David BowieThe Next Day is an album in a decade, the one post-heart attack, the second coming. Two out of three of these are true, but the latter, no way. Bowie's taken his time here, but he's never gone away. This offering is pretty upbeat overall, less pensive than 2003's Reality, still kinda experimental but certainly not unBowie. The great character play is still there (particularly brilliant with final official track, Heat, where he channels the son of a prison warden with creepy sonic greatness), as well as in second single, The Stars (Are Out Tonight), where he's perhaps playing Bowie now, and Bowie in his '20s, the myth and the legend. You Feel So Lonely You Could Die is a spectacularly over-the-top piece of heartbreak, delivered with an absolutely unnecessarily awesome four syllable emphasis on the “Die-ie-ie-ie”, and Dirty Boys is an unusual move because of the almost unrecognisable vocals (the only constant in Bowie's musical life).
Also to love is an approach to the prog bench with If You Can See Me (featuring vocals by amazing regular band member/live show stealer Gail Ann Dorsey). Bowie takes some tightrope strolls here too, and depending on your taste, you will either love or hate him for some key organ parts in Love Is Lost (for me it's part Phantom Of The Opera, part the opening of George Michael's Faith), and same goes for Dancing Out In Space (if only because it's a token Starman song, and because its drum opening also sounds too much like You Can't Hurry Love). Bonus tracks So She, I'll Take You There and the instrumental Plan are also worth a listen, and none with obvious 'to the cutting room floor' quality.
