There are not a lot of ch-ch-changes here, with what seems like a rare case of Bowie (either due to record company pressure or his own urge) re-treading familiar territory.
He follows the success of the Ziggy Stardust album with an offering that is in a similar androgynous glam-rock-alien, semi-concept album vein. Two points of difference present themselves: one is an increased theatricality to the music, with none of the songs matching the more low-key moments of something like 'Rock n roll suicide', parts of 'Starman' or others... I think that is partly due to the increased presence of the piano, it just makes the songs feel a bit more grand and elegant. The other point of difference is a bit more space provided in the arrangements for his musicians (especially Mick Ronson) to shine.
There are some interesting things going on here; 'Time' and 'Lady Grinning Soul' sound to me like Bowie's Scott Walker fandom coming to the fore. The book describes the Rolling Stones cover 'Let's spend the night together' as a musical misstep, but to me it seems in a similar musical vein to 'Sufragette city', particularly with a little Bowie 'sparkle' infused in the riffs and could almost act as a musical 'sequel' to that track.
All in all, I feel as though it's not up to the standard of the previous Bowie album, but still enjoyable with some truly top-shelf moments, such as the title track, 'Time' and "Lady Grinning Soul".
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