David Bowie's sixth studio album Aladdin Sane was released in 1973. The album was his biggest commercial success up to that point and reviews were generally positive. Bowie created the character Aladdin Sane (a play on "a lad insane") after he got tired of being his previous alter ego Ziggy Stardust.
The historical and cultural significance of Ziggy Stardust brought out a sense of duty in me to thoroughly analyze each lyric and understand the story in and out. Because Aladdin Sane is without such reputation, I found it much more difficult repeat this exercise because I have little interest in diving into Bowie's world that is twisted just for the thrill of it. He may well explore interesting and daring topics--drugs, violence, sexuality, etc.--but his imagery is limited and the gravity and substance of the words crumble without the music by its side. As music though, this album rocks and it rocks with more precision than anything he's released so far--Mick Ronson has really become a substantive and important part of the band. This is a worthwhile rock and roll album for Bowie fans and it functions perfectly well without an interesting conceptual net. B+
