The runt of Bowie’s 70s litter? Yes but no.
David Bowie’s 70s were so jaw dropping,is easily dismissed. When it was released 50 years ago, six months after and seven before Bowie was so prolific that it wasn’t even the time-buying exercise that covers albums tend to be. Instead, as this halfspeed mastered vinyl edition shows, it was a full stop: his last Ken Scott production and, with drummer Woody Woodmansey already departed, the last gasp of the Spiders From Mars. Instead, a homage to the British bands (and Australia’s Easybeats) that initially fuelled Bowie. His own music would rarely go down these roads again (almost another full stop), but the vocal arrangements on were wondrous, he hurtled through Them’s like a man possessed, and his version of was splendidly over the top.
