Bowie at 66: As innovative as ever

66Bowie

Golden years
David Bowies new album proves theres life in the old diamond dog yet, writes Tom Cassidy
David Bowie Tom Cassidy

arly this year, on his 66th birthday, reclusive living legend David Bowie set social networking sites ablaze with a surprise comeback single and news of a new album. His first new song in a decade, single Where Are We Now? was a slow-burning, obtuse but compelling hint that something special was on the way. The world was excited and rightly so. Bowies 24th album, The Next Day recorded secretly with long-time producer Tony Visconti is an artistic and musical triumph. The title track that opens the album is as chameleonic as Bowies career his voice commanding and fresh, delivering an urgent performance that could fit in anywhere among his glittering career. When the woozy saxophone of Dirty Boys slinks in, it takes its time walking a sleazy path to its pop chorus, encapsulating modern Bowie: intelligent rock music with the spiky edges of experimentation left poking out, ripe for exploration and rewarding repeat plays. Like the contemplative single, the album is steeped in history but not nostalgia (the cover artwork brazenly pastes a white square on top of the sleeve image from Bowies 1977 album, Heroes). With The Next Day, Bowies blown his remaining contemporaries out of the water. While the majority schlep about on reunion tours playing songs that were hits in the 60s, the evermercurial Bowie has created a modernist masterpiece of complex arrangements and intelligent lyrics. Above all, it bursts with the pop sensibility that has held him up as an idol for generations.

The Next Day blows Bowie's remaining contempraries out of the water
The Next Day Bowie

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David Bowie 6 6 Where Are We Now? Bowie Tony Visconti The Bowie 24 Next Day Bowie Dirty Boys Bowie Where Are We Now? 1977 HeroesBowie The Next Day 1960 Bowie The Next Day Bowie

MAY 2013

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cd review