)

Ziggy’s coloring book from the sixties is a rocketship blast from his past.

Kronomyth 7: Aladdin sane’s a-gonna fall.

Bryan Ferry understood the assignment: serve up sweet oldies with just a twist of lemon. David Bowie must have been daydreaming, poured a dozen 60s rockers into his demented brain blender and produced the alien insanity of Pin Ups. Released at the same time as Ferry’s These Foolish Things, the temptation to compare them is too strong to resist. They are, of course, different albums. Both artists use their distinctive voices to re-energize the material, but where Ferry merely breathes new life into old classics, Bowie cuts up still-warm rockers from the 60s on his operating table and creates a collection of Frankenstein’s monsters. The arrangements—apparently to be credited to Bowie, Mick Ronson and Aynsley Dunbar­—are nothing short of shocking. (I have to believe Mike Garson had something to do with them.) You may have heard See Emily Play, Here Comes the Night and I Wish You Would before, but you’ve never heard them like this. The helium arrangements recall the giddy moments of Bowie’s last album (“The Prettiest Star,” “Drive-In Saturday”), while Ziggy’s vocal impersonations are as much Sybil as syllable. With rapid-fire pacing and plenty of energy to spare, Bowie and his lampmates from Aladdin turn their sci-fi eye toward, in the artist’s words, “my favourites from the ’64-’67 period of London.” And so songs that were already ahead of their time—Shape of Things, I Can’t Explain—are pushed even further into the future (a point confirmed when the album re-charted in 1983 and again in 1990). Sorrow became the single, but you could have just as easily advanced Friday on My Mind, Rosalyn or any one of these songs, really. I’ve always viewed cover albums as something of a copout, but Pin Ups is every bit as essential as Bowie’s original works. The Rykodisc reissue adds two tracks: a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Growin’ Up (recorded during the original sessions but deemed out of place) and Port of Amsterdam, which served as the B side to “Sorrow.”

Original elpee version

A1. Rosalyn (Jimmy Duncan/Bill Farley) (2:27)
A2. Here Comes the Night (Bert Berns) (3:09)
A3. I Wish You Would (Billy Arnold) (2:40)
A4. See Emily Play (Syd Barrett) (4:03)
A5. Everything’s Alright (Nicky Crouch/Bob Konrad/Simon Stavely/Stu James/Keith Karlson) (2:26)
A6. I Can’t Explain (Pete Townshend) (2:07)
B1. Friday on My Mind (George Young/Harry Vanda) (3:18)
B2. Sorrow (Bob Feldman/Jerry Goldstein/Richard Gottehrer) (2:48)
B3. Don’t Bring Me Down (Johnnie Dee) (2:01)
B4. Shapes of Things (Paul Samwell-Smith/Jim McCarty/Keith Relf) (2:47)
B5. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (Pete Townshend/Roger Daltrey) (3:04)
B6. Where Have All the Good Times Gone (Ray Davies) (2:35)

CD reissue bonus tracks
13. Growin’ Up (Bruce Springsteen) (3:26)
14. Port of Amsterdam (Jacques Brel/Mort Shuman) (3:19)

The Players

David Bowie (vocals, guitar, sax), Trevor Bolder (bass), Aynsley Dunbar (drums), Ken Fordham (sax), Mike Garson (piano), G.A. MacCormack (backing vocals), Mick Ronson (guitar, piano, vocals) with Ron Wood (guitar on 13). Produced by Ken Scott and David Bowie.

The Pictures

Lettering by Ray Campbell. Illustration by De Villeneuu. Additional photography by Sal Di Benedetto, Sukita. Masks by Pierre Laroche. Back cover photography by Mick Rock. Model by Twiggy.

The Plastic

Released on elpee in October 1973 in the UK (RCA, RS 1003) and the US (RCA, APL1-0291) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #1 on the UK charts and #23 on the US charts.

1. Re-issued on elpee in 1978 in the US (RCA, AFL1-0291).
2. Re-issued on elpee in September 1981 in the UK (RCA, INTS 5236).
3. Re-issued on elpee in 1982 in the US (RCA, AYL1-4653).
4. Re-issued on elpee and compact disc in April 1983 in the UK (RCA Int’l, SNL 8653), Germany (RCA, NL/PD 84653) and the Netherlands (RCA, NL 14653). Re-charted to #57 on the UK charts.
5. Re-issued on picture disc elpee in September 1984 in the UK (RCA, BOPIC4).
6. Re-issued on expanded, remastered clear vinyl elpee, cassette and compact disc in July 1990 in the UK (EMI, EMC 3580/CDP 79 4767 2) and the US (Rykodisc, RALP/RACS 0136/RCD10136) with 2 bonus tracks.
7. Re-issued on 24-bit remastered compact disc in 1999 worldwide (Virgin, 5219030).
8. Re-issued on 180g vinyl elpee in 2001 in the UK (Simply Vinyl, SVLP 277).
9. Re-packaged w. Scary Monsters on 2-for-1 compact disc in Russia (CD-Maximum, CDM 387).