David Bowie | STATION TO STATION
In the mid 70’s David Bowie transformed into The Thin White Duke and recorded one of his most significant works. This was a period of Bowie’s career heavily blurred out by drug use, as Bowie later claimed he recalled almost nothing of the album’s production. Although he was enjoying a high point in his career, a chronic cocaine addition, the decline of his marriage, a long-running lawsuit with his management, and a disillusionment with the industry were creating personal troubles for the artist. He was admittedly burnt out and paranoid.
Bowie’s famous diet at the time consisted of nothing but red peppers, pure cocaine, and milk. He lost a great deal of weight and became quite unhealthy. He was obsessed with occultism and satanism, and his lyrics reflected his preoccupations with Neitzsche, Crawley, mythology, and religion.
Bowie spent much of 1975–76 “in a state of psychic terror.” Stories circulated of the singer living in a house full of ancient Egyptian artefacts, burning black candles, seeing bodies fall past his window, having his semen stolen by witches, receiving secret messages from the Rolling Stones, and living in morbid fear of Aleister Crowley aficiando Jimmy Page. Bowie would later say of Los Angeles, “The fucking place should be wiped off the face of the Earth.”
The sessions were open and experimental, relying on guitar noises instead of notes and textures to replace traditional instrumentation. Lines of coke would keep the band up until 8 am ensuring they would have the energy to keep performing.
Station To Station takes Bowie on a transition out of his Young Americans phase and into the Low phase. Tracks like “Golden Years” still played up the funk and soul of he previous work, only harsher and edgier. “Stay” was recorded in the middle of the “cocaine frenzy” and spurs up the Duke’s themes of sexual conquest and romanticism. The opening title track sits in a comfortable groove that predicts much of his future works, splintering into a disco stomp dressed with handclaps and piano rolls. The tempo change bares clear influence to Arcade Fire’s later work.
“Word On A Wing” carefully displays the pride he contains for serving God, but only on his own terms. It is the little god to the big God dynamic where he battles for control of indolence while still wanting to build a spiritual relationship. This theme was later revisited in Blackstar when Bowie was dying and contemplating his relationship with God at the end of his life. “You’re a flash in the pan, I’m the big I am.”
The cover track “Wild Is The Wind” is one of Bowie’s greatest vocal performances. When Bowie heard it interpreted by Nina Simone, he claimed to have been tremendously affected and it serves as a comedown point for the album. As morning breaks after the long wild nights of drug-filled recording, the tape machines whir to an end and the sunlight begins to creep in the studio windows. It is a rare moment of sustained serenity at the end of the cocaine madness.
Bowie’s famous diet is DEPICTED in this unusual cocktail, SUBSTITUTING the cocaine for sugar. The milk and peppers combine with the brandy and rum to create a compelling yet strange combination, much like Bowie himself.
