Thin White Duke's first album in a decade transcends all expectations
9/10
How to make a comeback, part 67 - don't announce what your plans are and surprise everyone. Well, up until that rule, everything else had clearly failed - Bowie's much-anticipated return to his local recording studio has resulted in something rather special indeed. There is now no need for part 68. After a day's sales, The Next Day has shifted more copies than any other album this year.
Up until the beginning of 2013, David Bowie's contributions to music and art have been rather non-existent since his last album Reality, besides appearing in a hilarious cameo on Extras where he belittled Ricky Gervais' character with the poignant little ditty, Little Fat Man. Some clever wags online decided that Bowie's first new song, the single Where Are We Now?, sounded a little like that very same jingle. Poignant, somewhat reflective and self-effacing. Yes, but that's about the only comparison one could make with it simply because the single is leagues ahead and, frankly, nothing like Little Fat Man. And nothing else on The Next Day sounds like Where Are We Now?, for that matter.
Elements of just about every key release from the man's career permeate this exciting, ribald and riff-laden album, with little evidence of plagiarism, lyrical or musical, of anything in the charts at the moment. It's become a well-known fact that during the making of this album, Bowie and Visconti immersed themselves in previous works of their own, rather than listen to anything outside of their bubble - thank god for that. Imagine a collaboration with Tinie Tempah, ASAP Rocky or Ben Howard. Actually, don't. Let's savour what's on offer from a man who doesn't rely on cheap collaborations these days and sounds (and still looks) at the top of his game.
Aside from Dirty Boys, a rather leaden sprawl that recalls David Sylvian's unsteady work with Robert Fripp, every track on The Next Day is thoroughly deserving of its inclusion in the track-listing. From the opening title-track which bobs and weaves around the same sort of compositional techniques found on Reality's New Killer Star or Low's Beauty and the Beast, past the second and very classic single The Stars (Are Out Tonight) and the lovely, languid, lachrymose air of Where Are We Now?, right up to the powerful closing trio of (You Will) Set The World On Fire, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die and Heat, you know you're in safe hands. That's safe as in Bowie, rather than safe as in humdrum.
The man can turn a tune better than most even in his 60s and when Valentine's Day kicks into gear mid-way through this set, you're reminded of some of Bowie's great intros over the decades - Let's Dance, Ashes to Ashes and Ziggy Stardust among them. While this new song is hardly comparable to those great rock and roll moments, it's unmistakably Bowie and as good as you could be at a point in your life when most people of his age are deciding which genus of rose to grow in the garden this year.
Typical trademarks fill The Next Day with comfortable familiarity - multi-layered harmonies, funky new-wave riffs and soaring guitar work throughout make this an even more tantalizing prospect than Heathen ended up being and Reality tried to be. Both were very good albums but The Next Day is like discovering David Bowie's oeuvre all over again because there is so much going on from head to toe, cover to cover and start to finish.
If you're tempted by the rather more expensive 'deluxe' issue, get it - So She and I'll Take You There are worthy of being on the album proper while Plan has been heard before (at the beginning of the video for The Stars). A cliche, I know, but this is all a total triumph.
9/10
Up until the beginning of 2013, David Bowie's contributions to music and art have been rather non-existent since his last album Reality, besides appearing in a hilarious cameo on Extras where he belittled Ricky Gervais' character with the poignant little ditty, Little Fat Man. Some clever wags online decided that Bowie's first new song, the single Where Are We Now?, sounded a little like that very same jingle. Poignant, somewhat reflective and self-effacing. Yes, but that's about the only comparison one could make with it simply because the single is leagues ahead and, frankly, nothing like Little Fat Man. And nothing else on The Next Day sounds like Where Are We Now?, for that matter.
Elements of just about every key release from the man's career permeate this exciting, ribald and riff-laden album, with little evidence of plagiarism, lyrical or musical, of anything in the charts at the moment. It's become a well-known fact that during the making of this album, Bowie and Visconti immersed themselves in previous works of their own, rather than listen to anything outside of their bubble - thank god for that. Imagine a collaboration with Tinie Tempah, ASAP Rocky or Ben Howard. Actually, don't. Let's savour what's on offer from a man who doesn't rely on cheap collaborations these days and sounds (and still looks) at the top of his game.
Aside from Dirty Boys, a rather leaden sprawl that recalls David Sylvian's unsteady work with Robert Fripp, every track on The Next Day is thoroughly deserving of its inclusion in the track-listing. From the opening title-track which bobs and weaves around the same sort of compositional techniques found on Reality's New Killer Star or Low's Beauty and the Beast, past the second and very classic single The Stars (Are Out Tonight) and the lovely, languid, lachrymose air of Where Are We Now?, right up to the powerful closing trio of (You Will) Set The World On Fire, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die and Heat, you know you're in safe hands. That's safe as in Bowie, rather than safe as in humdrum.
The man can turn a tune better than most even in his 60s and when Valentine's Day kicks into gear mid-way through this set, you're reminded of some of Bowie's great intros over the decades - Let's Dance, Ashes to Ashes and Ziggy Stardust among them. While this new song is hardly comparable to those great rock and roll moments, it's unmistakably Bowie and as good as you could be at a point in your life when most people of his age are deciding which genus of rose to grow in the garden this year.
Typical trademarks fill The Next Day with comfortable familiarity - multi-layered harmonies, funky new-wave riffs and soaring guitar work throughout make this an even more tantalizing prospect than Heathen ended up being and Reality tried to be. Both were very good albums but The Next Day is like discovering David Bowie's oeuvre all over again because there is so much going on from head to toe, cover to cover and start to finish.
If you're tempted by the rather more expensive 'deluxe' issue, get it - So She and I'll Take You There are worthy of being on the album proper while Plan has been heard before (at the beginning of the video for The Stars). A cliche, I know, but this is all a total triumph.