I'm a recent convert to the music of David Bowie, can you recomend a typical album

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OK, well, I've picked up on the Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars album, so where should I go from here

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Into a world of musical treats and blind alleys, from commercial blockbusters to commercial and critical stinkers, because that is what David Bowie's career has been about.

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Sounds intriguing ' can you point out the major points of this intriguing musician's life and work

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Certainly. Bowie began life as a London mod in a sixties 'beat combo', Davey Jones And The Lower Third, changing his name to David Bowie in 1966 to avoid confusion with the Monkees' lead singer of the same name.� Hearing Bowie's first recorded work, it's impossible to escape from his acknowledged debt to sixties singer Anthony Newley whom Bowie apes to perfection on his first hit The Laughing Gnome. In the first of a series of the reinventions that were to underpin his career, Bowie changed into a hippy singer-songwriter for the album Man Of Words Man Of Music, which featured his first hit single Space Oddity. Bowie decided he liked the glam look pioneered by his friend Marc Bolan and he toured as a mime artist with T Rex ' thus debunking the myth that Bowie 'invented' glam rock. Instead, he released a guitar-heavy second album The Man Who Sold The World, to little attention, before changing direction again for the pop-based Hunky Dory ' his hit Changes came on the back of an earlier hit version for Peter Noone from sixties teen heart-throbs Herman's Hermits.

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Three image swerves in three albums, and still no recognition

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It wasn't long in coming ' Bowie caused serious outrage by advising the press that he was bisexual, and wearing what he sniffily claimed were 'men's dresses'. No-one would raise an eyebrow these days, but this was the early 70's - the world was shocked, and Bowie gained acres of newsprint and pictures in the tabloids, his career was off and running. Hanging firmly onto the shiny coat tails of glam, Bowie created Ziggy Stardust, a comic book hero from another planet with a band, and a concept album to serve as a backdrop to his stage show. With the hit status of Space Oddity in America, the clunky Man Of Words Man Of Music album title was ditched, and the album was re-packaged as Space Oddity - Bowie had arrived!

So success and fame were there for the taking

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They were, and with the first example of the contrary attitude that has characterised Bowie's career, to the delight and occasional frustration of his fans, he turned his back on all of it, producing albums for his old friends Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, resurrecting the career of fading Brit rockers Mott The Hoople, recording an album of his own interpretations of favourite sixties hits, Pin-Ups, and then 'retiring' to work on a musical version of George Orwell's 1984.

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Retiring, why on earth did Bowie do that

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Bowie later claimed he simply took 'Ziggy' to the conclusion he sang about on the album ' When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band, so he did just that, causing mass hysteria and yet more yards of newsprint. Bowie released another studio album Aladdin Sane that saw him push out the boundaries of British pop even further

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Having been denied the use of the 1984 theme by George Orwell's estate, Bowie shifted the emphasis of his new album, calling it Diamond Dogs and receiving the first of several critical maulings. With Rebel Rebel as a hit single from the record, Bowie toured America and fell in love with soul music. Cue another image change, this time into a soul crooner, releasing a double live album, followed by his next studio work Young Americans which gathered a new generation of fans, whilst alienating hoards of people who had grown up on Ziggy.

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Isn't it a bit of a cavalier attitude to just change styles like that

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Absolutely, and that is the core of David Bowie's appeal and longevity. Ever wondered why Madonna constantly reinvents herself visually and musically Because she's seen the success David Bowie has enjoyed, and the reason why. It may not work all the time ' Bowie has endured his fallow periods, but his urge to experiment and evolve means he's never still for long.

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So where from there

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From 'blue-eyed soul' as the critics quaintly labelled the new genre, Bowie took another left turn, into darker territory. The Station To Station album saw Bowie's newest persona ' The Thin White Duke, a paranoid and overtly fascist image fuelled by Bowie's increasing dependence on cocaine. In a successful effort to clean up, Bowie decamped to Berlin where he recorded a couple of avant-garde electronic albums with his friend Brian Eno. The albums, Low and Heroes that proved a massive influence on the electro-pop direction taken by British pop in the wake of the groundbreaking releases. Finishing the decade with the live double Stage album, and the studio work Lodger, Bowie ended with his Scary Monsters album that yielded three hit singles, DJ, Fashion and Ashes To Ashes ' the latter's famous video became a staple of the burgeoning MTV. �

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With the effortless ease that belongs to genuine genius, Bowie again dabbled in production working on Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Lust For Life, which gave a second wind to Pop's career, that lasts today. Bowie turned is attention to acting, appearing on the New York stage in The Elephant Man, and on film in Christine F and The Hunger, to mixed reviews.

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Where are we now

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In spite of cramming enough output and trailblazing to create several superstar careers, Bowie had only reached 1982. The poppy Let's Dance album delivered more hits, including his collaboration with his old friend Iggy Pop ' the two co-wrote China Girl, and Bowie toured with his Serious Moonlight show, beginning another trend for giving stage tours specific themes, an idea adopted by most major artists from then until now.

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Bowie just couldn't fail then ' everything he did was innovative and successful.

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Not quite � it was around this time that Bowie began to show sings of vulnerability � his famous far-sighted career manipulation began to show signs of drifting off the path to fame and fortune.

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In 1984, the Tonight album received a critical drubbing, even though it produced a top ten hit with Blue Jean. The nadir of Bowie�s career came with his duet with old friend Mick Jagger as the pair minced and hammed their way through Martha Reeves� soul chestnut Dancing In The Street. Even the two rock gods had to admit that their video stank, and Bowie added to the downward spiral of his career by returning to film in Labyrinth and Absolute Beginners, which stalled the careers of just about everyone associated with them.

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The beginning of the end then

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Not for someone of Bowie�s calibre � his catalogue of ground-breaking material, all of which received a timely re-release to capture the growing CD market, meant that Bowie wasn�t exactly starving, even if his critical high-points were some time in the past.

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Ever the wilful master of quick-change, Bowie formed a grunge band with himself firmly ensconced as just a member of the group � no super-star vehicle this. Tin Machine release two albums of dirgeful grind, performed an ironic (and under-sold!) club tour, and promptly disappeared.

In 1993 Bowie revived his solo career with the critically respected, if not commercially massive Black Tie White Noise, and a TV soundtrack for The Buddha Of Suburbia. In 1995, Bowie reunited with Eno for the industrial Outside album, and a tour with Nine Inch Nails, designed to pick up the hip young fans of the new grindcore music. The plan failed, fans enjoyed NIN, and then left before Bowie came on stage. Bowie took the hint, and returned to the studio to record Earthling, again utilising the sounds of the moment - Bowie took on the mantle of drum �n� bass artist. Ironically, the criticism of Bowie for adopting such a style managed to ignore with jaw-dropping ease the simple fact that without Bowie�s influence and innovation, drum �n� bass would not have existed. Bowie�s last release was the hours album, and his fans await his desire to step outside his family commitments, and return to the studio for the fourth decade of a remarkable career.

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