Vinyl Sealed New NOS David Bowie “Hunky Dory” 180g Parlophone 2016 Mint/Mint

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Vinyl Sealed New NOS David Bowie “Hunky Dory” 180g Parlophone 2016 Mint/Mint.

Limited 180 gram vinyl LP pressing. Hunky Dory is the fourth album by David Bowie, recorded in mid-1971 and released by RCA Records that December. It was his first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. Hunky Dory has received critical acclaim since it's 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, designed by George Underwood, was influenced by a Marlene Dietrich photo book that Bowie took with him to the photo shoot.

On the record’s opening track (“Changes”), Bowie immediately throws down a gauntlet with the lines “Ooh, look out you rock ‘n’ rollers” and “Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older” accompanied by the repeated incantation for his audience to “turn and face the strange.” The song embodies a philosophy that would become the touchstone of Bowie’s constantly morphing androgynous stage persona and perpetual stylistic experimentation. The rest of the material finds Bowie in full creative control of his eccentric predilections.

Recorded at London’s Trident Studios, Hunky Dory comes on as a mixture of everything from baroque folk pop to piano-driven cabaret and yet it still stands as one of Bowie’s most coherent and musically satisfying albums. His continued collaboration with guitarist Mick Ronson gels on tracks like “Life on Mars,” where the use of Ronson’s cinematic string arrangement proves particularly evocative. Bowie’s continuing growth as a songwriter can be heard on “Oh! You Pretty Things,” featuring Nietzsche-inspired sci-fi imagery and a jolting, glam-rock chorus that never gets old.

After comparing the Parlophone LP of Ray Staff’s 2015 remaster to an original U.K. RCA pressing and an all-analog 1997 EMI 100th anniversary reissue, the original U.K. copy gets bragging rights for its pure analog openness and three-dimensionality. That said, the Parlophone reissue sounds truer to the original than the EMI edition’s rather odd EQ, which seems to spotlight upper-register instruments and bury some midrange information when played back on the two very different audio systems I used for critical auditioning.

On the all-analog EMI pressing, vocals and some finer upper-register details are a bit clearer in places, but dense passages on tracks such as “Life on Mars” sound murky and muddled when compared to the U.K. original and Staff’s version. Boosting the volume of Staff’s remaster reveals more heft and brings it a bit closer to the original’s more aggressive sound. Parlophone’s decision to apply a glossy sheen to the album’s front jacket also makes it easier to appreciate the grain and hand-tinting of the Marlene Dietrich-inspired cover photo.

Bottom line: The 2015 remaster of Hunky Dory emerges as the version to buy unless you’re lucky enough to find a pricey U.K. original in good shape.