DAVID BOWIE
The Next Day [Sony]
[rating: 4/5]
Earlier this week journalists around the world were ushered into various Sony offices to listen to the new David Bowie album in full: fourteen tracks and three extra tunes for the deluxe edition. Before most of the reviews have hit the metaphorical “newsstands” Bowie throws the world another surprise by streaming the album in full for everyone via iTunes before the week is over. The great man, who’s been silent for ten years, obviously believes in the new work, and so he should.
The cover itself is appropriated from “Heroes” while the music feels like the final part in a trilogy that began with 2002’s Heathen which was quickly followed by Reality. Others are drawing comparisons to Lodger. Producer Tony Visconti worked on all of those records: and Bowie himself seems to delight in offering sonic tips of the hat to his own past.
On first listen, the album impresses and… so far… it’s getting better with subsequent visits. The title track is a cracking Bowie tune with an intriguing lyric about ‘people being left to rot in a hollow tree’. Allegedly Bowie has been reading a lot about medieval life, according to Visconti, and ‘bits’ have found their way into his latest lyric sheets. Dirty Boys follows – with its arch guitar lines and lazy sax it recalls Captain Beefheart.
Much of Bowie’s old crew of seasoned pros and gun session players are here: Zac Alford, Earl Slick, Gerry Leonard and Gail Ann Dorsey. By The Stars (Are Out Tonight) Bowie is back in the ‘singles’ market with a track that could’ve been on Let’s Dance. Fast-forward to 2013 and it’s Bowie ruminating on the public’s warped obsession with celebrity.
The album’s first single, Where Are We Now?, sounds much improved within the context of the album. As the tempos back off, there’s a beautiful melancholy to the track as Bowie recalls one of his many heydays in Berlin.
With Valentine’s Day the album reverts back to crunching guitars while Sterling Campbell occupies the drum stool. As the album rolls on further highlights include Dancing Out In Space [a perfect Bowie title], How Does The Grass Grow [which includes an interpolation of Jerry Lordan’s Apache by way of the chorus] and You Will Set The World On Fire.
On You Feel So Lonely You Could Die, Bowie, as the title suggests, takes us on a journey back the fifties. One British scribe once noted ‘he’s our Sinatra’. On this song, he certainly is.
Heat provides the perfect closer. Visconti and Bowie arrange the strings throughout beautifully. Here Bowie’s voice is high in the mix and we’re finally left with the jangle of a lone acoustic guitar which sounds like it was put down the night Space Oddity was recorded. It’s quite a journey; Bowie looks forward and looks back. It’s a rich and varied ride.
Sean Sennett
