CHRIS LUND

Aladdin Sane was released 53 years ago today, and it still feels like yesterday. I didn’t fully understand what David had in mind when I walked into that session in 1973. He had this ability to hear something in you and place it exactly where it belonged. When we were recording the title track, I first approached it in more conventional styles. David stopped me and asked for the avant-garde side of my playing, the part that didn’t fit the standard rock piano vocabulary. I wasn’t sure how people would take it. He told me not to worry about that. He gave me the freedom to play. That was one of his great gifts. He let artists bring their full voice into the music without constraint, and somehow made it feel inevitable. So when people talk about that solo, I don’t just hear a piano part. I hear David recognizing something before anyone else did, and giving it the space to exist. For me, Aladdin Sane is one of the clearest examples of Bowie as an artist, a producer, and a truly fearless creative mind. I’d love to hear what this album means to you after all these years. Favorite tracks, memories, or moments that still stay with you... Photo by Brian Duffy