These 20 songs cover radio high points of the great art rocker’s career, almost too quickly summing up his myriad stylistic shifts. Then again, no 20 tracks will be enough for anyone who’s drawn to more than a few of those collected here; that’s where the fun work of digging through Bowie’s album catalog comes in. The route through his history – post-showtunes pop (“Changes”), glam hard rock (“Suffragette City,” “Rebel Rebel”), “plastic soul” (“Fame”), punk-era avant-garde (“Heroes”), ’80s polish (“Modern Love”), and so on – reveals emotional commonalities that ultimately transcend image games, as fun as those may be. Bowie’s ability to draw and intrigue an audience via his own obsessions is a gift that, in the end, makes his greatest work both accessible and challenging in the most entertaining way.
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