David Bowie "Hunky Dory" RCA SF8244 UK 1st 3T Bobil/Rasputin + insert 1971
£
42
$
56
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Description
David Bowie ? "Hunky Dory" RCA Victor ?SF 8244 UK 1st press Vinyl, LP, issued with a printed lyric insert and released in 1971. This is the first pre-Mainman edition, issued with an entire matte print-finish sleeve. There is a Titanic credit on the glossy orange labels and 3T code stamped along the runouts. There is a GEM Production (logo) on the rear of the sleeve and along one corner of the 2-sided lyrics insert.
The vinyl appears to have been lightly played and is in great condition. There are a couple of surface scuffs but these did not get in the way of the music. The LP played through beautifully on my elderly stereo - no hop, stick or jump. The sleeve is also in good shape with no rips or writing. The spine is intact and legible. The lyric insert is a little creased but intact with no rips or writing. Matrix / Runout Side 1 : APRS 5947 - 3T BOBIL A??2?? A3 Matrix / Runout Side 2 : APRS 5948 - 3T RASPUTIN A3
"Hunky Dory" is David Bowie's fourth studio album, released on 17 December 1971 by RCA Records. It was his first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. "Hunky Dory" has been described by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as having "a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class".
The album has received critical acclaim since its release, and is regarded as one of Bowie's best works. Time chose it as part of their "100 best albums of all time" list in January 2010, with journalist Josh Tyrangiel praising Bowie's "earthbound ambition to be a boho poet with prodigal style". The style of the album cover, photographed by Brian Ward and air brushed by Terry Pastor, was influenced by a Marlene Dietrich photo book that Bowie took with him to the photo shoot.
Bowie had been without a recording contract when he started work on the album at Trident Studios on 8 June 1971. RCA Records in New York heard the tapes and signed him to a three-album deal on 9 September 1971, releasing "Hunky Dory" on 17 December. Supported by the single "Changes", the album scored generally favourable reviews and sold reasonably well on its initial release, without being a major success. Melody Maker called it "the most inventive piece of song-writing to have appeared on record in a considerable time", while NME described it as Bowie "at his brilliant best". In the United States, Rolling Stone opined that ""Hunky Dory" not only represents Bowie's most engaging album musically, but also finds him once more writing literally enough to let the listener examine his ideas comfortably, without having to withstand a barrage of seemingly impregnable verbiage before getting at an idea". However, it was only after the commercial breakthrough of "Ziggy Stardust" in mid-1972 that "Hunky Dory" became a hit, climbing to number 3 in the UK and remaining on the chart for 69 weeks. In 1973, RCA released "Life on Mars?" as a single, which also made number 3 in the UK. A reissue returned the album, in January 1981, to the British chart, where it remained for 51 weeks.
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted "Hunky Dory" the 43rd greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 16 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It was also voted number 23 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). In 2003, the album was ranked 107th on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and 108 in a 2012 revised list. In the same year, VH1 placed it 47th and the Virgin All Time Top 1000 Albums chart placed it at number 16. In 2004, it was ranked 80th on Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In 2006, TIME magazine chose it as one of the 100 best albums of all time.
Bowie himself considered the album to be one of the most important in his career. Speaking in 1999, he said: ""Hunky Dory" gave me a fabulous groundswell. I guess it provided me, for the first time in my life, with an actual audience – I mean, people actually coming up to me and saying, 'Good album, good songs.' That hadn't happened to me before. It was like, 'Ah, I'm getting it, I'm finding my feet. I'm starting to communicate what I want to do. Now: what is it I want to do?' There was always a double whammy there."
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