David Bowie - The Next Day

This is David Bowie's first album for 10 years, after the odd experience that was Reality, released in 2003. This is a distinctive throwback to his older stuff, sounding a bit more like Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs. He's retained his distinctive voice as well, which is more than Bob Dylan can say (don't get me wrong, I love Dylan to bits, but his gorgeous voice has become marred by the incessant smoking over forty-odd years), although he no longer does the beautiful soaring falsetto, which added a touch of the Bowie drama to his music.

The not-so-impressive album cover

However, he hasn't gone completely back to his old style, but adapted it to fit into today's music scene. The brass used on Dirty Boys, as well as the muted electric guitar, reminds you of some obscure Plan B song, and the very beginning of The Stars (Are Out Tonight) is reminiscent of Kings Of Leon's Use Somebody; for all of these slight hints, Bowie moves the song on to new places that are so distinctly Bowie they couldn't be anything else.

I'm in love with Where Are We Now?, the beautifully melancholic ballad that lapses into cheeriness by pointing out all of the good things in his life ("as long as there's sun, as long as there's rain...as long as there's me, as long as there's you"). And Valentine's Day, which manages to so perfectly avoid all of the cliches surrounding love songs by dashing them all down with the lyrics "Valentine told me who's to go, feelings he treasured most of all...it's in his scrawny hands, it's in his icy heart". It completely throws you when you hear it for the first time; in a song named after the day of love, he highlights the hypocrisy of it all. Oh David, you've done it again.

The Aladdin Sane days

One criticism I do have, though, is the album artwork. Trivial, I know, but everything plays a part in your experience of an album. And I do mean everything. They've used the cover for "Heroes" and just plonked a white square in the middle of Bowie's face, with The Next Day written on it in an awful typeface. The official campaign was something to do with "everyone having their own interpretation of the album that wasn't going to be dictated by the record company, blahdy blahdy blah", but frankly, it just looks a bit cheap and as though they haven't bothered to make the effort. Not quite what you expect from King Bowie of all people.

You can listen to the full album here

Recommended tracks:
I'd Rather Be High
If You Can See Me
The Next Day