FEATURE:
Golden Year
David Bowie’s Station to Station at Forty-Five
___________
I can’t pretend that I will be able to…
IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie in concert at Wembley in May 1976/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty/Hulton Archive
do full justice to David Bowie’s 10th studio album, Station to Station, ahead of its forty-fifth anniversary on 23rd January. I know I have produced quite a few Bowie features over the past couple of weeks. The world marked his seventy-fourth birthday on 8th January and, two days later, we remembered him five years to the day since he died. I think it is important to celebrate one of Bowie’s best albums – also one that, I think, remains fairly underrated by some. Bowie released so many genius albums, but I think that there are people that put inferior albums (of his) ahead of Station to Station. That said, many have shown it love through the years. In various polls, Station to Station has come pretty high in the rankings. Far Out Magazine ranked Station to Station at number-seven; Ultimate Classic Rock put it at four, whilst Rolling Stone placed it at number-three. I will bring in a couple of reviews and articles but, first, a little background regarding one of Bowie’s true masterpieces. Station to Station was the vehicle for his performance persona, the Thin White Duke. Recorded at Cherokee Studios in California, Bowie was heavily dependent on drugs, especially cocaine (his memories of the production were spotty in later years). I think Bowie was keen to get out of America and back to Europe. With six tracks and co-production (with Bowie) from Harry Maslin, Station to Station was part of a brilliant golden run for Bowie.
His previous album, 1975’s Young Americans, is one of his more underrated albums and, whilst not as strong as Station to Station, the Soul and R&B-influenced songs are among the best of his career. Bowie would keep his brilliant streak going with 1977’s Low, and "Heroes" – he really didn’t drop a step for a very long time! This was a fertile and productive period for the icon. If Young Americans was Bowie more influenced by the U.S. rather than Europe, I think Station to Station was the transition where Bowie kept the influence of R&B and Soul, but he was also being inspired by German bands like Kratwerk and Neu! His next album, Low, was the start of his famous ‘Berlin Trilogy’ – followed by "Heroes", and Lodger (1979). The brilliant thing about Station to Station is that its songs are accessible and complicated at the same time. Every track on the album can be absorbed and appreciated, but there are so many different styles and layers. It is a masterclass of ease and sophistication. Even if Bowie does not remember large chunks of recording the album, it is evident that Station to Station was the master firing on all cylinders! Backing up to pre-production, and it was during the filming The Man Who Fell to Earth when Bowie created the Thin White Duke – he even started a pseudo-autobiography called The Return of the Thin White Duke. It seems like Bowie had a lot of freedom when it came to creating the look for his character on The Man Who Fell to Earth.
The character of the Thin White Duke consisted Bowie dressed in white shirt, black trousers and waistcoat; a being that was quite hollow who, though he sang about love, inside he felt nothing. That description, combined with Bowie’s intense cocaine habit at the time, would suggest an album that is pretty cold and sterile. Instead, I think Station to Station has incredible warmth, creativity and nuance. Golden Years, and TVC15 (my favourite Bowie song) are among his very best cuts. With three tracks on each side – Station to Station, Golden Years, and Word on a Wing on the first; TVC15, Stay, and Wild Is the Wind (a song written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington for the 1957 film, Wild Is the Wind) on the second -, it is an album that is balanced yet sprawling; focused yet scattershot. I want to finish off with a couple of reviews. When they approached the album in 2018, this is what Secret Meeting had to say:
“Opening with the droning rumble of a train clattering against its tracks, the title track opens the album in truly epic fashion and the first minute is Bowie’s homage to one of his fascinations of the time – the industrial sound of early 70’s German machine music, also known as Krautrock, and particularly the bands Neu! and Kraftwerk. Then enters Bowie, announcing his presence with the croon of the nonpareil lyrics, ‘The return of The Thin White Duke, throwing darts in lovers eyes’ over its motorik drums which grip the listener for the next ten minutes. A track that transcends genre, blasting away the clean, crisp pop of his previous records and lurching into a futuristic oasis as he announces, ‘The European cannon is here’.
IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie in 1976/PHOTO CREDIT: Neil Zlozower
After the assault of the title track, Golden Years is a blend of the ‘plastic soul’ sound produced on his previous record, Young Americans, and rides on the crest of a wave of funk as an infectious loop commands the listener to move to the music. ‘Don’t let me hear life is taking you nowhere… run for the shadows,’ he sings over the tightly constrained groove. With his voice surpassing anything he has put to tape previously, the song engrosses us in all of its subtle nuances and we are seduced by its effortlessly suave sound.
The hymn like Word on a Wing gently announces itself and is in danger of being engulfed by the assault of the first two tracks. However, instead it stands out on an album of highlights as a song of unparalleled beauty. It is the track to which I constantly return to daily. Struggling with his demons and searching for his place within the world, he engages in conversation with God – ‘Lord, I kneel and offer you my word on a wing/And I’m trying hard to fit among your scheme of things’. It is both poignant and uplifting in equal measures. The music is gorgeous, encasing the listener in its charm, while the lyrics and passion with which they are delivered leave a haunting echo. Bowie himself described the song and this period while living in LA as the darkest, and the song is a clear cry for help as he battled to stay alive on his extreme diet of red peppers, milk and cocaine. Struggling with his thoughts, purpose and existence, Bowie delivers a song that is flawless in every way.
Station to Station continues with the propulsive funk of TVC15 and the most ‘pop’ song on the record, Stay. These moments provide the perfect platform to showcase the talents of the incredible musicians Bowie had surrounded himself with who were the perfect vehicle for his creative genius. Then finally, the record closes with another majestic vocal performance; the album’s sole cover version, Wild is the Wind. And the ballad, most famously recognised by Nina Simone’s 1966 version, brings this journey of sound and imagination to a close.
This record is my antidote to the increasingly desperate situation in which we find ourselves in 2018. It is 37 minutes and 54 seconds of heartfelt contemplation, struggle with addiction and the musings of fate. A mixtape that blends the industrial bleeding sounds of krautrock with incredible funky grooves, a ferocious cacophony of guitars, infectious poptastic moments and majestic poignant balladry. It is Bowie at his blockbuster best, and I couldn’t think of anyone but The Thin White Duke to play the lead role”.
I will finish off soon, but I just want to highlight AllMusic’s positive review of Station to Station:
“Taking the detached plastic soul of Young Americans to an elegant, robotic extreme, Station to Station is a transitional album that creates its own distinctive style. Abandoning any pretense of being a soulman, yet keeping rhythmic elements of soul, David Bowie positions himself as a cold, clinical crooner and explores a variety of styles. Everything from epic ballads and disco to synthesized avant pop is present on Station to Station, but what ties it together is Bowie's cocaine-induced paranoia and detached musical persona. At its heart, Station to Station is an avant-garde art-rock album, most explicitly on "TVC 15" and the epic sprawl of the title track, but also on the cool crooning of "Wild Is the Wind" and "Word on a Wing," as well as the disco stylings of "Golden Years." It's not an easy album to warm to, but its epic structure and clinical sound were an impressive, individualistic achievement, as well as a style that would prove enormously influential on post-punk”.
On 23rd January, many will share their memories and favourite tracks from Station to Station. I can’t recall when I first heard the album, but I can remember being struck by it at once! There is a forty-fifth anniversary ‘bricks and mortar’ vinyl available from 22nd January that sounds awesome! Some may argue as to which David Bowie album is the best but, in my opinion, Station to Station is the greatest album…
HE ever put out.