DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUM

Here we are, with the shimmering soulboy, Bowie '75 style and 'Young Americans', that louche blend of slow jams, dirty funk and smooth grooves. Bowie's 1975 album veered dramatically away from the trashglam-apocalypso of 1974's 'Diamond Dogs' and presaged the chilly Eurotech of 1976's 'Station To Station' with joyous verve and energy. 'Blue eyed soul', its emaciated creator later dismissed it as b...

Low! The 1976 masterpiece which saw our man frazzled and burned-out, on the cusp of mayhem, relocated from the madness of Los Angeles and teaming up with Brian Eno for a lot of experimental doodling and dallying and along the way, coming up with one of the most revolutionary albums in rawk history. The opening salvo of the 'Berlin Trilogy', Low is a beautiful racket of proto-electronica, effects a...

We return from a short international expedition with Part 2 of our Hunky Dory hoe-down in which acclaimed Bowie biographer and Albumtoalbum regular Nicholas Pegg and I sit down to try and work out what makes Bowie's 1971 album just so damn good. I can't seem to string together a coherent sentence in this episode, which I will defend, by saying Hunky Dory leaves me speechless. In this edition, we f...

It's the album that, arguably, revealed more of Bowie than any other, before or since. It's a masterstroke of songwriting, melodies, esoterica and soul-searching. It's Hunky Dory and in the latest episode of Album To Album, we embark on the first of a two-part discussion of Bowie's 1971 landmark work, with our good pal Nick Pegg in the house to discuss Bovril, Andy Warhol, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Mi...

Heaven's In Here! Under The God! Video Crime! Bus Stop! The critical consensus is one of mockery and disdain, but to paraphrase a magazine article of the time - "Are Tin Machine Crap? Discuss" - the wonderful Charlotte Hatherley and I reconvene in the kitchen to crack open a bottle of wine and do just that. We ponder the stories behind the Tin Machine project, chew over our favourite and not so fa...

Let's primp our hair, pat our shoulder pads into place, put on our red shoes and dance the blues in this edition as we head back to 1983 and the world-beating, mainstream-baiting majesty of Let's Dance, with the Berlin-based author and critic Joachim Hentschel. In this episode of Albumtoalbum, we explore the back story of Let's Dance and talk through the uneven collection of dance, rock, r'n'b and...

Released in 1979 to mixed reviews and a sense of bewilderment at the change of direction from the preceding two instalments of the 'Berlin trilogy', 'Lodger' has never quite assumed iconic status. But there is much to enjoy in this 10-track outing, from a sort of travel themed suite of songs to a more broader set of topics on side two. Containing hits such as 'DJ' and 'Boys Keep Swinging', it also...

PinUps is Bowie's fond parting gift to 1960s London, with covers of classic and less-known tracks from the Who, Kinks, Yardbirds, Syd's Pink Floyd, Them and more. It's also his farewell to Ziggy - having broken up the band when the kids had killed the man in July of 1973, our little wonder was going places - inventing Orwellian rock dystopia and becoming a grand, raddled dame of despair. But first...

Hello! Here's a little Easter treat for you all, a couple of outtakes from my conversation with Nicholas Pegg last week in which Nick explains how he came to write 'The Complete David Bowie' and then, an interesting bit about the Glass Spider tour and Bowie at Live Aid. My mic was undergoing some sort of trauma for this section, which is why it didn't make the final cut - but it's well worth heari...

Mullets! Marimbas! Multimedia arachnid mayhem! Yes it's the spidery folly of 1987's 'Never Let Me Down', with Nicholas Pegg returning to stoutly defend his choice of album to a sceptical public, in this highly entertaining ramble. The 1987 album 'Never Let Me Down' was a mishmash of styles, songs and haircuts as Bowie attempted to jumpstart his flagging career, with this confused follow up to 1984...

When Q journalist David Quantick flew to New York in 1999 to meet Bowie ahead of the release of 'Hours…' he found King Gnome in chipper form, sprightly, funny and eager to discuss almost everything other than his new album. Maybe that was because (in my opinion) it's far from being one of his best. I think it's dull and ininspiring. Not Quantick. Listen and marvel as my guest fights his corner wit...

In this episode, we delve into the magisterial 1977 epic "Heroes" in a very entertaining chat with former Ash guitarist and composer Charlotte Hatherley. Along the way, Charlotte and I ponder Frippertronics, try to fathom the mystique and romance that the "Heroes" album holds for us, pick apart the songs, ponder Bowie's sexiness, indulge in world-class pedantry and hear about the time Bowie forgot...

Join me and The Complete David Bowie author Nicholas Pegg for a lengthy ramble around 1969's 'Space Oddity' and discover why this 'debut' was in fact, probably the most raw, personal and heartfelt Bowie album ever made. From breakups to breakdowns, disillusionment, bitterness and resignation, rock, folk, country and space jams  - a relative flop on release (apart from the hit title track) this rem...