My Month of Bowie, day 2: 'Space Oddity' (1969)

David Bowie reintroduced himself on his second album.

The album: Space Oddity aka David Bowie (Philips, 1969)

Bowie tries again... with new hair.

My thoughts: Being the ultimate theater kid on his self-titled 1967 debut album didn't work—at least commercially—so for his second self-titled debut album in 1969, David Bowie switched things up. In his case, a single song changed the course of his career, his life, and popular music in general: "Space Oddity." Fifty-six years later, the song still sounds as ominous, tender, and haunting as ever. It's like David had a half dozen great musical ideas simultaneously and managed to fit them all into one coherent song. (I wonder if David ever heard the Langley Schools Music Project version of that song.)

Nothing else on Space Oddity is as memorable as the title track, but I don't side with those who say the rest of the album is disposable or worthless. Critics well-schooled in all things Bowie tend to turn up their noses at this album. But I have an advantage over the experts: as a relative newbie, I'm just ignorant enough to get some enjoyment from these songs. I don't have a paradigm for what a Bowie album "could" or "should" be, so Space Oddity sounds just fine to me. And other people must like this album, too, since I'd definitely at least heard of a couple of the other tracks on it, namely "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" and "Memory of a Free Festival."

I immediately noticed and appreciated that Bowie's second album is a lot more rock-centric than his first. The guitars and vocals are both more aggressive this time around. You can really hear it in tracks like the bluesy "Janine." In 1981, Devo were through being cool. Well, in 1969, David Bowie was through being uncool. Maybe he remembered what century it was and got hip to the times. I think, if you were a college kid in 1969 who wanted something to listen to while getting comfortably high on a Thursday night, you could do a lot worse than Space Oddity.

I have some quibbles about the album, but they're minor ones. Space Oddity has a few too many midtempo numbers that just sort of plod along for a few minutes without going anywhere terribly interesting. The "Hey Jude"-style singalong chorus on "Free Festival" could have been trimmed just a smidgen. And it seems like about half the tracks start with the same strummy guitar sound. But Bowie definitely isn't phoning it in on this record. I'm not sure exactly what message he's trying to get across, but he's certainly passionate about something. You wouldn't mistake him for some random schmo who brought an acoustic guitar to a coffee shop open mic night. His word choices are too specific for that and his vocals too dramatic.

I doubt I'll revisit this album after the project is over, but I don't regret spending 45 minutes listening to it. If nothing else, the title track still resonates with me. "And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear." Great line.

Up next: The Man Who Sold the World (1970)