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Hunky Dory is the fourth album by English
English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England who speak English language in England. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
 singer-songwriter David Bowie
David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and Arrangement. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s....
, released by RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
 in 1971 (see 1971 in music
1971 in music

Events*February 5 - Eric Burdon & War disband. They never performed together again until April 21, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music....
). It was Bowie's first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. Hunky Dory has been described by Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for allmusic. He is the author of thousands of artist biographies and record reviews, as well as a freelance writer, and has written several liner notes....
 as having "a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mιlange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class".

the departure from Bowie's camp of Tony Visconti
Tony Visconti

Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the Moody Blues, as well as T....
 and his replacement on bass by Trevor Bolder
Trevor Bolder

Trevor Bolder is an England rock bass guitarist....
, Hunky Dory was the first production featuring all the members of the band that would become known the following year as Ziggy Stardust's 'Spiders From Mars'.






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Hunky Dory is the fourth album by English
English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England who speak English language in England. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
 singer-songwriter David Bowie
David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and Arrangement. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s....
, released by RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
 in 1971 (see 1971 in music
1971 in music

Events*February 5 - Eric Burdon & War disband. They never performed together again until April 21, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music....
). It was Bowie's first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. Hunky Dory has been described by Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for allmusic. He is the author of thousands of artist biographies and record reviews, as well as a freelance writer, and has written several liner notes....
 as having "a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mιlange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class".

Production

With the departure from Bowie's camp of Tony Visconti
Tony Visconti

Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the Moody Blues, as well as T....
 and his replacement on bass by Trevor Bolder
Trevor Bolder

Trevor Bolder is an England rock bass guitarist....
, Hunky Dory was the first production featuring all the members of the band that would become known the following year as Ziggy Stardust's 'Spiders From Mars'. Also debuting with Bowie, in Visconti's place as producer, was another key member of the Ziggy phase, Ken Scott
Ken Scott

Ken Scott is an English record producer and recording engineer....
. The album's sleeve would bear the credit "Produced by Ken Scott (assisted by the actor)". The "actor" was Bowie himself, whose "pet conceit", in the words of NME
NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition....
 critics Roy Carr
Roy Carr

Roy Carr is an England music journalist. He joined the New Musical Express in the 1960s and has edited NME, VOX and Melody Maker magazines....
 and Charles Shaar Murray
Charles Shaar Murray

Charles Shaar Murray is an England music journalist.His first experience in journalism came 1970 when he was asked to contribute to the satirical magazine Oz ....
, was "to think of himself as an actor".

Style and themes

Musical biographer David Buckley said of Hunky Dory, "Its almost easy-listening status and conventional musical sensibility has detracted from the fact that, lyrically, this record lays down the blueprint for Bowie's future career." The opening track, "Changes
Changes (David Bowie song)

"Changes" is a song by David Bowie, originally released on the album Hunky Dory in December 1971 and as a single in January 1972. Despite missing the Top 40, "Changes" became one of Bowie's best-known songs....
", focused on the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention ("Strange fascination, fascinating me / Changes are taking the pace I'm going through") and distancing oneself from the rock mainstream ("Look out, you rock 'n' rollers"). However, the composer also took time to pay tribute to his influences with the tracks "Song for Bob Dylan
Song for Bob Dylan

"Song for Bob Dylan" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. "The gentle acoustic/electric blend functions as its own form of tribute to Dylan's country-leaning Nashville Skyline album and his collaborations with The Band, with a great singalong chorus that one could easily imagine Robbie Robertson and comp...
", "Andy Warhol" and the Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was an American Rock music band first active, in various incarnations, from 1965 to 1973. Their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists....
 inspired "Queen Bitch
Queen Bitch

"Queen Bitch" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 in music for the album Hunky Dory. Bowie was a great Velvet Underground fan, recording a cover of "I'm Waiting for the Man" in 1967 ....
".

Following the hard rock of Bowie's previous album The Man Who Sold the World
The Man Who Sold the World

The Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by David Bowie. It was originally released on Mercury Records in November 1970 in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK....
, Hunky Dory saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of Space Oddity
Space Oddity

"Space Oddity" is a song written and performed by David Bowie and released as a single in 1969. It is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who becomes depressed during an outer-space mission....
, with light fare such as "Kooks" (dedicated to his young son, known to the world as Zowie Bowie
Duncan Jones

Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones , also known as Zowie Bowie or Joey Bowie, is a British film director best known as the son of popular music icon David Bowie....
 but legally named Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones) and the cover "Fill Your Heart
Fill Your Heart

"Fill Your Heart" is a song written by Biff Rose and Paul Williams in 1966.The song was originally released by Tiny Tim as the B-side to his 1968 hit single, "Tiptoe through the Tulips." The same recording appeared on Tiny Tim's concurrent debut LP God Bless Tiny Tim....
" sitting alongside heavier material like the occult
Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g....
-tinged "Quicksand
Quicksand (David Bowie song)

"Quicksand" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described it as "Bowie in his darkest and most metaphysical mood", while a contemporary review in Rolling Stone remarked on its "superb singing" and "beautiful guitar motif"....
" and the semi-autobiographical "The Bewlay Brothers
The Bewlay Brothers

"The Bewlay Brothers" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. The last track to be written and recorded for Hunky Dory, this ballad has been described as "probably Bowie's densest and most impenetrable song"....
". Between the two extremes was "Oh! You Pretty Things
Oh! You Pretty Things

"Oh! You Pretty Things" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. It is a pop tune opening with only Rick Wakeman's piano and Bowie's vocal, before entering the catchy refrain....
", whose pop tune hid lyrics, inspired by Nietzsche, predicting the imminent replacement of modern man by "the Homo Superior", and which has been cited as a direct precursor to "Starman
Starman (song)

"Starman" is a single by David Bowie, released in April 1972. The song was a late addition to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, included at the insistence of RCA Records?s Dennis Katz, who heard a demo and loved the track, believing it would make a great single....
" from Bowie's next album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by England rock musician David Bowie. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music Charts....
.

Release and aftermath

Bowie had been without a recording contract when he started work on the album at Trident Studios
Trident Studios

Trident Studios was a United Kingdom recording studio, originally located at 17 St. Anne's Court in London's Soho district. It was constructed in 1967 by brothers Barry and Norman Sheffield....
 in April 1971. RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
 in New York heard the tapes and signed him to a three-album deal on , releasing Hunky Dory two months later. Supported by the single "Changes", the album scored generally favourable reviews and sold reasonably well on its initial release, without being a major success. Melody Maker
Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was 1926 in music as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 in British music it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express....
 called it "the most inventive piece of song-writing to have appeared on record in a considerable time", while NME
NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition....
 described it as Bowie "at his brilliant best". Stateside, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 opined "Hunky Dory not only represents Bowie's most engaging album musically, but also finds him once more writing literally enough to let the listener examine his ideas comfortably, without having to withstand a barrage of seemingly impregnable verbiage before getting at an idea". However, it was only after the commercial breakthrough of Ziggy Stardust in mid-1972 that Hunky Dory became a hit, climbing to #3 in the UK charts. In 1973, RCA released "Life on Mars?
Life on Mars?

"Life on Mars?" is a song by David Bowie first released in 1971 on the album Hunky Dory. The song—which BBC Radio 2 later called "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dal? painting"—featured guest piano work by keyboardist Rick Wakeman....
" as a single, which also made #3 in the UK.

In 1998 Q magazine
Q (magazine)

Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, with a circulation of 130,179 as of June 2007.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists suc...
 readers voted Hunky Dory the 43rd greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 16 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 107 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2003.Related news articles:* The list was based on the votes of 273 rock musicians, critics and industry figures, each of whom submitted a weighted list of 50 albums....
. In the same year, the TV network VH1
VH1

VH1 is an United States cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in television, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slighter older demographic than its sister channel, focusing on the lighter, softer side of popular music....
 placed it at number 47 and the Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums chart placed it at position 16. In 2004, it was ranked #80 on Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication devoted to music journalism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews....
's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In 2006, TIME
Time (magazine)

Time is a weekly United States newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. A European edition is published from London....
 magazine chose it as one of the 100 best albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written by David Bowie
David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and Arrangement. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s....
, except where noted.
  1. "Changes
    Changes (David Bowie song)

    "Changes" is a song by David Bowie, originally released on the album Hunky Dory in December 1971 and as a single in January 1972. Despite missing the Top 40, "Changes" became one of Bowie's best-known songs....
    " – 3:37
  2. "Oh! You Pretty Things
    Oh! You Pretty Things

    "Oh! You Pretty Things" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. It is a pop tune opening with only Rick Wakeman's piano and Bowie's vocal, before entering the catchy refrain....
    " – 3:12
  3. "Eight Line Poem
    Eight Line Poem

    "Eight Line Poem" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 in music for the album Hunky Dory. It is something of a second part to "Oh! You Pretty Things" since the two flow together without any separation....
    " – 2:55
  4. "Life on Mars?" – 3:53
  5. "Kooks
    Kooks (song)

    Kooks is a song written by David Bowie from 1971 on the album Hunky Dory. Bowie wrote this song to his newborn son Duncan Jones....
    " – 2:53
  6. "Quicksand
    Quicksand (David Bowie song)

    "Quicksand" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described it as "Bowie in his darkest and most metaphysical mood", while a contemporary review in Rolling Stone remarked on its "superb singing" and "beautiful guitar motif"....
    " – 5:08
  7. "Fill Your Heart
    Fill Your Heart

    "Fill Your Heart" is a song written by Biff Rose and Paul Williams in 1966.The song was originally released by Tiny Tim as the B-side to his 1968 hit single, "Tiptoe through the Tulips." The same recording appeared on Tiny Tim's concurrent debut LP God Bless Tiny Tim....
    " (Biff Rose
    Biff Rose

    Paul "Biff" Rose is an United States Stand-up comedian and singer-songwriter.Born in New Orleans, Rose first came to prominence as a banjo-toting standup comedian, profiled in Time magazine in 1965....
    , Paul Williams
    Paul Williams (songwriter)

    Paul Hamilton Williams is an United States musician, music composer, songwriter and actor....
    ) – 3:07
  8. "Andy Warhol
    Andy Warhol (song)

    "Andy Warhol" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 in music for the album Hunky Dory. This is an acoustic song about one of Bowie's greatest inspirations, the American pop artist Andy Warhol....
    " – 3:56
  9. "Song for Bob Dylan
    Song for Bob Dylan

    "Song for Bob Dylan" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. "The gentle acoustic/electric blend functions as its own form of tribute to Dylan's country-leaning Nashville Skyline album and his collaborations with The Band, with a great singalong chorus that one could easily imagine Robbie Robertson and comp...
    " – 4:12
  10. "Queen Bitch
    Queen Bitch

    "Queen Bitch" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 in music for the album Hunky Dory. Bowie was a great Velvet Underground fan, recording a cover of "I'm Waiting for the Man" in 1967 ....
    " – 3:18
  11. "The Bewlay Brothers
    The Bewlay Brothers

    "The Bewlay Brothers" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. The last track to be written and recorded for Hunky Dory, this ballad has been described as "probably Bowie's densest and most impenetrable song"....
    " – 5:22


Track listing note: On the original LP album
LP album

Long play record albums are 33? rpm Polyvinyl chloride Gramophone records , generally either 10 or 12 inches in diameter. They were first introduced in 1948, and served as a primary release format for Sound recording and reproduction until the compact disc began to significantly displace them by 1988, and eventually leaving the mainstr...
 release, side one comprised tracks 1-6; side two, tracks 7-11.

Bonus tracks (1990 Rykodisc)

  2. "Bombers
    Bombers (David Bowie song)

    "Bombers" is a song written by David Bowie. It was recorded in 1970 and intended for the album Hunky Dory, but was replaced at the last minute by the cover "Fill Your Heart"....
    " (previously unreleased track, recorded in 1971, mixed 1990) – 2:38
  3. "The Supermen
    The Supermen

    "The Supermen" is a song written by David Bowie in 1970 and released as the closing track on the album The Man Who Sold the World. It was one of a number of pieces on the album inspired by the works of literary figures such as Friedrich Nietzsche and H....
    " (alternate version recorded for the Glastonbury Fayre
    Glastonbury Fayre

    Glastonbury Fayre is a 1972 documentary film directed by Peter Neal of the 1971 Glastonbury Festival which was held on 20 June-24 June 1971....
     in 1971, originally released on Glastonbury Fayre Revelations - A Musical Anthology, 1972) – 2:41
  4. "Quicksand" (demo version, recorded in 1971, mixed 1990) – 4:43
  5. "The Bewlay Brothers" (alternate mix) – 5:19


Personnel

  • David Bowie
    David Bowie

    David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and Arrangement. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s....
     – vocals, guitar
    Guitar

    The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
    , alto and tenor saxophone
    Saxophone

    The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
    , piano
    Piano

    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
  • Mick Ronson
    Mick Ronson

    Mick Ronson was an England guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and record producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars band....
     – guitar, vocals, Mellotron
    Mellotron

    The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphony keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin, which was the world's first sampling keyboard....
    , arrangements
  • Rick Wakeman
    Rick Wakeman

    Richard Christopher Wakeman is an England keyboard player best known as the keyboardist for progressive rock group Yes . Originally a classically trained pianist, he was a pioneer in the use of electronic keyboards and in the use of a rock band in combination with orchestra and choir....
     – piano
  • Trevor Bolder
    Trevor Bolder

    Trevor Bolder is an England rock bass guitarist....
     – bass
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
    , trumpet
    Trumpet

    The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
  • Mick Woodmansey
    Mick Woodmansey

    Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey is an England Rock 'n' Roll drummer from Driffield, Yorkshire, best known for his work with David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars#The Spiders From Mars....
     – drums
    Drum kit

    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....

Technical personnel

  • Ken Scott
    Ken Scott

    Ken Scott is an English record producer and recording engineer....
     – producer
    Record producer

    In the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, Audio mixing and audio mastering processes....
    , recording engineer
    Audio engineering

    Audio engineering is a part of audio science dealing with the recording and reproduction of sound through mechanical and electronic means. The field draws on many disciplines, including electrical engineering, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and music....
    , mixing engineer
    Audio mixing

    Audio Mixing may refer to:*Audio mixing *Audio mixing *Audio mixing ...
  • David Bowie – producer
  • Dr. Toby Mountain – remastering engineer (for Rykodisc release)
  • Jonathan Wyner – assistant remastering engineer (for Rykodisc release)
  • Peter Mew
    Peter Mew

    Peter Mew is a British music audio engineer at the famous Abbey Road Studios where he is now senior mastering engineer. He came to Abbey road in 1965 as a tape operator and has nice worked with many famous artists at the studio....
     – remastering engineer (for EMI release)
  • Nigel Reeve – assistant remastering engineer (for EMI release)


Charts


Album
YearChartPeak
Position
1972UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus....
3
1975Billboard 200
Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling Albums and extended play in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine....
93
1972Norwegian Album Chart33
1972Australian Album Chart39


Single
YearSingleChartPeak
Position
1972"Changes"Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard Single popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on airplay and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the airplay tracking-week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday....
66
1973"Life on Mars?"UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with the chart being printed in Music Week magazine , ChartsPlus , and published online on various sites ....
3
1975"Changes"Billboard Pop Singles41


Certifications

OrganizationLevelDate
BPI
British Phonographic Industry

The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade group. Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four 'major' record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies representing literally thousands of labels....
 – UK		Gold
BPI – UKPlatinum