15 David Bowie Songs That Showcase His True Genius

9. Station To Station (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY77zDzNmYw The late 1970's saw Bowie tweak his "Philly soul" look from Young Americans into a persona he called The Thin White Duke; a character most associated with 1976's Station To Station album. For Station To Station, Bowie took elements of the funk and soul that had characterised the previous year's Young Americans and merged it with the emerging sounds of synths and chugging motorik rhythms, influenced in part by bands like Kwaftwerk. It was a heady musical mix that, combined with Bowie's cocaine-numbed mental state (he claims to recall nothing of the album's production) made for an icy, claustrophobic, at times paranoid record - but that said, it was brilliant, too. The album opens with its title track, a ten minute opus that begins with droning guitars and builds to a brilliant crescendo. It's an abrupt shift from the funk, soul and pop that had characterised his last few albums and a shift into the direction that would come to be known as his "Berlin Trilogy".