David Bowie Aladdin Sane – 30th Anniversary Edition (EMI) Rating: NNN
Rating: NNN
This two-CD re-release of Aladdin Sane, David Bowie’s glammy studio farewell from his Ziggy Stardust persona (which he retired following the album’s release in 73) boasts a separate disc of outtakes and desperately attempts to create something special out of what’s clearly a barrel-bottom scrape for material that wasn’t interesting enough to reissue before. The energy devoted to tracking down alternate versions of Jean Genie and John, I’m Only Dancing would’ve been better spent correcting the weird album mix that strangely buries Bowie’s vocals deep in the percussive rumble.