David Bowie - Pinups

Pin Ups is the seventh studio album by English musician David Bowie, released in October 1973 via RCA records.

David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), better known by his stage name David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. For over five decades, he was regarded by critics and musicians as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the world’s best selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, releasing eleven number on albums. In the US, he received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1996.

Pin Ups was a tour through Bowies taste in 60’s music and confused fans who after enjoying a string of fiercely original albums couldn't figure where a bunch of new recordings of a brace of '60s British hits fit. An album of covers didn't make any sense and was especially confusing for American fans who’d had limited exposure to the English centric choice of material. To add to the confusion, apart from The Easybeats' Friday On My Mind and The Yardbirds’ Shapes Of Things, little here was among the biggest hits of their respective artists' careers, and The Who’s I Can't Explain and Anyway Anyhow Anywhere were the only ones whose original versions were easily available or played very often on the radio.

Opening with The Pretty Things' Rosalyn and segueing directly into a hard, surging rendition of Them's version of Here Comes The Night, filled with crunchy guitars. I Wish You Would and Shapes Of Things were both showcases for Bowie's and Mick Ronson's guitars, while See Emily Play emphasised the punkish (as opposed to the psychedelic) side of the song.

Sorrow, which benefited from a new saxophone break, was actually a distinct improvement over the original, managing to be edgier and more elegant all at once, and Bowie's slow version of I Can't Explain was distinctly different from The Who’s original.

Pin Ups was an artistic statement, of sorts, with some thought behind it, rather than just a quick album of oldies covers to buy some time, as it was often dismissed as being. It was effectively a bridge between breaking from his glam rock phase and going off in new directions.

This limited edition LP on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl with reproduced original artwork is pressed in Europe.