Loved this album when it came out. Saw the tour for it in Ottawa in June of '74. Bowie did the entire album except for "We Are The Dead" but did squeeze in a few of his greatest hits - all recorded for his next release "David Live". The set was "Hunger City" with distorted and decaying buildings, one of which hid a tall armature behind closed windows which flung open to reveal Bowie - high in the air, perched on a chair. As he began singing, the armature swung out placing Bowie over the audience in the first few rows. (Actually the "floor" was general admission so there weren't any rows as such). For the second leg of the tour, Bowie ditched most of the stage set as it was notorious for malfunctioning, and switched up the set list to include more songs from his upcoming album "Young Americans". The artwork on the album cover was done by Guy Peellaert, based stylistically on his cover for the Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock And Roll", featuring NYC in the background (Hunger City) and Coney Island's Pleasure Park performers Alzoria Lewis (known as "The Turtle Girl") and Johanna Dickens (known was "The Bear Girl"). His painting of Bowie's half-man, half-dog persona was based on the photograph of Bowie with the Great Dane. The album is considered to be Bowie's transition from glam-rock into American soul, while also being proto-punk.
Nice!! Been waiting for this one!
100% gonna do a lot more of Bowie.
Loved this album when it came out. Saw the tour for it in Ottawa in June of '74. Bowie did the entire album except for "We Are The Dead" but did squeeze in a few of his greatest hits - all recorded for his next release "David Live". The set was "Hunger City" with distorted and decaying buildings, one of which hid a tall armature behind closed windows which flung open to reveal Bowie - high in the air, perched on a chair. As he began singing, the armature swung out placing Bowie over the audience in the first few rows. (Actually the "floor" was general admission so there weren't any rows as such). For the second leg of the tour, Bowie ditched most of the stage set as it was notorious for malfunctioning, and switched up the set list to include more songs from his upcoming album "Young Americans".
The artwork on the album cover was done by Guy Peellaert, based stylistically on his cover for the Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock And Roll", featuring NYC in the background (Hunger City) and Coney Island's Pleasure Park performers Alzoria Lewis (known as "The Turtle Girl") and Johanna Dickens (known was "The Bear Girl"). His painting of Bowie's half-man, half-dog persona was based on the photograph of Bowie with the Great Dane.
The album is considered to be Bowie's transition from glam-rock into American soul, while also being proto-punk.