We should be on by now

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane - 1973

After the huge breakthrough and success of his previous release, Bowie went on tour to America, and this album, mostly written during that tour, reflects Bowie's experience on the other side of the pond.
This is not really just my impression, he himself would refer to it as "Ziggy goes to America", and I think the description fits it perfectly.
For me, it's always a bit of a "forgotten" album, one of those that I thoroughly enjoy while listening to it, but I seem to have trouble remembering afterwards.
It's, of course, a bit of a strange album, less cohesive than its predecessor, but it somehow feels as if Bowie was fully comfortable doing it. I keep getting this weird vibe of a fully fledged artist here, more than in any of his previous albums. Which makes sense, because this was the first album he released being already famous.
Musically, it's more of a rocker than previous albums, and in many tracks you can hear a lot of influence from the Stones style. That, and there's also a cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together". There's also 1920s style jazz, cabaret, and a flamenco-style ballad.
I also notice a huge change in the style of lyrics, being for the most part more grounded in reality (American reality, at any rate), dealing less with the more philosophical subjects of previous albums. And the lyrics seem to be more "standard" in the way they are organised, not as much as storytelling as they used to be. Which is something I miss a bit.
This is an album that, I think, seems much simpler than it really is, and I'm enjoying more with every listen, and it's been great to re-acquaint myself with it.

• The title of the album is a play on words with "A Lad Insane", which is a reference to Bowie's brother, Terry, who was a schizophrenic. 
• The title track is actually called "Aladdin Sane(1913-1938-197?)". Bowie was inspired in Evelyn Waugh's novel Vile Bodies, that refers to the decadent and frivolous youth in the post WWI London. He seems to have seen a similar pattern in the 70s America. The first two dates are the years right before the two big wars. 
• "Aladdin Sane" finishes with a coda in which Bowie sings parts of the song "On Broadway". I only knew that song from the version by George Benson that made into the brilliant All That Jazz film, and I was a bit confused because I was certain the movie was from the late 70s (I was right). The song is actually from the 1960s.
• The Rolling Stones cover is actually pretty good, but I think I still like the original version a bit more. 
• One of the few futuristic songs of the album is "Drive-In Saturday", about a post-apocalyptic society in which people have forgotten how to have sex and have to watch old porn films to educate themselves. 
• While I love the rockier songs, some of my favourite tracks here are the ones in which he delves in different styles. "Lady Grinning Soul" is a strange song that has touches of flamenco and also sounds as if it could be a James Bond song. 
• Still, the one I like best is probably "Time", and is the one I'm sharing here. As a funny anecdote, the lyrics have the line; "Time - He flexes like a whore / Falls wanking to the floor". Because the Americans didn't know the meaning of "wanking", RCA allowed it to remain in the single edit. They did remove the words "quaaludes and red wine" though. Wankers. 

Cause my wheels never touch the road

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic - 1973

Now, this is more like it.

This is the first album in which King Crimson sound like the idea I've always had of the band's sound. 

I've quite enjoyed myself listening to their older stuff (for the most part), but this is the sound I was waiting for. And it's a much stranger and richer sound than I remembered it to be, to be honest.

This is a band that is certainly not an easy listen, not by any stretch of the imagination. And this album makes it as hard as possible, mostly because of the two long instrumental pieces that open and close the album ("Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part 1" and "... Part 2", you know how progressive types liked their "parts").
Now, in this case, when I say that this is a "hard listen", I mean it as a compliment, actually. Out of all the progressive bands from the 1970s, I think these guys were the only ones who would actually manage such level of complexity and improvisation without sounding annoying. 

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of prog, of course I do, but often times, one of my main complaints is how they would put virtuosity and complexity above everything else and how many times the songs end up meandering too much without getting anywhere. Well, this applies to King Crimson as well, and in general I like my prog a bit more focused. But, at least in this album, the virtuosity and complexity are exceedingly welcome. 

• The non instrumental songs are also very good, especially "Book of Saturday" and "Exiles". I think they're both quite beautiful but, as usual, I can't find a video for them. There's a live version of "Exiles" but the vocals are horrible. For some reason, KC agreed to put the first part of the title track in full, so I'm sharing it here. Remember I warned you. Not an easy listen. 

Bonus track

• Since I never had a chance to put it back then (I can't even remember what album it's from), and since I mentioned it earlier, here's the Rolling Stones with "Let's Spend the Night Together".