{$David Bowie} returned to relatively conventional {\rock & roll} with {^Scary Monsters}, an album that effectively acts as an encapsulation of all his '70s experiments. Reworking {\glam rock} themes with avant-garde synth flourishes, and reversing the process as well, {$Bowie} creates dense but accessible music throughout {^Scary Monsters}. Though it doesn't have the vision of his other classic records, it wasn't designed to break new ground -- it was created as the culmination of {$Bowie}'s experimental genre-shifting of the '70s. As a result, {^Scary Monsters} is {$Bowie}'s last great album. While the music isn't far removed from the {\post-punk} of the early '80s, it does sound fresh, hip, and contemporary, which is something {$Bowie} lost over the course of the '80s. [{@Rykodisc}'s 1992 reissue includes re-recorded versions of {&"Space Oddity"} and {&"Panic in Detroit,"} the Japanese single {&"Crystal Japan,"} and the British single {&"Alabama Song."}] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide