Hunky Dory opens with 'Changes', which sums up the album's success: at the time, it's single release was met with massive critical acclaim, but failed to place in the UK and just missed out on the US Top 40; it has since become one of Bowie's most loved and well-known songs. Dealing with ideas of transformation and redevelopment, 'Changes' can act as a statement of intent for the work Bowie would go on to produce throughout the rest of the 1970s.
'Oh! You Pretty Things' unleashes the camp sound of glam rock, which through the likes of Bowie and Marc Bolan became a massive success in the early 1970s. Marked by a quirky piano riff and the sing along chorus, the track is emblematic of the ironical, yet uplifting sound of glam.
The literally-titled 'Eight Line Poem' features some atmospheric keyboard work and adept guitar playing, coupled with the cactus-centric eight-line verse, a short but competent diversion before one of Hunky Dory's greatest pieces.
Life On Mars?
Hunky Dory, despite mildly disappointing sales, featured one of Bowie's best-known and most-loved tracks, 'Life On Mars?'. The first full realisation of Bowie's now trademark early-70s sound, the song is built around lyrics which touch upon cultural icons (Mickey Mouse, John Lennon), and a surrealist aesthetic which coupled with the melodramatic music creates a strange mixture of high camp, theatre, and postmodernism. The track also had its origins in the Frank Sinatra classic 'My Way'.
'Kooks' is a humorous tune, about two old romantics who are connecting with a child. Aware of their failings ("I'm not much cop at punching other people's Dads") staying in their Lover's Story is made beguilingly appealing due to the quirky piano and joyous vocal from Bowie.
More dramatic and thought-provoking is 'Quicksand', which like 'Life On Mars?' is full of cultural references, this time to the likes of Garbo, Bardot, and Churchill. Bowie succeeds by focusing on established cultural icons, whose name and image still resonates today, unlike a number of late 60s and early 70s writers whose scathing attacks on certain individuals have no meaning to the majority of modern listeners.
Andy Warhol
Hunky Dory only features one track not written by Bowie, the Biff Rose/Paul Williams-penned 'Fill Your Heart'. The track still fits the Bowie sound, if the lyrics are slightly more uncomplicated in their positivity. Swooping strings, slightly honky tonk piano, and a playful Bowie vocal make the track a fun diversion between the dramatic 'Quicksand' and 'Andy Warhol'.
'Andy Warhol' itself is memorable for its flamenco-esque guitar work. The track is not overly positive about Warhol, who allegedly disliked the song. Bowie then continues his examination of sixties icons with 'Song For Bob Dylan', which does not sound much like a Bob Dylan song. The track opens with an accurate portrait of Dylan himself, and is on the whole a more positive cut than 'Andy Warhol'.
'Queen Bitch' is an early example of the gender-questioning character Bowie would bring to fruition with Ziggy Stardust. A rocky, bitchy tune, it was given a dramatic makeover when performed by Seu Jorge in Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.
Hunky Dory closes with 'The Bewlay Brothers', a track focused on the lyrics in a more direct way than the rest of the album. The simple acoustic backing and occasional flashes of a more exotic sound recalls Simon and Garfunkel, as does the lyrical dynamicism. Whilst effective, and featuring a strange move in to a heavily accented closing stanza about gravy, it does not lead seamlessly in to the excess and innovation which would mark the follow-up record, Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, which propelled Bowie to superstardom.
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