Album Review / David Bowie - ★
When the mysterious, and rather good video,
for ★ appeared as if from nowhere in late 2015,
the explorative hints of 2014 single Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) were fully
flowered with the experimental jazz of, to use its transliterated title, Blackstar. But with experimentation being
something that doesn’t always translate to successful material, what do we have
in this, David Bowie’s 28th album?
The
answer to that question lies in just how much you love the many different
incarnations of the artist. For Blackstar, we’re in territory that is decidedly
different than the icy sound that characterised The Next Day. This is affirmed
in the ten minute title track, the rather good ★.
Almost mantra like in its composition, we’re transported to a world of cults and
astronomical prophecies that is as captivating as it is self-consciously
avante-garde. As an instant tone setter though, it’s perfect. Once the chant
like intro has passed we enter almost another song entirely and it’s so
unsettling it’s brilliant. A good beginning then leads into an album that often
surprises, with little reminders of the highly influential past recordings he
has released.
Two songs
we already know appear on Blackstar, in decidedly new versions. Both Sue (In A
Season Of Crime) and ‘Tis a Pity She Was A Whore are recast from their original
sketches, as it were, and come out much tighter songs as a result. That’s not
to say the originals weren’t worthy of our ears, of course, merely that they
have come full circle.
‘Tis A
Pity She Was A Whore is rock enhanced, a prominent drum line changing the tone
of the song immediately. Coming in at a rather shorter length than the single
mix it’s fair to say that it’s completed here. Similarly, the addition of drums
and a distinctly more insane industrial guitar vibe to Sue (Or In A Season Of
Crime) changed the song completely, from a blues tinged slow burner to a more
dramatic turbo charged almost five minutes.
Indeed,
there’s a rather dark undercurrent to this whole album, the industrial jazz
sound lending it a drama that is as fascinating as it is repressive. Sure, it’s
always fun listening to a Bowie album but each has its own feel. The seven
tracks, a mini album in comparative terms, form a dark tinged narrative of love,
obsession and regret and are essentially a concept album.
Packing
in references from all of his creative periods, Blackstar still sounds
distinctly of the now. This could have been made in a different decade, but
almost certainly wouldn’t have come out nearly as well. Perhaps the closest
most recent style it evokes is the early 2000’s revivalist period, with a few
sneaky nods to the much maligned but actually still very listenable Earthling.
Closing with two ballads, Dollar Days and I Can’t Give Everything Away the
album ends on just the right note.
So is it
a welcome return for David Bowie? With an Off Broadway musical Lazarus and the
subtly connected Lazarus it’s rather more of a business as usual than a return.
What will come next? Who can say, possibly even the man himself! For now
though, enjoy this solid start to a new musical year.
Sebastian
Gahan.
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