Rock & roll had pretensions long before it had a David Bowie, but Bowie invented whole new levels of theatrical posing, stylistic diddling, and sexual provocation, doing for pretensions what Jimi Hendrix did for electric guitars. 

 Clunky as a mod (the results have been recycled as David Bowie, Love You Till Tuesday, Images, Early On), and wispy as a folkie (Space Oddity), he began to rock on The Man Who Sold the World. 

 And then one day David visited New York, where a friend turned him on to the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane." The result: Hunky Dory, Bowie's first classic, an album of Nico-style cafe ballads. 

 Clunky as a mod (the results have been recycled as David Bowie, Love You Till Tuesday, Images, Early On), and wispy as a folkie (Space Oddity), he began to rock on The Man Who Sold the World. 

 Hunky Dory made Bowie the star he has remained ever since. But Ziggy Stardust remains the most famous of all glam records, turning up Ronson's boogie guitar for a concept album about an androgynous rock star from outer space. 

 Aladdin Sane cranks up the hard, slick, sensationalistic energy of Ziggy, minus the draggy bits, for a sequel that sounds even better than the original, driven by the guitar swagger of "Watch That Man." 

 Clunky as a mod (the results have been recycled as David Bowie, Love You Till Tuesday, Images, Early On), and wispy as a folkie (Space Oddity), he began to rock on The Man Who Sold the World. 

 Pin Ups was a set of Sixties Swinging London covers with Twiggy on the cover; the one great moment is the Yardbirds'"Shapes of Things," where Bowie becomes an unlikely ecologist. 

 Diamond Dogs announced the end of the world (again?) with a certain boy-who-cried-wolf quality, despite "Rebel Rebel" and the title song, which celebrates "the year of the scavenger, the season of the bitch." 

 Bowie boasts he has never listened to David Live, and good for him. 

 Bowie switched gears for the surprisingly warm R&B; homage Young Americans, which he described as "plastic soul." Cut in Philadelphia with background vocals from a young Luther Vandross, it's short on tunes aside from the title song. 

 Bowie's hits collections are as much fun as his proper albums, because his genius for the grand statement and the big splash meant that he didn't skimp when it came to dreaming up hit singles. 1976 Changesonebowie's is the original crash course. 

 But it was the warm-up for Station to Station, the album where Bowie dyed his hair blond, proclaimed himself the Thin White Duke, and made the most intense music of his life. 

 Heroes expands the formula with guitarist Robert Fripp, a thicker, fuller sound, a more prominent role for Eno, and the killer title hymn.  

 The finale of the Berlin trilogy, Lodger is that rarest of rock & roll artifacts: an underrated Bowie album. 

 Low, released the week Bowie turned thirty, marked a new beginning. After burying himself in white powder in Los Angeles, he fled to Berlin for some personal detox and began his famous "Berlin trilogy." 

 Lodger guitar hero Adrian Belew also appears on Stage, a surprisingly decent live album that perversely turns Side Two of Low into arena fodder. 

 Scary Monsters turns up the Fripp guitar for a sleek, chilly-chic set, not as bold as Lodger but excellent nonetheless, especially the terrifying "Space Oddity" update "Ashes to Ashes." 

 Bowie's hits collections are as much fun as his proper albums, because his genius for the grand statement and the big splash meant that he didn't skimp when it came to dreaming up hit singles. 

 Bowie cashed in with Let's Dance, a slight but pleasant pop record with a few big MTV hits, including the touching rocker "Modern Love." 

 Tonight was an expensive quickie padded with lame covers, while Never Let Me Down made things even worse with originals. 

 Tonight was an expensive quickie padded with lame covers, while Never Let Me Down made things even worse with originals. 

 The double-disc Singles runs too far into the Eighties and Nineties; Sound and Vision is a mostly redundant three-disc box; Bowie at the Beeb collects early BBC live material, including Lou Reed and Chuck Berry covers. 

 Bowie's hits collections are as much fun as his proper albums, because his genius for the grand statement and the big splash meant that he didn't skimp when it came to dreaming up hit singles. 

 The double-disc Singles runs too far into the Eighties and Nineties; Sound and Vision is a mostly redundant three-disc box; Bowie at the Beeb collects early BBC live material, including Lou Reed and Chuck Berry covers. 

 Black Tie White Noise had a witty cover of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday," the sound of Bowie imitating one of the all-time great Bowie imitators.  

 Outside was a poor reunion with Eno.  

 The Buddha of Suburbia was soundtrack filler. 

 The two separately available Essential volumes are both eccentric, but present worthy rarities such as Bowie's original version of "All the Young Dudes." 

 The two separately available Essential volumes are both eccentric, but present worthy rarities such as Bowie's original version of "All the Young Dudes." 

 Barely anyone noticed, but there were signs of life on Mars in Earthling and Hours, which offered strong songs ("Looking for Satellites," "Seven," "Thursday's Child") damn near ruined by Gabrels' cheesy guitar glop. 

 Barely anyone noticed, but there were signs of life on Mars in Earthling and Hours, which offered strong songs ("Looking for Satellites," "Seven," "Thursday's Child") damn near ruined by Gabrels' cheesy guitar glop. 

 The double-disc Singles runs too far into the Eighties and Nineties; Sound and Vision is a mostly redundant three-disc box; Bowie at the Beeb collects early BBC live material, including Lou Reed and Chuck Berry covers. 

 2006's The Platinum Collection is a solid three-disc best-of that expands on Changesbowie, but hot tramps in search of a handy introduction should use the older compilation as a map and then start playing around. 

 Live Santa Monica '72 is the sound of Bowie coming face to face with the California kids who made him a leper messiah, his wildest and warmest live album by a mile.