NEW David Bowie album: Blackstar (January 8, 2016)

I'm a big Bowie fan, but Ziggy Stardust never clicked with me too much. I prefer stuff from Sigma Sessions to Scary Monsters, and a few albums before and after that run.

 

Seems like a lot of fans had a similar experience regarding his passing and the timing of it all. Sadly, I hadn't really listened to Bowie in a while, outside of a few songs, but his death reignited my love for some of his music and even got me into some of his music I had been unfamiliar with prior (some of the 90's and 00's material).

That is the thing about Bowie: he had so many albums and embraced so many styles, that almost any album could be a big favorite of any fan.

 

I still have this fantasy/ imaginary scenario that Bowie did one gig for TV showcasing the entire Blackstar album, with a couple of tunes from The Next Day thrown in. I run it in my head when I’m listening to the album. A shame it never came to pass but it’s perhaps better this way. He’d aged a lot since 2004, and what with all his rumoured health issues (a stroke according to some), I think one of the reasons he made so few public appearances (and no live appearances after 2006) was that he didn’t want people to see how he’d diminished. His vocals on Blackstar are great (of course), but I was struck by how frail he sounded on No Plan and particularly in the recorded interview he did for the recent Mick Ronson documentary (I should factor in cancer therapy of course).

 

It’s quite sad to go back through this thread! Three years ago there was so much excitement, speculation of a tours and comments about how good he looked for his age.... I remember the excitement watching the Blackstar video for the first time and being blown away and so enthustiastic that he had made something so contemporary and relevant despite his age. It was also nice to appreciate the album before his passing and truly enjoy it without it being seen through the ‘other lens’.

 

May I suggest you list some of the new cutting edge stuff you think betters that list. I have all but two of those titles and would agree on all of them (only half way through EC as I type). Not really a lot of outstanding new artist's music in this period and then you have to take into account recording and mastering quality. Because they are elderly or long established artists does not negate that choice. The fact that they can produce the goods still probably enhances the status of their work. BTW there is a lot of variety in styles in that list so I don't think homogenous is the most relevant description.

 

Agreed 100,00%, exact markation of his peak.

True, but you could argue that our master would know exactly how to sound, to match the mood of the song. That piece is loaded with emotion and one glorious farewell act from the other side, so close to reality...

Overall I think Blackstar cannot be rated with any of his other albums. It's return to form, daring, an experimental voyage into his beloved jazz without ignoring the legacy. I know the tracks well from the day it leaked until that Monday. Still need to figure out a mood for me to enjoy playing the entire album (so one track on occasion for now).

 

Same experience here. I picked it up first thing that Saturday morning and was immediately obsessed with it. I played it several times in a row and then, not wanting to get burned out immediately, spent the rest of the weekend listening to the rest of his entire catalog. Which made waking up at 6am Eastern time to the terrible news all the more of a blow. Blackstar has become one of my favorite records of all time.

 

I preordered it, it arrived, and it hung out for a hot minute. Within a few days, I sat down and listened to it. Within hours of listening, I read the news of his passing. That was a weird feeling.

 

BBC 6 Music just played the entire album this morning on the Mary Ann Hobbs show!

 

I've STILL yet to hear it. Haven't been able to go there yet. Fortunately I have Tonight from the new box to listen to.

 

Did you say fortunately...?

 

Same here. I played the Hell out of it that weekend. The news on Monday morning was--to me, at least--both a shock and weirdly expected in that Blackstar began to make sense.

 

Ditto for me too.

 

Either that, or he writes to his voice. Bryan Ferry has done that beautifully as well. He can't hit the notes in "Psalm" like he used to, but his music got darker and smokier, just like his voice.

I see where you're coming from, but you could say the same for the Berlin trilogy as compared to what came before. He's one of the few artists to have distinct eras, and while Blackstar indicates an era with one album and a handful of extras, it's far too distinctive (for me anyway) to not treat it as its own era.

Is it my FAVORITE era? Well, it's certainly the one that involves the most of my favorite elements, most obviously being the glorious return of Bowie's Scott Walker infatuation.

(As an aside, a lot of/most people consider Walker's post Climate of Hunter output as music for thinking, rather than enjoying, but I adore those records.)

I think nostalgia/personal history will always make the latter RCA records my favorite, but Blackstar's a close second. No mean feat for an album that doesn't have the advantage of a three decade head start.

I've actually enjoyed it more as a result. Personally, I only feel sad when someone, celebrity or otherwise, dies unhappy (like poor Keith Emerson.) We've all got to go sometime, and the best we can hope for is that when we go, we go out a winner. I felt an odd kind of happiness when Christopher Lee passed on...I didn't want to see him go, but my GOD what a life! I remember thinking that his end was as "happy" as any end could hope to be. Until Bowie one-upped him a few months later.

That said, I'll probably still be a mess when Brian Eno goes

Welp, I just talked myself into playing Blackstar again.

 

I will admit that my initial reaction to this album was "Good record, but one many will overrate due it coming out days before his death."

I was very, very wrong.

 

I said something very similar to my daughter that weekend after buying the album on Friday. I could not believe how great it was.

Then came Monday morning...

 

It's been 2 1/2 years since the release and I'm still in awe of it. It's an album that maintains a solid spot in my collection, even though it doesn't get much play time compared to his other material, and I think that's mainly from an accessibility standpoint. I need to be in the right mood to listen to this LP.

And, even now, I'm still in awe of the determination and risk he took by dropping a project this musically experimental, this late into his career. But, then again, it's what he'd always done.
Truly a masterpiece, and one of his best.

 

Related to this great discussion, back in Dec 2016, my wife and I traveled to NYC to see one of Donny McCaslin's release shows for Beyond Now at the Village Vanguard. I figured that he would cover "Warszawa" since it was on the record, but we were not prepared for their brilliant cover of "Lazarus." Oh man, it was brilliant, and I think most of the audience was in tears. The show was one of the best I've ever seen by any artist, and that was an incredibly emotional high point.

 

Saw a 2015 copy in a store today, but the vinyl was cloudy. Was this caused by the PVC inner? Can this be cleaned?

 

Wow the Bowie lp is fogging up fast!

I'd crack open my clear vinyl copy if I had one.

 

I

If the vinyl is turning foggy, it’s dead. Chemical reaction between the Mylar and the vinyl causes permanent fogging and vinyl hiss/“roar.”

 

It seems to me that your initial viewpoint was spot on. It's a good album but massively overrated due it being released when it was. If this had been released in the 90s or early 00s would it really be spoken of in such reverent terms? If Reality had been his last album it would be overrated in just the same way, and I prefer Reality to Blackstar...

 

I disagree. I think Blackstar is a remarkable work for Bowie, timing of his death or not.

Reality--if we are looking at his later work only--is the weakest of the bunch, with Heathen, The Next Day and Blackstar all being better IMO. In fact, the title track is the only song on there that I regularly listen to. I find the rest very forced.

 

I bought it on the release date, and listened non-stop during that weekend. With the exception of "Sue", I loved all the songs on there, and in case of "Lazarus" and "Dollar Days" I even felt some of his most glorious songs since the likes of "Word On A Wing" (the whole build-up of that album has something in common with Station To Station). Even during those 2-3 "innocent" days before news of his death, I felt the album was easily his strongest since Outside. My opinion hasn't changed.

Reality, on the other hand, is one of my least played Bowie albums, and I remember feeling disappointed with it when it came out.

 

My thoughts as well, mostly. The Next Day was a great album after such an absence. Nice videos as well. I remember how he seemed to be obsessed with mortality and that it was a powerful presence on the record. Reality was not as good in my view. later, with the expanded release of Next Day we got several other good tunes. Blackstar I liked, but the material is lesser overall with a couple of exceptions. It will be years before many people can look at it objectively because of it's tie in with his death.