David Bowie "The Next Day" 2013****

I woke up this morning to the news of Bowie's death and at first didn't believe it. I had to check a few different websites to make sure it wasn't a hoax: in the world of twitter and the blogosphere, news of this kind are very untrustworthy. Plus, if any pop star would stage his own death in an elaborate disappearing act, that would be him. But a secret 18-month battle against cancer is at once too pedestrian and too morbid to be fake. As I write this on the afternoon of January 11, and in the absence of an official denial, I'm convinced that David Bowie is indeed dead. Very few can be said to have influenced rock music as drastically as he. And no-one has done so across so many decades and styles. His ability to embrace change and reinvent himself was legendary,  something also evident in his very recent record entitled "★" (or, as people refer to it, "Black Star"). It would probably make an appropriate album to present on a day like this but, since I still don't have a copy, I'll be presenting his 24th and penultimate album "The Next Day". The recording sessions were conducted under complete secrecy, so it appeared out of nowhere after a decade of silence that had everyone thinking he had permanently retired from music. The lack of publicity around the album's creation was hailed as a genius trick of promotion but it wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for a very good record, enough to make people realize that they had actually missed Bowie during his absence. Musically, it creates a bridge between his 70's Berlin heyday and recent "alt-rock" past. The album cover duplicates his iconic "Heroes" album, with a white square with the title "The Next Day" pasted over it. So he's simultaneously referencing his past and making allusions to transcending it. His old producer Tony Visconti is back on the controls and the sound is somewhat similar to his late 70's new wave albums. The title track is reminiscent of "Beauty and the Beast" from the Visconti-produced 1978 "Heroes" album. Lyrically very dark, like most of the album, it's the story of a man lynched by a mob presumably in the Dark Ages: "Here I am/Not quite dying/My body left to rot in a hollow tree". "Dirty Boys" utilizes a blues/funk saxophone riff while "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" is the first great moment, a classic rocker with a catchy chorus, pulsing bassline and atmospheric synths. "Love is Lost" is as bleak as its title, all new wave synths and angular guitar. It's followed by the lead single. the slow and desolate "Where Are We Now?" about being "lost in time" in Berlin. "Valentine's Day" is a melodic pop number with a soft "sha la la" chorus and a beautiful guitar licks. But don't be fooled into thinking it's a love song: I told you it's a really dark album - it tells of a massacre taking part in a typical American high school. "If You Can See Me" comes across as a mix of punk and krautrock while "I'd Rather Be High" is infinitely more listenable, a dreamy and melodic mid tempo number. This time the narrator seems to be a disillusioned soldier: "I’d rather be high/I’d rather be flying/I’d rather be dead/Or out of my head/Than training these guns on those men in the sand". The next 3 songs remind me of Bowie's 80's plastic funk period. "Boss Of Me" has a prominent saxophone and "Dancing Out In Space" distorted guitar, while "How Does the Grass Grow" has a catchy but silly 60's style chorus. It's followed by the straight-up guitar rocker "You Will Set the World on Fire" and the high melodrama of "You Feel So Lonely You Could Die". Arguably what Bowie does best, a dramatic slice of pure misery accentuated by soaring strings, piano and retro doo-wop backing vocals. And, just when you thought it doesn't get more dramatic than this, he tops it off with "Heat" where he sings in a deep, Scott Walker-like, baritone voice over a slow, creepy, avant-garde noise. Another extraordinary album from an artist who remained restless and always relevant, even when he was in his late 60's. We may never see his like again...

**** for The Stars (Are Out Tonight), Where Are We Now?, Valentine's Day, I'd Rather Be High, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die

*** for The Next Day, Dirty Boys, Love is Lost, Boss of Me, How Does the Grass Grow, You Will Set the World on Fire, Heat

** for If You Can See Me, Dancing out in Space