For the most part, Dave is back, after an affair with heavy! high-energy killer techniques, back into his 1966-ish, Tony Newley pop-rock thing, and happily so. [Hunky Dory] is his most easily accessible, and thus most readily enjoyable work since his Man Of Words/Man of Music album of 1969….

[The Man Who Sold the World] was erratic in the extreme, tedious music and hopelessly obscure (and sometimes downright embarrassing) words alternating frequently within the space of a verse with exciting melodic phrases and poignant, incisive lyrics.

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 unimpregnable verbiage before getting at an idea…. (p. 63)

While compiling material for this album Dave's thoughts apparently turned frequently to the imminence of the birth of his...