Pin Ups

Pin Ups
Pin Ups
Studio album by David Bowie
Released	19 October 1973
Recorded	July–August 1973
Studio	Château d'Hérouville (Hérouville)
Genre	Glam rock; protopunk;
Length	33:42
Label	RCA
Producer	Ken Scott; David Bowie;
David Bowie chronology

Pin Ups (also known as Pinups and Pin-Ups)^[a] is the seventh studio album by David Bowie, released on 19 October 1973 through RCA Records. The album is a collection of cover songs, including glam rock and proto-punk versions of songs by 1960s bands that inspired Bowie when he was a teenager, such as the Pretty Things, the Who, the Yardbirds, and Pink Floyd. Pin Ups was Bowie's last album co-produced with Ken Scott. Two members of the Spiders from Mars backing band play on the album, Mick Ronson on guitar and Trevor Bolder on bass, while Mick Woodmansey was replaced by Aynsley Dunbar on drums.

The album came out only six months after Bowie’s previous album, Aladdin Sane. A cover of the Merseys' song "Sorrow" was the album’s lead single. Pin Ups sold very well, topping the UK Albums Chart, but got bad reviews from many critics, who thought most of Bowie’s song covers were not as good as the originals.^[2]^[3] Later reviews have been more positive, but some still describe the album as being uneven. Some publications have called Pin Ups one of the best covers albums.^[4]^[5] It has been reissued a number of times and was remastered in 2015 as part of the box set Five Years (1969–1973).

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Originally performed by	Length
1.	"Rosalyn"	Jimmy Duncan Bill Farley	Pretty Things	2:27
2.	"Here Comes the Night"	Bert Berns	Them	3:09
3.	"I Wish You Would"	Billy Boy Arnold	The Yardbirds	2:40
4.	"See Emily Play"	Syd Barrett	Pink Floyd	4:03
5.	"Everything's Alright"	Nicky Crouch John Konrad Simon Stavely Stuart James Keith Karlson	The Mojos	2:26
6.	"I Can't Explain"	Pete Townshend	The Who	2:07

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Originally performed by	Length
1.	"Friday on My Mind"	George Young Harry Vanda	The Easybeats	3:18
2.	"Sorrow"	Bob Feldman Jerry Goldstein Richard Gottehrer	The Merseys	2:48
3.	"Don't Bring Me Down"	Johnnie Dee	Pretty Things	2:01
4.	"Shapes of Things"	Paul Samwell-Smith Jim McCarty Keith Relf	The Yardbirds	2:47
5.	"Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere"	Roger Daltrey Townshend	The Who	3:04
6.	"Where Have All the Good Times Gone"	Ray Davies	The Kinks	2:35

Notes

↑ An insert included with the original LP has the text "This album is called Pinups" and the title is written as one word, without a hyphen, on the LP cover and spine, although the original UK disc label spells the title with a hyphen.^[1]

References

↑ Pin Ups (liner notes). David Bowie. UK: RCA Records. 1973. RS 1003.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Shaw, Greg (1973-12-20). "Pin Ups". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
↑ Alterman, Loraine (1973-11-11). "Pop; David Bowie Can't Beat the Band". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
↑ Perrone, Pierre (2013-08-16). "Cover albums: The best and worst releases in the genre". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
↑ "The best covers and tribute albums of all time". NME. 2019-06-11. Archived from the original on 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2025-12-17.

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[2] An insert included with the original LP has the text "This album is called Pinups" and the title is written as one word, without a hyphen, on the LP cover and spine, although the original UK disc label spells the title with a hyphen.^[1]

[liner_notes-1] Pin Ups (liner notes). David Bowie. UK: RCA Records. 1973. RS 1003.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

[3] Shaw, Greg (1973-12-20). "Pin Ups". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2025-12-17.

[4] Alterman, Loraine (1973-11-11). "Pop; David Bowie Can't Beat the Band". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2025-12-17.

[5] Perrone, Pierre (2013-08-16). "Cover albums: The best and worst releases in the genre". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2025-12-17.

[6] "The best covers and tribute albums of all time". NME. 2019-06-11. Archived from the original on 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2025-12-17.

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