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It’s been a slow year for new music, mainly because most of the new releases I’ve been looking forward to weren’t scheduled to drop until the end of March or early April. So basically until this week, the only new album of 2016 that I’d heard was David Bowie’s Blackstar. Which, amazingly, I haven’t blogged about yet.
I shall do that now.
Basically, it’s brilliant.
And of course since I heard it a week after Bowie’s passing, we may never know how big an influence that will be on my assessment. But I had heard the title track the month prior to his death and thought it was just stunning, so I feel pretty sure about this.
I also liked the two songs here that were released a year ago alongside the Nothing Has Changed comp, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)” and “’Tis a Pity She’s A Whore”, although Blackstar has new versions recorded with the jazz band Bowie recruited for the album. I have to say I like this version of “Sue …” more – it’s still jazzy but with a little more dramatic tension to it.
You can compare them, if you like. Here’s the Maria Schneider Orchestra version.
And here’s the Blackstar version.
And of course we all know by now that “Lazarus” was an intentional farewell song. In fact, Tony Visconti has said Bowie – who had already been diagnosed with cancer – knew this would be his last album. Leave it to Bowie to turn his death into an artistic statement.
There will always be arguments over how it compares to the rest of Bowie’s catalog, but I think it’s one of his strongest albums. And given the strength of his best work, I don’t see that it matters if it’s better than, say, Ziggy Stardust or the Berlin trilogy or whatever. It’s a great Bowie album, and it’s grand that Bowie was able to go out swinging.
So anyway, this is the first great album of 2016, and it’s hard to imagine anything else topping it.
Oh folly Sue,
This is dF
I shall do that now.
Basically, it’s brilliant.
And of course since I heard it a week after Bowie’s passing, we may never know how big an influence that will be on my assessment. But I had heard the title track the month prior to his death and thought it was just stunning, so I feel pretty sure about this.
I also liked the two songs here that were released a year ago alongside the Nothing Has Changed comp, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)” and “’Tis a Pity She’s A Whore”, although Blackstar has new versions recorded with the jazz band Bowie recruited for the album. I have to say I like this version of “Sue …” more – it’s still jazzy but with a little more dramatic tension to it.
You can compare them, if you like. Here’s the Maria Schneider Orchestra version.
And here’s the Blackstar version.
And of course we all know by now that “Lazarus” was an intentional farewell song. In fact, Tony Visconti has said Bowie – who had already been diagnosed with cancer – knew this would be his last album. Leave it to Bowie to turn his death into an artistic statement.
There will always be arguments over how it compares to the rest of Bowie’s catalog, but I think it’s one of his strongest albums. And given the strength of his best work, I don’t see that it matters if it’s better than, say, Ziggy Stardust or the Berlin trilogy or whatever. It’s a great Bowie album, and it’s grand that Bowie was able to go out swinging.
So anyway, this is the first great album of 2016, and it’s hard to imagine anything else topping it.
Oh folly Sue,
This is dF
