When David Bowie released “Station to Station” in January 1976, many critics referred to the album as a ‘transitional’ record, which, in retrospect, strikes me as funny.

I mean, looking back at his catalog, what album wasn’t a transitional album? The real transition taking place here, though, was regarding Bowie’s private life. He had developed an impossibly toxic addiction to cocaine, and it affected every aspect of his being. Of course, it wasn’t intended to be publicized, but anybody who saw Bowie’s performance in “The Man Who Fell to Earth” could put two and two together.

Paranoia enveloped him, his marriage failed, and his friendships withered away. “The Thin White Duke” became this semi-real being – “a nasty character, indeed”, in Bowie’s own words, who spoke of love with an iciness that included “throwing darts in lover’s eyes”. The result was ice cold soul music (soul-less soul music?), played by the best band that Bowie had ever assembled (for proof, listen to the recording from March 23, 1976, at Nassau Coliseum). The endless intake of cocaine meant that the band could work straight through for days at a time while Bowie’s mental state kept the music on an edge that was 100% original. In a career that bounced that all over the place, this is an unexpected peak.

Feature Tracks:

Station to Station

Golden Years

Word on a Wing

TVC15

Stay

Wild is the Wind

January 1976 - Billboard Charted #3