Almost embarrassingly, David Bowie’s all-covers album Pin Ups plays as a more rocking and consistent effort than his own studio releases. Quite a strange way to end his (arguably) most creative, unique, and respected career period, as this was the last album to feature the wonderful Spiders From Mars backing band he had used since 1970's The Man Who Sold The World.
Normally I'm not a fan of cover albums at all, but Pin Ups works wonderfully like no other I've heard. Since I'm not familiar with the original versions of most of these songs, I can't compare them with the ones found here, and therefore these all sound like supercharged Bowie originals to me as he seems to have picked songs that would lend themselves particularly well to his stylings. If only he could write a whole album of original stuff this good.
Pin Ups plays like a greatest hits album. All the songs are strongly written, distinctive from each other, have great melodies, and morph confidently into the early ‘70s
Pin Ups is a surprisingly good album that contains great singing, playing, arrangements, production, and song selection, fittingly closing the much ballyhooed Spiders From Mars era.
Why didn't you mention more of the songs on this album. You mentioned some of the groups he covered, but only one song title. As the reader I still don't know if I want this record because I don't know what's on it. |