Fantastic ranking here, and I love your descriptions. Really glad to see Scary Monsters at 1, and also that you ranked Outside pretty high. Always felt like Outside should one day be recognized alongside the classic run of 70's albums.

For me, it's Station to Station

I remember crying on my way to work on the grey January morning, when news came on the radio that David Bowie had passed away. They played Space Oddity, which was the first song I had ever heard him sing live, and I was surprised by the deep sadness I felt, confronted with the reality, that from now on I would have to live in a world without David Bowie in it, and that one of the greatest, most recognizable and unique voices of all time would sing and speak no more. I heard the news today, oh boy. He is an artist whose work I returned to time and time again over the years, and whose strange metaphors and detached poetry would spur my own imaginaton in many different ways with each new listen. He has created a musical universe of his own, that somehow never became dated or irrelevant, predictable or boring, And he performed his art with an unmatched elegance. I would have hoped he would return for at least one more brilliant farewell tour after some kind of mysterious miracle cure involving alien blood transfusion or some occult ritual. To me he was one of the greatest artists, singers, and performers of all time and I miss him dearly. I very much like your descriptions, but Let's Dance and Outside above Space Oddity? Come on!

Blackstar at number 16! WOW. Its a masterpiece!

I think "Heathen" is incredibly underrated, but good arguments for all.

The older I get the more I like Bowie's '90s output. I wish he'd made more albums in the vein of "Outside" and "Earthling."

For all the people who want a particular album review. Or want it structured. Here you go: 1:09 Never Let Me Down 2:00 Tonight 2:44 Pin Ups 3:35 Hours... 4:33 Reality 5:46 David Bowie 7:01 Earthling 8:01 Black Tie White Noise 10:00 Heathen 11:24 Blackstar 12:38 The Next Day 13:59 Space Oddity 15:47 Outside 17:25 Lodger 18:46 Lets Dance 22:33 The Man Who Sold The World 24:30 "Heroes" 26:32 Diamond Dogs 28:15 Aladdinsane 30:32 Station To Station 32:48 Hunky Dory 35:21 Ziggy Stardust 36:55 Low 38:37 Scary Monsters (and super creeps)

I don't agree with every ranking, but love your descriptions.

The nice thing is. We will all have different favourite David Bowie albums, and at different times too. Am very much 'Station to Station' currently.

I’m Gonna be honest. I believe that “Blackstar” is his best album.

Ziggy is number 1 for me. One of those perfect albums imo. In my top 10 albums of all time (any artist). Bowie had a magic about him. Even his weaker albums have something of interest for me.

I also think Diamond Dogs is a masterpiece - so rich and dystopian and otherworldly

"Time Will Crawl" on Never Let Me Down is a great track.

I've always thought Hunky Dory was Bowie's best album and Scary Monsters was my favorite album. One thing Bowie was very shrewd about was hiring exceptional musicians. I won't list them here but often imagine how things went in the mid 70's and early 80's: Bowie records Heroes and Robert Fripp plays a huge part in its success with his unreal guitar work. Bowie hires a then little known guitar player, Adrian Belew for the tour who was tasked to replicate Fripps multi track compositions but live with only one guitar....he pulls it off. Bowie uses Belew on Lodger and gives a new meaning to avant garde guitar playing. Bowie hires Fripp for Scary monsters and Fripp says: "Here, hold my beer..."

This ranking is excellent. My favorite album is also Scary Monsters. This album is iconic, a masterpiece. My favorite song is "IT's no game "part 1and 2. The disharmonic scream is unbelievable and on part2 the japanese voice is great . David Jones was an awesome artist, musician and songwriter. A very long career with a lot of excellent albums. He leaves a big void. R.i.p.

Tin Machine was and still is one of my fave Bowie albums that gets much play in my car.

Even a less than stellar Bowie album, for me, has a gem. ("Thursday's Child" hits me where I live.) He was a chameleon, and I thank him for being that. Also, 'Stay' is the jam of all jams. I still warm up on guitar to that opening riff. Come back in a year or two, and I get a feeling your list will change. He was that clever. His work will always be reconsidered. That's his genius.

Hunky Dory is no 1 for me, still after all these years my favourite album of all time! Still sounds like it was recorded recently!

Awesome ranking!! Here’s my top 10: 10. The Man Who Sold The World 9. Diamond Dogs 8. Ziggy Stardust 7. Aladdin Sane 6. Hunky Dory 5. Scary Monsters 4. Lodger 3. Heroes 2. Station To Station 1. Low

I love your approach to these lists. Even when we disagree on the placement of some albums, you wonderfully display what you love in the overall music. Keep up the superb work, sir

How in God's name can a person rank a master such a D. Bowie

Thank you. Your efforts and eloquence are appreciated.

David Bowie - Low, very underrated album in these days, and you put it right

" Ziggy " and Station to Station were clearly 2 of his best, but I eventually grew fond of " Let's Dance " mainly because of the SRV addition, a legend in the making.

Hunky Dory, Scary Monsters, Station to Station, and Earthling are some of my favorites. But it's hard to choose an absolute number one. Great video!

My top 3 are: 1) Blackstar 2) Heroes 3) Ziggy It was painful to see Blackstar at 16. It's a religious experience whenever I listen to it. It's just so incredibly emotional.

brilliant study. well done. all music fans have Bowie running through their musical listening and you have covered all the bases!

Okay, Pinups was an album of covers. But it was a well made album, and the energy just flew off the needle. It was also a Spiders album, more or less. And it was integral to the historic "1980 Floor Show." Probably in the top ten.

Wow. You've got me going through my Bowie collection and pulling out quite a few to reexamine. Great job! "fourth album of the Berlin trilogy."

1. Station to Station 2. Low 3. Ziggy Stardust 4. Hunky Dory 5. Young Americans

This was a huge task and so well done.

Great reviews, thank you!

The greatest thing David Bowie left us was the idea that there could be a David Bowie The second greatest thing David Bowie left us was the knowledge that there could never be another David Bowie The third greatest thing he left us was Station to Station. Oh, and extra credit for not falling for the Blackstar narrative.

Fair ranking, pretty close to maistream opinion. There is so much good music to listen to we don't need rankings, every album has gems. There are no bad Bowie albums and about 10 excellent ones that can all be no 1.

What an intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate survey of David Bowie's musical oeuvre! I may not agree with all of your rankings, but I was entertained and intrigued throughout all of your commentary. I liked that you presented summaries of the contemporary reviews while presenting your own judgements.

Absolutely love listening to these rankings, so informative and interesting!

Scary Monsters is absolutely my favourite. Station to Station a close second.

My Own Personal Top Ten: 1. Station to Station 2. Ziggy Stardust 3. Hunky Dory 4. Low 5. Blackstar 6. Scary Monsters 7. Aladdin 8. Diamond Dogs 9. Heroes 10. Outside

1972! Ziggy Stardust the 1st Lp I purchased with my own money, (my number 1.) Also my first ever gig "Slade" So for me some 20,000 albums later, and still buying, Ziggy holds a place in my heart. Vinyl should never die, for me the warmth and feel of cracking open a gatefold is utopia. I've just discovered Alexander Spence - Oar a real gem which arrived yesterday on vinyl. How wonderful the golden decade was 67-77.

This was an unbelievable ranking. I am so glad to see that you placed Low as high as you did (my personal favorite). I have watched a lot of Bowie ranking videos and yours was (in my opinion) high above them all. Such a wonderful outlook on his catalog. The first Bowie album I purchased was Outside when it was released. I retroactively traveled back in time to enjoy his previous work. Thank you for the stellar review. Absolutely subscribed!

In 1979 I was 11 years old when my 5 year older sister brought HEROES from a trip to London. This moment, first hearing heroes, changed my world. In this days I have never been to Berlin before, but I felt this is how this city sounds like. Within 2 years I discovered his whole catalogue. Now I'm a musician, actor and speaker.... It's because of him

My Favorites : 5) Scary Monsters 4) Hunky Dory 3) Heroes 2) Low 1) Station To Station

Fantastic review of his work, so eloquently presented.

thanks.. a great summary of bowie. i've never clicked with him, like everyone you have favourite songs but it is hard to access when there is so much out there, but you have given me some good suggestions of where to start.

Hunky Dory is a masterpiece, Rise and Fall is sublime. Personally I'd put Blackstar in my top 5. Probably rounded off with Station to Station and Low

R.I.P David 1947-2016

Amazing review, thanks for the hard work. I really enjoyed the more musically focused ranking instead of popularity, great video

A wonderful tour through possibly the best and most varied back catalogue of any artist, you've made me want to give Scary Monsters another chance, something I was never too into beyond it's hit singles. Ziggy and Hunky spoke deeply to my teenage self, however as I got older my favourite Bowie albums shifted to his late 70's work. Thank you for your insights on this seminal artist.

Lodger was his best, the rest of the Berlin Trilogy is awesome, Station to Station was epic, and Outside brought me back to him. Still parsing Blackstar - but it's more than intriguing.

I've only just started sifting through Bowie's albums in chronological order, just got to Station to Station and it's pretty darn great.

Great work on reviewing Bowie’s discography. Glad I discovered you by accident. This Yank definitely needs to use the captions to follow your discussions. The details you provide are most impressive. Cheers!

I was taking a trip down memory lane and KZfaq recommended me this channel. I loved it. Great video. Very educational, in my opinion. I'll give some of these albums a shot and I'll definitely give Station To Station a second shot, 'cause I tried it once and it just didn't do it for me. I was always more into the Ziggy Stardust era. Anyway, that's some great work you're doing!

I really think Blackstar is a top 5 album in any Bowie ranking. There's not a weak song on it and it's deep, dark and sensory. Sort of shocked Scary Monsters outpips Low too.

In 1977, I was 15 and just getting seriously into rock music. I remember 'Low' getting the worst reviews possible (short, dismissive, mocking). A friend of mine had it on cassette and I thought it was the most interesting music I had ever heard. Still one of my favourite albums.

“Aladdin Sane” also had the most expensive album cover ever made to date...

Another brilliant list!Thank you!!

The most underrated Bowie album is definitely The Buddah of Suburbia.

The man who sold the world i think is his best album but so could hunky dory.

Great analysis of each and all the albums

What a wonderful review. Makes me want to dig back into Bowie again. Your number one is a great choice.

"Pinups" and "Never Let Me Down" are my favourites after "Low", "Ziggy Stardust" & "Hunky Dory".

Kudos for not kicking the first 1967 album. I'm sure its dodgy reputation has been down to the rock critic hatred of anything outside of rock's limited ingredients (r&b/country/folk/blues). Hopefully your insightful review will help others grapple with their by-the-book music hall horror and see it for the masterpiece it is. I think his (19 year old) genius is as potent on it as on any of his other monumentally brilliant 70s albums.

I LOVED Pin-Ups. Good review buddy!

Well done ! Was a joy to watch.

The best record by David Bowie is by far "The man who sold the world" !!

Heathen one of my favourite albums deserves to be higher in the rankings

I love all of your videos.

Fantastic and very informative video. You are definitely a natural. Subscribed.

Hunky Dory is my number one, I'm sure it was 72 also, but if you say its 71 I'll take your word for it. Not sure that low or station to station would be in my top ten, and while I loved ashes to ashes when it came out, and bought scary monsters on the back of it, it was of its time, and I'm not sure it has weathered well, whereas hunky dory has remained a classic for me. Maybe its because I never really listened to his later work (I no longer have a deck to listen to records properly) that I generally agree with your placement of those albums, I kept feeling I was missing something when listening to blackstar although I really liked it, it didn't do it for me. Perhaps I need to listen to it through the voices drifting out of the open window, whilst lying in the garden on a summer's evening trying to watch the stars as they're spinning above me, or perhaps that's why hunky dory is my number one, we attach times, places, smells and people to songs and I doubt the 70's will happen again in my lifetime.

Due to being part of my youth Ziggy Stardust, Alladin Sane, Diamond Dogs all special to me..Hunky Dory is a classic... . I am more rock rooted and never really travelled into his dance, funk years although many singles like Young Americans, Golden years etc are great....

Great review as always. Absolutely loved the rush and Jethro Tull reviews you did. I grab something to drink and a dictionary, if you know what I mean, and listen contently.

Thanks for sharing your ranking, great information, well done : )

Blackstar is an album that pushes the envelope and I think many people are to conformed to see it's genius. It's like Death Grips. The music is too ahead for its time. Some people love it and most people hate it. In the future Blackstar and Death Grips will be praised and the new generations will recognize its genius.

The man who sold the world is 1970, and it's a great, totally underrated album. some apocalyptic lyrics like "saviour machine", for example, and mick ronson in mode "guitar hero" in many songs like the width of a circle, black country rock, the fantastic Running gun blues... and this "I want to ve mad" of "all the Madmen"... furthermore, I see interesting anticipations of the future alternative guitar sound of bands like Dinosaur Jr, and maybe grunge (and not for the version of nirvana) in a couple of songs. (maybe O'm the only one who think it) Fantastic album. one of my five favourites. and in my opinion, better than diamond dogs. I miss mick ronson in that LP.

as a 60 yr old bowie fanatic since 1972 i found this 40 minutes to be a jolly good watch ..i might not agree in places but enjoyed listening to someone who clearly has put thought & effort into the content of this film . I will never forget the moment i got home with my copy of Low on the day it was released and thought ...huh ?? being a bowie fan one should be ready for the unimaginable but The Speed of Life was a sit up and take notice moment..but i played that Lp every day and fell in love with the odd songs on side one and and sailed away in my own imagination to the instrumental pieces ... Low replaced Hunky dory as my fave... nice one dude ! stay safe Carlton

Bowie brings back many memories. At the time I remember Low and Heroes got tepid reviews and ended up in delete bins, were subsequently sold in cheap "valu" editions. It took a LONG time for them to find their rightful place.

Blackstar is one of his best. Third minimum

I am a Bowie fan from the beginning. In the end, there are two best albums overall : Hunky Dory and Outside. Absolute differents but absolute masterpieces.

As a lifelong Bowie fan (met him backstage doing Elephant Man) I found your ranking thought provoking. Glad to see "Man Who Sold The World" rated so highly with you - my all time fave.

Made coffee and just hit play. Love your work, as always.

YES! I always come back to Scary Monsters, i'm in total agreement with this as number one.

I adore Bowie, especially Ziggy, my all time favorite is Hunky Dory!!

I could quibble about a few things in the middle, but overall I'm in agreement. For a lot of us though, we have attachments based on when we discovered the albums, memories of the time, etc. that add a subjectivity to our opinions. The LP of "Heroes" was the first Bowie album I bought. When I brought it home and listened, I wanted to return it to the store. I just didn't get its abrasiveness (I was a pretty sheltered teenager). But I loved the title track and the second side, and over time it became my favorite album of all. It rewarded me through many re-listenings. Then Lodger came along and challenged me even further, and I love it too because of how it inspired me as an artist. But every Bowie album from Space Oddity to Scary Monsters (minus Pinups) is his best album while I'm listening to it. This was really fun and I enjoyed hearing your critiques. Thanks.

This is well done. Very enjoyable and impressed in your knowledge.

Although Pinups does have "Sorrow" on it, which is one of my favourite covers

Lets face it all of us here on this, have had the opportunity to be alive to hear and to respect and admire someone so brilliant and unique.

Brilliant throughout Barry. I learnt a lot . My favourite solo Artist , with such an amazing canon . Thank you

Thank you I enjoyed this as I'm getting to know his full range of work - surprised to see Scary monsters up there- and nothing wrong with that. Great perspective on that one!

I didn't care for the ranking, but all art is subjective.

Pleased to see Hunky Dory rated highly, its the only Bowie record I can listen from start to finish without skipping. Hence its my #1 hands down.

You're a pro. I really enjoyed this.

Nicely done, mate. My top three, nostalgic and autobiographical picks are; Aladdin sane, Let’s dance and Blackstar. But at least half of his albums are stellar.

One of my top 2 favorite solo artists. Peter Gabriel being the other.

I'm glad that I was born and lived on this Planet at the same time that Bowie was here, "perfect timing, I found him at age 10 when I used run to the radio to hear "The Laughing gnome," and before that at around age 8 they played to us at school "Peter and the wolf," little did I know then who he was and who he would become. I love your rankings but I would of considered "Reality" much higher as I just loved it, Its a very exciting album to me, "Young Americans is one of my least favourite, Brilliant, I really enjoy your posts, Would love to hear your views on "u2" Regards, Thank You.

Your channel is always spextacular, and this is perhaps my fave, but that's cuz, y'know....Bowie, after all, lol. What did you think of Moonage Daydream this past year?

Excellent critique good sir!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tonight. Can't say why.

Good selection there. As a huge Bowie fan of old, it always puzzles me that people always rate 'Never Let Me Down' as his worst album. I also believe a fair few people haven't even bothered to actually *listen* to it and dismiss it because Bowie himself slated it and the music press crucified it on release. While it's not up there with his best - and it does sound somewhat made to cater for a certain type of 80s crowd (in part) - I don't find it his worst album. The production is superb and the different styles/range of Bowie's vocals on here are nothing short of staggering. He uses a lot of reverb to his advantage on the vocals (especially 'Zeroes'). Additionally, Peter Frampton lays down some incredible guitar on the album, which seems to have gone overlooked by many. Admittedly, there are one or two throwaway cringe moments (Mickey Rourke doing vocals is a stand-out no-no) but overall, I rate it much higher than 'Tonight' and listen to it far more than 'Black Tie White Noise', 'Hours...' and 'David Live'. It was never going to make the grade of the absolute masterpiece that is 'Scary Monsters' and frankly, nothing ever will but I believe it deserves much more credit than it gets. But hey, at the end of the day, it's all subjective and comes down to personal opinion.

Earthling has a special place in my heart, it was his first album I got at its release, I was a teenager, in my final year at school, it really takes me back.

Excellent. Sober. And well done!