There will never be another David Bowie. THE artist for our times who many fans have found hard to let go after his shocking and sudden death earlier this year, he was a true innovator and musical genius. Bowie is often referred to as ‘pop’s great chameleon’.
In fact he was more like a house-of-fun mirror, reflecting what’s in front of him, twisting it, enlarging it, turning the ordinary into something extraordinary. He was quite simply the most influential, enigmatic and interesting recording artist in modern music.
Bowie: Album By Album is an examination of all of his 27 studio albums since 1967 up until the final, astonishing album Blackstar released just before his untimely death. His albums have both reflected and informed contemporary culture.
Through glamrock, rock, pop, blue-eyed soul, jazz and electronica, there are few genres he hasn’t played with and even fewer that he hasn’t left his fingerprints on. Year-zero punks, androgynous new romantics, suited soul boys, eye-lined goths, art school experimentalists and Generation X grungers – most have, at some point, cited Bowie as an influence.
With 160 colour photographs Bowie: Album By Album was originally published in 2012 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his breakthrough album, The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and ahead of the 2013 anniversary of his first UK number-one album, Aladdin Sane. This edition has been updated to include his final, haunting and enchanting work Blackstar.
Written by noted author Paolo Hewitt with world-leading Bowie expert Kevin Cann as consultant editor. The foreword is by broadcaster and writer Robert Elms. Bowie: Album By Album presents unrivalled authority and is the ultimate celebration of an incomparable catalogue of music. It is, in short, an essential addition to every Bowie fan’s library.
Paolo Hewitt is a journalist and author of over 20 books. He has written for Melody Maker and NME, as well as Vogue Germany, Fare Musica in Italy and The Sunday Times. Among other books, he is the author of The Jam: A Beat Concerto, The Small Faces: The Young Mod’s Forgotten Story, Getting High: The Adventure of Oasis, and Alan McGee and the Story of Creation Records, as well as several works of fiction.
Bowie: Album By Album is published by Carlton Books and available at all leading booksellers, including Angus & Robertson Bookworld.
Image: Bowie: Album By Album