David Bowie- Blackstar (2016)

David Bowie- Blackstar (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

With Tony Visconti on the mixing boards again, David Bowie launches his new adventure after his outstanding 2013 album The Next Day and its awful cover, Blackstar is a far more elaborate recording, it centers more on Bowie and less in his musicians, and at the same time is less a "live record" and a more studio contained experiment.

The title track from starters is quite a shock with Bowie going for Thundercat in search of inspiration, whole vocally, Bowie uses one of his early greatest influences, Scott Walker, in order to find himself once again,  Bowie excels here at creating more atmosphere and an eerie experience more than a song, showing us a Bowie defiantly decided to turn his back on mere pop music and confirming his place as a music innovator, creating here a suite like song with various part for added drama, a little distracting at times, but an enjoyable trip.

Bowie goes full upbeat on the crazy titled Tis a Pity She Was a Whore, featuring a fluid bass work and rock solid bottom drumming by Tim Lefebvre and Mark Guiliana, there's also touches of sax that remind us of Bowie's more rock oriented efforts, bringing an intriguing sound a little bit parallel to that of the great Roxy Music, a band that featured the genius Brian Eno, an old collaborator of Bowie who wouldn't sound out of place in this record, the song and it's sax piercing line sound like a direct descendent of the wild works of Iggy Pop circa Fun House, while on Lazarus Bowie goes for a The Cure like intro, more Roxy Music's polished lush sound, crossed with prominent Sonic Youth like noise guitars tossed in for spine chilling effect.

Sue (Or in a Season of Crime) is one of the album's most aggressive moments, Bowie's band here pushes the tune to the limit creating a truly terrific experience giving Bowie the chance to return to his remarkable Scary Monster days when Bowie was a true outsider making otherworldly music, even going into more complex and ghost like arrangements on the exquisite Girl Loves Me.

Bowie closes the record with I Can't Give Everything Away, which fairly resumes Bowie career at the moment, seeking for inspiration in his electronic experiments of the Berlin era, Blackstar is a true challenging record, one that shows Bowie decided to recapture his status as a provocative performer capable of moving with the times, never sounded Bowie so far away from pop and so close to his more wildly experimental years.