David Bowie - PinUps
On October 19, 1973, "Pin Ups", David Bowie's seventh studio album, was released.
In the summer of 1973, David Bowie was at the top of the music world, but also at an artistic and personal boiling point. On the evening of July 3 of that year, on the stage of the Hammersmith Odeon in London, he stunned his fans and some of his band members when he announced the retirement of Ziggy Stardust, the alien character who had made him a superstar following the masterful albums "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" from 1972 and "Aladdin Sane" released in April 1973. Bowie, who felt that the character he had created was beginning to take over his sanity, was looking for a way to shake off the heavy stardust, close a defining chapter in his career, and at the same time give the audience and the record company RCA an album that would maintain his tremendous commercial momentum heading into the holiday season. The solution he found was brilliant and unexpected, a return to the roots of British rock that shaped his youth in mid-1960s London.
Heading to the Château d'Hérouville near Paris in July 1973, Bowie and his trusted producer Ken Scott gathered at the legendary studio where Elton John had recorded. But the atmosphere in the French castle was far from idyllic. Bassist Trevor Bolder and virtuoso guitarist Mick Ronson discovered that drummer Mick Woodmansey had been removed from the band without their knowledge due to internal tensions and a crisis of trust with Tony Defries' management company. In his place, veteran British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who had previously played with Frank Zappa and John Mayall, was recruited, bringing with him technical power and a more aggressive approach. They were joined by the brilliant pianist Mike Garson and saxophonist Ken Fordham, and the album recordings became the official and final swan song of the core of Bowie's legendary backing band.
The idea behind "Pin Ups" was a personal and theatrical salute to the London club scene of 1964 to 1967, and in particular to the famous Marquee Club where the young Bowie spent time as an enthusiastic mod boy who thirstily absorbed every chord of the British Invasion, rhythm and blues and early psychedelia. In the album booklet, Bowie defined the songs as favorites of that period, but in reality he and Mick Ronson were not satisfied with a nostalgic faithful reconstruction of the original. The two dismantled the songs of the Sixties into their elements and reassembled them in the image of the dense, polished and heavy glam rock of 1973, with Ronson's roaring electric guitars, Garson's avant-garde piano and Bowie's own prominent saxophone giving the songs a dramatic and almost avant-garde envelope.
The album opens with an electric storm with "Rosalyn", originally a wild rhythm and blues gem by "The Pretty Things" from 1964. In Bowie and Ronson's version, the song becomes a dizzying proto-punk attack, in which Dunbar's feverish drumming and Ronson's cutting riffs push Bowie into a hysterical, uninhibited vocal delivery. It is immediately followed by "Here Comes the Night", the hit by "Them" led by Van Morrison, which here undergoes a fascinating theatrical transformation with a rich saxophone arrangement and dramatic rhythm changes that take the song from its original melancholy into an ostentatious cabaret show. The third track, "I Wish You Would" by "The Yardbirds", demonstrates Ronson's close connection to British guitar heritage, combining bluesy harmonica and electric violin that create constant tension.
One of the album's highlights and the most brilliant performances of Bowie's early career is the remake of "Pink Floyd's" early psychedelic hit from the Syd Barrett era, "See Emily Play". Bowie, who admired Barrett and considered him a major inspiration for shaping his artistic image, transformed the short song with Ronson and Garson into an elaborate symphonic fantasy. Garson's mesmerizing piano, electronic games in stereophonic space, and Ronson's melodic guitar solo end with a brief string coda, which seals the song with an atmosphere that is both magical and bizarre.
It's followed by "Everything's Alright" by "The Mojos", where Bolder and Dunbar lead a tight, bouncy rock 'n' roll groove that highlights the production's rich vocal harmonies. Side one is capped by the ballad "I Can't Explain", "The Who's" debut single. In contrast to the fast, youthful energy of Pete Townshend and his friends, Bowie drastically slows the tempo, transforming the song into a slow, heavy, sensual glam anthem, supported by a monumental guitar riff and meaty saxophone.
The second side opens with "Friday on My Mind", the pop-rock classic by the Australian band "The Easybeats" who were active in London. Here the musicians demonstrate breathtaking virtuosity in the complex transitions between the somber verses and the explosive chorus, with Ronson leading the song with multi-layered guitar work that combines powerful distortion with perfect melodic precision. It is followed by the biggest hit from the album, "Sorrow", first recorded by "The McCoys" in 1965 and popularized by "The Merseys" in 1966. Bowie gives the song a velvety, deep and pathos-filled vocal performance in the style of a classic crooner, within a rich arrangement combining elegant strings and saxophone. The single took first place in the Australian charts and reached third place in the British charts, becoming one of Bowie's most recognizable songs of the early 1970s.
Later on, the second side sees Bowie return to "The Pretty Things" with "Don't Bring Me Down", a rough and sensual performance in which acoustic and electric guitars blend with almost whispered vocals. The tenth track, "Shapes of Things", is the album's second salute to "The Yardbirds", where Ken Scott's production intensifies the song's militaristic and psychedelic dimension with dense guitar layers and Dunbar's devastating drumming. Bowie immediately returns to "The Who" with "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", where Ronson delivers a show of feedback and wailing guitars in homage to Townshend's pioneering spirit. The album closes with "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" by "The Kinks", written by Ray Davies. The choice to end the album with a song that deals with nostalgia and longing for good old days was no coincidence; it symbolized Bowie's departure from the innocent era of the sixties and also the final closing of the Ziggy Stardust era.
The cover of "Pin Ups" features Bowie with Twiggy, photographed in Paris by Justin de Villeneuve. The session was originally intended for Vogue. According to Bowie’s official archive, Bowie requested the photograph for the album because he believed the record would circulate more widely than the magazine. The mask-like makeup gives the image its striking, otherworldly character.
Upon its release, "Pin Ups" was a huge commercial success, rocketing straight to number one on the UK album charts, where it stayed for five consecutive weeks, and became one of Bowie's best-selling records of the 1970s. Even if some critics saw it as a light interlude between his great original works, the test of time has proven that it is a fascinating historical and musical document. The album not only rescued a series of British rock gems from oblivion and gave them eternal life, but also closed the era of full studio albums featuring the surviving core of Bowie's Spiders backing band, just before Bowie reinvented himself with the album "Diamond Dogs" and continued his endless journey into the unknown.
For the album’s fiftieth anniversary, a half-speed-mastered vinyl edition was released on October 20, 2023, cut by John Webber at AIR from restored transfers of the original master tapes.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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