The mid-1970's were a stressful time for David Bowie. His marriage to the obnoxious Angela Bowie was disintegrating, he had become a top-notch coke freak, and was convinced that practitioners of black magic were out to get him. He had laid his Ziggy Stardust persona to rest, in favor of a white-boy soul man character, which was not as well-received as he had hoped. While his "Young Americans" album was a bold step in a new direction, it did not receive the kind of adoration that Bowie had become accustomed to. Somehow, while fighting with dictatorial manager Tony Defries, sorcerers, and the homosexual image he had created for himself, David managed to come up with an absolutely brilliant album that retains the disco-funk of "Americans", but pushes it into a whole new direction. The persona that dominates this album is that of the Thin White Duke, an aristocratic European fellow who likes to cruise around in limos, binged out on cocaine, his head swimming in fascist paranoid fantasies (someone once told me that "Station To Station"-era Bowie was one of the people Pink Floyd based "The Wall" on. I cannot verify this but it seems plausible). So self-absorbed was David during this era that he actually made his band play behind a backdrop during concerts, so that he could be the one and only center of the audience's attention. One look at the photos inside the CD booklet (David, looking like a famished hairdresser in sore need of a dental hygienist, scribbling kabbalistic desings on an asylum floor) will clue the listener in to Bowie's frame of mind at the time. The songs themselves are the antithesis of the shallow yet groovy preceding album; the hooks are there, but not as contrived sounding. The title track starts off slow and menacing, then builds to a disco crescendo that could take the Bee Gees on anyday. "Stay" is fast and funky, "Word On A Wing" is very heartfelt and seeminly religious, "Golden Years" (the closest thing to a hit here) is a doo-woppy dance tune that Dave supposedly wrote about Angela (who was also the inspiration behind the Rolling Stones' "Angie"). "TVC 15" seems to be the favorite of most, dealing as it does with a carnivorous television. And finally, "Wild Is The Wind", while not written by Bowie, has to be one of his most heart-felt performances. This album was the transition into a more experimental phase of Bowie's career, and I strongly recommend it.

If I could only have five Bowie CDs, "Station to Station" would round out the list. It is a virtual Bowie music primer in that it pulls together more elements of his ever-changing style than any other album. The songs are good, but they work even better together-the whole is stronger than its component parts.

"Diamond Dogs" was a transitional album between Bowie's glam and disco phases. "Station to Station" is transitional on the other side of the disco moment (epitomized by "Young Americans"). This one bridges 70's dance music to the new wave style that would come into its own with the "Berlin Trilogy" of "Low," "'Heroes'," and "Lodger," and reached its zenith with the excellent "Scary Monsters." Songs like the title track, "Station to Station" recall some of the bizarre mystic references that pop up on "The Man Who Sold the World." "TVC15" has choppy, paranoid, non-sequitur lyrics like those on "Diamond Dogs." "Golden Years," the albums pop hit, would have fit well on the earlier "Young Americans" or the later "Let's Dance." "Stay" has the dark and confused undertones that characterize "Low." So, fans of almost any other Bowie album will find something they like on "Station to Station."

The album opens with the highly original title song. At over ten minutes, it is Bowie's longest studio song, and one of his most complex. Immediately he demonstrates what a synthesizer can do by mimicking the sound of a train taking off from a station. Like the train, the song starts slowly before building to a full steam. "Station to Station" is an asymmetrical song - the pace, the melody, and everything else go through a gradual transformation from the start to the end. Despite this transformation and the symbolism of the title, the song itself is not necessarily about transition. After listening to it for years and years I'm still not exactly sure what it is about. It is deliberately confused - like Bowie is trying to describe something that he's having trouble putting words to. He's feeling something, but he's not sure what. He rules out drugs - "Its not the side effects of the cocaine," before tentatively concluding, "I'm thinking that it must be love." So is he speculating about a feeling, or an event? Some of the lyrics hint at a forced separation. He may be trying to make sense of such an occurrence, perhaps because of a war. In this sense there are vague links to "Aladdin Sane," which itself draws on World War I imagery. Then there are the mystical references, "Here are we, one magical movement from Kether to Malkuth," (a line related to the picture of Bowie drawing "the Tree of Life" on the back of the CD package).

"Station to Station" is the only song that mentions The Thin White Duke, which many assume was the newest Bowie persona. That isn't entirely clear from the song. All we know from the song is that the Duke has returned, throws darts in lovers eyes (whatever that means) and makes sure "white stains." The Duke is not necessarily the narrator of the song. It could be a metaphor. It could be cocaine. It could be another World War I reference. It could mean nothing at all. Whatever it all means, it works well and is a worthy kickoff to the album.

The next song is about as different as possible. "Golden Years" is the most accessible song on the album, and it's only hit single. It is a straightforward, positive, nothing song combining a disco beat with a 50's do-wop sound. "Drive in Saturday" meets "Fame." Rumor has it that Bowie originally wrote the song for Elvis Presley, who rejected it. "Golden Years" is catchy, but it is the weakest song on the album. It sounds good at first, but is simply not as enduring or thought provoking as the other songs. Bowie is typically at his worst when he's trying to sing happy, as with the songs "Kooks" and "Fill Your Heart" that mar "Hunky Dory." Its over quickly, then we're back to the more complex with "Word on a Wing."

Bowie toys with religion from time to time in some of his songs. "Word on a Wing" is his most sincere and overall best treatment of the subject. In the song he tries to reconcile his faith with the rest of his life. Bowie concludes, "Just because I believe don't mean I don't think as well, don't have to question everything in heaven and hell." But the tentativeness of much of the rest of the album is present on this song as well. This is not a sermon, it is an attempt to figure things out.

Bowie can't figure anything out in the next song. "TVC15." "TVC15" is barely discernable as a song about a girlfriend getting consumed by a television. It's really an expression of paranoia, and the encroachment of television on personal relations. It is also the most tongue-in-cheek song on the album, but musically it is one of the strongest.

"Stay" is the next song. Again, Bowie sounds deliberately confused. This time he's wrestling with whether a partner should stay the night or not. One can imagine the response to the song being "Should I stay or should I go." Bowie seems to realize that, if she (he?) stays there could be trouble. "Stay" sharply contrasts with the certainty and confidence of "Let's Spend the Night Together," which Bowie weakly covers on "Aladdin Sane." As with his spirituality, Bowie is unsure about his sexuality.

At least until the closing song, "Wild is the Wind." "Wild is the Wind" is both one of Bowie's most successful covers and also one of his best (really, one of his only) ballads. The song is a few steps away from being corny, but it somehow works and sounds beautiful at the end of "Station to Station." There is no uncertainty in this song. It is a profound expression of love, and a good way to end the album.

All of this meshes very well together. "Station to Station" is a collection of songs, not a concept album, but it has a pleasing continuity despite the theme of uncertainty. Aside from the weakness of "Golden Years," the album's only other shortcoming is that it's too short. Although the six songs are long, the entire album (minus bonus tracks) contains less than 38 minutes. But it is a very good 38 minutes.

As usual, the "bonus songs" on the Rykodisk version of "Station to Station" add nothing. If you have the EMI version, which duplicates the original, you are missing live versions of "Word on a Wing" and "Stay," two songs that you just heard. The live versions are slightly longer, but sound very much like the studio versions. They are not bad, but they are unnecessary.

It's a tragedy that Bowie himself can't remember any of the events that went into the making of this 6-track, filler-free magnum opus. This album is great from beginning to end. Starting out with the 10 minute+ "Station To Station," which is almost symphonic in it's composition, we take a train ride into pop music. "Station To Station" is considered by many to be Bowie's best song, with Bowie not even singing until 3 minutes, 17 seconds in. After that, we head off with a slow start crescendoing to a grand finale of a song. "Golden Years" is pure pop. It's rumored that Elvis Presley was offered to sing this, but turned it down. It's not not to tap your feet and dance to this one. "Word On A Wing" is probably Bowie's plea to God. Apparently, it was answered, since Bowie kicked the habit and left for Germany shortly thereafter. "TVC15" is another pop number. It's one of the most catchiest things you'll ever heard that you'll enjoy having stuck in your head. "Stay" is the backwards version of "Station To Station." The last 2 or so minutes are a instrumental (his next album, "Low," really delved into the art of instrumentals.) It's probably the least exciting song of the album. "Wild Is The Wind" is the only cover song on this album (and it was recently covered again on the George Michaels album "Songs of the 20th Century.") It's a plaintive love song, with one of the most theatrical pleas ("Don't you know you're life...itself! ") Bowie shines on this album. If you go out and buy this right now, you will never look back and you will never be disappointed.

After Ziggy Stardust, and Aladdin Sane, after the theatricality of "Diamond Dogs", and the plastic-soul of "Young Americans" there came prehaps Bowie's most haunting persona, The Thin White Duke, and this is his record.

At time of recording Bowie was in the depths of a serious cocaine addiction. It is said that he now remembers very little of the recording of "Station To Station". But once you have heard this album you will not forget it easily.

The title track is a ten minute epic in which Bowie's vocal range travels in leaps and bounds. Meet The Thin White Duke himself and gasp in awe as he screams: 'It's not the side effects of the cocaine/I'm thinking that it must be love'.

"Word On A Wing" sees Bowie at his most poignant as he pleads for grace in a desperate search for God. Shiver as he croons his way through the best version of "Wild Is The Wind" ever recorded.

This CD not important, it is *essential*! No collection should be without it.

First, I must say that the two stars are not for the album itself, which is brilliant. You should totally own a copy of this album. Just don't buy the EMI version which is a blatent rip-off. The earlier release of this album on the Ryko disc label not only offered a high-class CD sleeve with lyrics, but also threw in some fine bonus tracks at a considerably cheaper price--and to my ears, the sound quality was no different. Such is how it is on this version that (and all the other reissued that have replaced the Ryko disc versions--all of which included extra worthwhile material) we are promised an enhanced version of Station To Station. And what does this mean? Are we treated to a live video clip of one of the cuts off this album? Hidden bonus tracks? Photos????? No!---what you get instead is a shameless advertisement to join the David Bowie world wide web community-for a fee. That's right, it wasn't enough that you shelled out the extra cash for the disc, but if you want access to all those hitherto mentioned goodies, you have to shell out still more cash. Shame on you, David (although I can't help but doft my hat at your entrepeneurial savvy!) for insulting us with this 'enhancement'; shame on you for thinking we'd be impressed with such fancy phrases like 'Sonic Solutions No Noise technology' or 'mastered to 16 bit . . . using Prism SNS Noise Shaping' in order to justify chincing on the extra tracks. We weren't fooled for one minute . . . . . . were we?