Anticipate David Bowie's BLACKSTAR

From David Bowie News:

Everyone’s talking about . . . Bowie’s new album!!

David Bowie's new album Blackstar is set for release on January 8th 2016. The album consists of 7 songs and is 45 minutes long.

The single Blackstar is ten minutes long and is released on November 17th.

Recorded at the Magic Shop studio in New York with local jazz musicians, Blackstar may well be the odd-est work yet from the 68-year-old singer says The Times.

Cannot wait...

!

Oh cool, my first thought is that it seems like he's following on in the direction of 'Sue' from the recent compilation, although this is Bowie and it could easily be 45 minutes of free jazz or whatever.

Apparently an excerpt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6J44zGDb6g

Visconti y/n

"Finally, doing the Scott Walker album I wanted to do!"

^^^

Quote from the Times article:
"...long jazzy jams mixed with the kind of driving beat pioneered by Can and Kraftwerk"

Mmmmmm

Viconti was involved in "Blackstar", the song Bowie provided for the Last Panthers series so I assume he's involved in the album. He was saying last year that he'd been working with Bowie on new stuff

This is gonna be one of those things that's described as "jazzy" by writers who've heard, like, three jazz albums in their entire lives, isn't it?

I mean, I'm superficially intrigued - I thought he made good use of the saxophonist on The Next Day, and liked "Sue" a lot - but will have to wait until I hear the first single to decide whether he's actually gonna get my money.

I dunno, I think it's a positive thing that Bowie is at least continuing to work on new stuff, even if it's not likely that we'll ever see him touring again. I'm kinda glad that The Next Day wasn't a one-off thing and he doesn't seem to be going on yet another decade-long hiatus.

The Next Day bored me. Wish he'd stayed away tbh -- what a grand, neat, perfect gesture.

hmm, I came late to The Next Day but was surprised at its quality overall. I wasn't crazy about Sue- it seemed a pretty typical meandering search for a melody that he gets into. Anyway, regardless, I would welcome a new record. A 45 min LP sounds refreshing as well.

Ideally how many jazz albums shld writers hear before calling bowie's new material jazzy?

Or maybe you're just suggesting "jazzy" is a silly word

hyped for this, hope it's a lot weirder than next day

xp

xxpost:

Yeah, 45 minutes is kinda the optimum album length for me. Personally, I got a bit tired with bands/artists, particularly in the '90s, saying "hey, the maximum capacity of a CD is 70+ minutes so let's make our albums that long!"

"jazzy" is a silly word and jazz probably has no bearing on what Bowie does/will do.

"jazzy" is a silly word and jazz probably has no bearing on what Bowie does/will do.

Exactly. I'm expecting this to have more or less the same relationship to jazz as Radiohead's "The National Anthem" or Primal Scream's "MBV Arkestra" - i.e., there will be horns.

conflating styles with instruments common to them is such a sad, terrible tendency

Well yes a sax is nor inherently jazzy (or classical, or yacht-y) but I think there was a contemporary jazz sensibility to a lot of the playing on next day, and if press says musicians with jazz backgroundd are playing on this one...

"jazzy" = "rocky" in the silliness chart.

We got a website and snippet.

http://imablackstar.com/

Some video to go with another bit of the same song.

http://pitchfork.com/news/62095-david-bowie-shares-blackstar-short-film-trailer/

Names of the backing musicians have been released: Donny McCaslin on saxophone, Ben Monder on guitar, Jason Lindner on keyboards, Tim Lefebrve on bass, Mark Guiliana on drums. That's a band I'd listen to with or without David Bowie.

has bowie made any public appearances in the last ~5 years? how do we know he's not dead? THE NEXT DAY was loaded with references to alzheimer's, parkinson's, dementia... the whole museum exhibit seemed like a memorial.... is this all an art stunt?

he's obviously too sick to tour or perform

i realise this exposes my stupidity (again), but without googling, i have not heard of anyone in that band lineup ..

quesiton : does this revelation give further insight into the sound of the new album ?

i realise this exposes my stupidity (again), but without googling, i have not heard of anyone in that band lineup...

They're all New York jazz dudes.

question: does this revelation give further insight into the sound of the new album?

Yes. It will be an album of jazz dudes playing rock music. So it'll probably sound like Steely Dan.

thank you.
i am not that tuned into the NYC jazz scene, so, appreciate the insight.

First single/video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw

This is good.

"he's obviously too sick to tour or perform"

I think he just lost interest in touring after having a heart attack. I don't think he's got some kind of ongoing illness; he's getting old, from the videos that are out, but he doesn't look unwell.

well, his eyeball popped out too

wow this song is wild

He's looking a bit like John Robb in that video, most disconcerting.

I really like this new song.

did he just sing, "I've got game"?

"i'm not a porn star"

great fucking song. can't wait now

this makes me want to listen to The Next Day

see what daves been up to

this makes me want to listen to The Next Day

― flappy bird,

it'll take a few minutes to change your mind

I keep seeing Scott Walker comparisons

i'm so fucking about this holy shit

bowie!

The "I'm a black star!" refrain is annoying after 20 times. The froufrou bits at the five-minute mark are by far the best.

nice echo off his spooky oooooohhs from "Subterraneans."

Love it. And love The Next Day. My most played Bowie album in years.

I couldn't get past how many terrible rock songs TND had. The one in which he yelled through clenched teeth that she'd NEVER BEEE THE BOSS OF MEEEEE made me laugh for days.

That's a lot of laughing!

this is so wild!

crap this is cool

Great song. I wish the drums were lower in the mix though

Atvlong last a great Bowie record.probably.

My goodness his voice sounds good. If he's not touring so as not to trash his instrument, he can keep on not touring.

The clip's somehow referencing ergotism, right?

I thonk he don't do interviews as well anymore

Nor do I

"Finally, doing the Scott Walker album I wanted to do!"

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 October 2015 18:16 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hah, just looking at the album title and off the back of Sue, this is exactly what I was thinking before I even clicked the thread.

First 4 minutes > last 4 minutes > middle 3 minutes. Brilliant video though.

first 4 minutes percussion reminded me of Björk's Hunter tbh

I thought there was a bit of a Kid A/Amnesiac era Radiohead vibe crossed with the David Bowie from Labyrinth growing old and crossing over with Pan's Labyrinth. Was pretty strange to see it by accident on Sky Arts.

Okay HERE'S something funny -- turns out the director of the video, Johan Renck, who has also directed a lot of other things of late, including the TV series Bowie's done a song for...is none other than Stakka Bo. Really.

https://vimeo.com/70208312

Via Wikipedia, more of his resume:

"He has directed music videos for a number of artists including Madonna's "Hung Up" and "Nothing Really Matters", Kylie Minogue's "Love at First Sight", All Saints' "Black Coffee", Robyn's "Handle Me", Robbie Williams's "Tripping" and "She's Madonna", The Libertines' "What Became of the Likely Lads", Suede's "She's in Fashion", New Order's "Crystal" and "Krafty", Beyoncé's "Me, Myself and I", Chris Cornell's "Can't Change Me", The Knife's "Pass This On", Fever Ray's "Seven" and Bat for Lashes' "Daniel".[4] In 2012 he directed the music video "Blue Velvet" for Lana Del Rey which was also used for the commercial campaign by H&M, as well as the music video for "Wild" by Beach House. In 2015 he directed the ten-minute video for David Bowie's "Blackstar."

oh wow i'm a huge fan of this dude's videos. who knew

Video's great, song is OK. It could fit right on "Outside" without calling attention to itself, for better or for worse. Thinking specifically of stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okg1UBdyvow

I thought of Outside too. He's still got that weird charisma in the video, no question.

That's exactly why I like it so much.

First 4 minutes > last 4 minutes > middle 3 minutes. Brilliant video though.

― ArchCarrier

agreed with all of that. that video, though. hoooooly shit it's good

http://49.media.tumblr.com/1549d7a19297aa8de4679d49209ec6a4/tumblr_ny4jmuaiBT1qdmmiqo2_500.gif

as expected, mojo are all over this.

collecters edition (i.e subscribers) has a special bowie cover, a massive feature re the album, and have given the album 4/5 rating.

" * somewhat recalls station to station in form - epic multipart title track opener, seven songs in 41 minutes, odd atmospherics, rhythmic heft, tremendous singing - but otherwise there's no obvious precedent in the bowie canon'

colour me fucking pyched.

Well, to be fair, legacy artists keep MOJO going. The album must be 4/5 stars.

i tried gifing this video and it has some special codec or something that blocks that from being possible =(

gotta go with screen capture

There is absolutely no chance anything about this resembles "Station to Station" beyond the artist's name.

Loving this song. Did not believe he had anything like this still in him. He tried so hard in the 90s and could not come close. He had 10 years to write an album and put out one with Boss of Me on it. Now out of nowhere comes this. I've been in a good mood all day after seeing this. It's brilliant.

feeling pretty ho hum about this, interesting enough, nice to see the old boy still doing it, and not embarrassing himself.

otoh: horrible drum sounds, really grating refrain of "im a blackstar" - and that's the only things I remember from the track having listened to it 4 hours ago.

Does he ever say "I'm not a pop star?"

really grating refrain of "im a blackstar"

That's the best bit!

Excellent track. Got a lot of anticipation now happening for the full album.

xps damn the first thing i thought was how good the drums sounded.

So did anybody else get a bit of

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tribeca_cms_production/uploads/article/header_marquee/5260607bb57ce9a4b7000008/large_decker_cronenberg.jpg

from this

I have no idea what that is. (Please tell me it's not fucking Doctor Who.)

kinda like this, the beginning is like radiohead, i don't feel the middle part too much, i like the end reprise without the basic as hell breakbeat. video feels very inspired by punchdrunk immersive theatre - dunno if that's a ref point here but for the last 2/3/4 years they've had huge shows in london and nyc i am seeing ghosts of their design/costume/lighting everywhere.

I got Dr Who vibes from this. Bowie needs to be a guest Doctor.

tracklist:

Blackstar
’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore
Lazarus
Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)
Girl Loves Me
Dollar Days
I Can’t Give Everything Away

apparently 'Tis A Pity and Sue are re-recordings, and James Murphy did percussion on two tracks

xpost Nightbreed?

it's David Cronenberg's bad guy from Clive Barker's Nightbreed. I also got a bit of that character from Pan's Labyrinth.

Yeah it's Nightbreed. The button eyes, the girl with the tail, the pastoral stuff (spacebarn), city in the distance with the huge candle all kind of reminded me of it

Can't believe he still had a song like this in him. I liked the basic backbeat in the last part - seemed to fit the direction well and there's enough going on that I didn't want the drums to do much.

wow blackstar, really did not expect something this good

If the rest holds up, it will easily be the best thing he's done since the early 80s. Very nice. Definitely picks up on a 'Nite Flights' vibe, which is never a bad thing.

See, it was initially disappointing to hear that 'Tis A Pity and Sue were on this album, since we'd already heard them and the album has only seven tracks, but I am so excited to hear they're re-recorded versions. The Sue already heard was very good, and 'Tis A Pity sounded like a demo of a great great track. These plus the fantastic Blackstar track are so promising I can't believe it. If he keeps up the same standard for the remaining four tracks it'll be up there with the 70s stuff. Doesn't seem possible, but can't wait to hear it.

Rolling Stone interview with Visconti, McCaslin and Guiliana.

The album begins with the 10-minute title track, a surreal, haunting song that began as two completely separate tunes before Bowie and Visconti sewed them together. The original version was actually more than 11 minutes long, but they cut it to 9:57 after learning iTunes won't post singles that cross the 10-minute mark. "It's total bullshit," says Visconti with a laugh. "But David was adamant it be the single, and he didn't want both an album version and a single version, since that gets confusing."

iTunes won't post singles that cross the 10-minute mark

well that's fucking stupid

From physical format limitations to corporate policy limitations, how wonderful.

i dont like his current singing style. way too consciously grand/delicately wounded etc for my liking. but i quite like the song overall.

2nd half makes me think of rocky horror.

song's a real grower imo, better w/o distracting vid

i dont like his current singing style. way too consciously grand/delicately wounded etc for my liking.

To me, that describes Scott Walker. This, I like.

pitchfork.com/news/62576-david-bowie-releases-new-song-lazarus/

wonderful

The more Bowie tried and failed to emulate Scott Walker the more I liked him, for Scott Walker is a menace.

Complaints complaints

You know, unlike Blackstar, this isn't really a brilliant song. In terms of chords+melody+lyrics, it's on the same level as a lot of things he's done since, say, Tin Machine. But I like the new musicians he's got, and I could listen to him sing over this kind of stuff all day. Often, the thing that made his best stuff so great was less him and more the musicians, and it had gotten pretty stale with his old bunch. Blackstar plus this plus the rerecorded Sue and Tis Pity She's a Whore (a fantastic song even as a demo) seems very promising. Three more like that and you've got a nice album.

The more Bowie tried and failed to emulate Scott Walker the more I liked him, for Scott Walker is a menace.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, December 17, 2015 10:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's a different Scott Walker

In some shop or other they were playing Stevie Wonder's Someday at Christmas and bloody hell there's the melody in the middle part of Blackstar.

"You got me bang to rights"

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a82/bobbysixer/db2015_zpszyfijrbj.jpg

It's out there. I can only say it is effing grrrrreat.

lots of photos of him this promo cycle.

Listened to it this morning. My joke upthread about "jazz dudes playing rock = it'll sound like Steely Dan" was half-right; it sounds like Steely Dan trying to imitate postpunk/Bowie's Berlin albums. His voice sounds really good, too.

After reading the Mojo article I checked out some of the player's records to see what this dark and gritty nu-jazz was like, and it sounds like Critters Buggin

This is really great, great sax

First minutes of Blackstar reminded me of Massive Attack of all people.

My review: http://www.spin.com/2016/01/review-david-bowie-blackstar/

is there a non mono leak of this yet?

Good review!

Great review, makes me excited to finally give it a listen.

a non-mono link has come into existence

thanks!

I didn't notice if it was mono or not but the version I've been listening to was digitized from vinyl, which is interesting. Gotta see if I can find a store within a reasonable distance of my office that has the physical CD tomorrow.

Ok I heard a few pops was wondering if it was a vinyl rip

This album is much better than Outside and Next Day. I guess I wish it was a little looser, given the players, because it's sort of arranged a la cheesy programming where it probably could have otherwise breathed and swinged a tad more. Sounds weirdly dated, though, per Kirk Hammett, if it sounded more like present then it would be dated to now, man.

heh, can you elaborate on that hammett approach?

It's from the Monster doc. They try to convince him to drop the guitar solos, because no one has solos anymore, and Lars is worried they would make the band sound dated. And Kirk gets indignant and points out losing the solos would date the band to that particular era, when no one had solos.

oh my god. this is so fucking good. ridiculously brilliant album.

can't wait, very excited

This album is much better than Outside

at first i was like :| bc i love outside but now that i'm hearing it it really might be

closing track 'i can't give everything away' is my favorite on first listen but this is very surprising, it's really the best Bowie albums I've heard in decades.

^^sounds like what he was aiming for on Black Tie White Noise but getting it right this time.

xp josh, now I remember - good one

6/10

I am officially excited.

^^sounds like what he was aiming for on Black Tie White Noise but getting it right this time.

Blackstar White Noise

It is really good. A little embarrassing that he's still pulling lyrics from A Clockwork Orange in 2016, but whatever.

The song at the end especially reminds me of Black Tie White Noise. I like both albums, though, but I can see how this one's more focused.

Nice to see BTWN defenders. I've felt like an outlier for 20 years.

BTWN also had sort of surprisingly conservative arrangements, iirc, lots of boring drums (loops?) in particular.

Will always defend "The Wedding," "Jump They Say," "Miracle Goodnight," "You've Been Around," and the Scott Walker cover.

^co-sign on those. I also have a soft spot for "Pallas Athena", that's all.

i like tin machine & i vote

"i can't give everything away" is stunning and that synth tone is really "secret garden"

Good Jody Rosen review: http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/6836029/david-bowie-blackstar-album-review

"The combined effect is goth, in the sense that Chartres Cathedral is goth: The song is a grand edifice, ornamented with spires and gargoyles, with towering vaults beneath which the music echoes and howls."

hell yeah

seeing the woodmansey/visconti "man who sold the world" thing tonight in nyc. wonder if we'll get a chance to sing to the birthday boy.

The guitar solo that closes the album, my god...

"Dollar Days" is such a beautiful pop song.

I got a real John And Beverley Martyn/Witchseason vibe from "Dollar Days" while listening this morning. Could be the way the excellent sax solo is recorded/played. Kind of a "Chime Of The City Clock" feeling. Yeah - wonderful song.

all of this sounds like it is time to play the meat beat manifesto remix of 'you've been around'

(ftr : i love the BTWN album - the mix of commercial demands vs the need to be avant is dominant throughout the album. the result is one of bowies most unusual albums.)

I like the slinky bassline and horns that drift in the beginning of Lazurus, feels like some unknown common ground between Portishead and Steely Dan is being staked out

Most of the lyrics are very bleak. Can we consider this Bowie's first goth album? Even the closing song sounds macabre.

And it's the most upbeat song in here.

yep, this is great

KMUW's "Strange Currency" is streaming an hour of Bowiesongs, back and forth through the years, just finished a tight, crispy "Waiting For The Man." 'Appy birf, Bo.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYO0zbqU0AAkD_2.jpg

Right now: "I suppose it was always this way/But the memories won't quit/'Til they tell a story."

Fantastic album.

If you buy the CD, don't try to remove the small square sticker affixed to the back cover (under the shrinkwrap) as it'll just destroy the finish.

So this band is performing at the Village Vanguard on January 24 (under keyboardist Jason Lindner's name, not McCaslin's). Over/under on Bowie showing up?

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2016/1/5/1452000864501/StephenCollinscartoon21June.jpeg

ahahah fuck thats amazing

Over/under on Bowie showing up?

he was a no-show at the highline last night. visconti said he was at his birthday party, which stands to reason. he recorded the audience singing happy birthday on his cell. really fun show, though, with woodmansey and co. can't imagine anyone was disappointed. the heaven 17 guy did a tremendous job on vocals.

When the David Bowie exhibit was at the MCA last year, there was all this talk about whether Bowie would show up. And I kept thinking, you morons, why would Bowie go to the Bowie exhibit, let alone one he supposedly already saw in London?

Sax solos are downright Sanbornian on this imo

he was a no-show at the highline last night.

Yeah, but that's basically a David Bowie tribute band, even if some of the musicians used to work with him. The Vanguard gig is the entire band that he hired to perform on his own latest album, less than 3 weeks after that album's release.

man that lazarus music video hits really hard, especially today

Most of the lyrics are very bleak. Can we consider this Bowie's first goth album? Even the closing song sounds macabre.

holy shit i think we know why now. rip brilliant brilliant man.

If I never see the English evergreens I’m running to
It’s nothing to me
It’s nothing to see

I guess it's easy to feel the push and pull of death everywhere on this album now, but cannot see those English evergreens as anything but churchyard yews, or failing that the horrific clipped hollies and cypresses of our dismal, dreamy suburban crematoria. What other evergreens do we even have to call our own?

it'll be amazing if that show in a few weeks really is an instrumental run through of this album.

the Lazarus video pushed me over the edge into utter bleak depression over this

I listened to this earlier. I think I like it more than any other Bowie I've heard, which sounds daft, but there you go - I was never quite his biggest fan, but this...this is quite something

yeah, it's so good. what a note to go out on. and the title track is probably my favorite bowie song since ashes to ashes. just a stunning thing to create as you're dying from cancer.

closing track 'i can't give everything away' is my favorite on first listen

Verse of this is very Jacques Brel... or possibly Scott Walker.

I have quite a few Bowie recs/cds, but the only one I ever bought 'new' on contemporaneous release was the "Let's Dance" Cassette single. My sister is ahead of me on that score, she bought the double album "Greatest Hits", and saw him in concert in Turkey with Tin Machine.

(I have got the "Zeit" set, the Station to station 3CD, and hmm, some 2nd hand albums and a couple of recshop cheapies)

Still, the discussion pre-release was such that I was very tempted to get "BlackStar", in that it reminded me of the "Kid A" vibe around it.

Of course, it's now completely different.

"dollar days" answers the question "what if an hours song were actually good?"

"i can't give everything away" is maybe the long-awaited (by probably only me) follow up to "this is not america"

"dollar days" answers the question "what if an hours song were actually good?"

Yes!

Apart from its feeble melodies, the anonymous self-production sank that goddamn album -- to me a worse album than BTWN.

oh it's way worse. the songs are super empty. i find it kinda fascinating though

Xpost I listened to this is not America today and I love that fucking song

I love this plummy version, his full-throated voice to excellent effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUliUWMrMZA

My review of Blackstar.

It's definitely an album that works best listened to all in one go. Which is a real rarity today, with most artists seemingly working from the assumption that the individual tracks on a record are going to get randomised in iTunes/whatever anyway.

Did anyone in a review anywhere predict what happened? ie. take a few listens and go 'oh my god he's telling us he's about to die'? Because it seems so obvious now.

I try to avoid biographical parallels. Lots of similar reviews published when Dylan released Time Out of Mind.

If you look at the RYM page for Blackstar, quite a few reviews from before his death mention it.

There are so many albums where 'oh my god he's telling us he's about to die' and it didn't happen.

Some where the whole thing was artistic, some where the person, um, got better.

Surprisingly, the song with the live drum & bass beat is my least favorite on the album (and the slow songs are the best by far).

Did anyone in a review anywhere predict what happened?

closest thing i've encountered so far was my roommate after the album leaked, coming out of his room and being like "dude, some of these lyrics..."

hours is certainly a worse album than BTWN. Hours has only 'thursday's child' and maybe 'survive' on it, the rest is terrible. some good b-sides though.

Some similarities?

Les Marquises (English: The Marquesas) is Jacques Brel's thirteenth and final album. Also known as Brel, the album was released 17 November 1977 by Barclay (96 010). This was the singer's first album of new songs in ten years and was released a year before his death from lung cancer. The album's themes include death ("Jaurès", "Vieillir", "Jojo"), parting ("Orly") and in several songs Brel evokes his career in the 1960s ("Les F..", "Jojo", "Knokke-le-Zoutte Tango", "Vieillir"). The album was recorded live in Studio B at the Barclay Studios on Avenue Hoche, Paris. With his health failing, Brel was only able to record at most two songs per day. Brel returned to the Marquesas Islands shortly after the recording sessions.

The album was treated with great secrecy before its release and was delivered to reviewers in a reinforced metal box with a timed, electronic padlock to stop them listening to it before its release date. No airplay of the album was allowed and no singles were released until after its release, and there were no interviews or promotion given by Brel regarding the album.

my dad was convinced he was dying when he heard it on Saturday. told me on Sunday that he'd be dead in a year. he nailed it... ever since The Next Day, with the allusions to Alzheimer's on "Where Are We Now?" and the cut-out album cover, and the David Bowie Is exhibition last year, I was convinced he was already dead and this was all a performance piece. mentioned upthread but Courtney Love and Dave Grohl intimated in 2013 that he was seriously ill... after the disappointing last record and hearing how exciting and modern and totally singular Blackstar is, i thought he was on a new roll...

dead *within a year...

closest comparison i immediately made was Zevon's 'The Wind', but that was a different kind of farewell.

there have been lots of albums where 'the specter of death' 'hangs over the proceedings' as 'so and so grapples with their own mortality' and everyone is like "my god oh no". that happened to neil young too, maybe around the time of prairie wind? i don't remember now. and since then of course he's released fifteen more albums and hooked up with daryl hannah.

hours is certainly a worse album than BTWN. Hours has only 'thursday's child' and maybe 'survive' on it, the rest is terrible. some good b-sides though.

i like "if i'm dreaming my life" if i remember it's playing

and since then of course he's released fifteen more albums and hooked up with daryl hannah.

yikes

i hate "dated" as a pejorative but i have to say "the pretty things are going to hell" sounds more dated than all of earthling

whammy bar!

you know I hate 'dated' too but the only definition that works is if it sounded horrible at the time ("The Pretty Things..." did).

i love the changes in the drums in the first 1/3 vs. last 1/3 of the title track. they're skittering at the beginning, then they go away into the weird zone of the middle 1/3, and when they return everything is in simple lockstep, like they've undergone a conversion.

it took me 3 minutes to realize I had two different Bowie youtubes open at once..
'Blackstar' and 'The Heart's filthy lesson'

I don't know what time I started them both but it did overlap quite nicely

Lol

i would start a thread for hours but also there's literally no reason to start a thread for hours. anyway i've listened to it a few times recently bc parts of blackstar remind me of it, as described upthread; disc two of its 2004 reissue is really illuminating, what with the different mixes of "survive," "seven," and "something in the air" which while they don't exactly make the songs feel complete at least fill them out a little; the omikron mixes are pretty uniformly superior to what ended up on the album, probably because hours is kind of the platonic example of an album so overworked it sounds unfinished. at least two of the b-sides ("we shall go to town" and "we all go through") are better and more propulsive and coherent than anything on the record. anyway: huh

i don't remember now. and since then of course he's released fifteen more albums and hooked up with daryl hannah.

― nomar, Tuesday, January 12, 2016 12:56 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But if you know what life is worth
You would look for yours on earth - Bob Marley

, the song with the live drum & bass beat

there are several songs with "live" drum&bass rhythm section, no?

this isn't an adequate summary of the album but it sounds to me very much like bowie is taking elements from a variety of his past approaches (d&b rhythms, wailing 80s sax, wanking 70s guitar) and mixing them up. i mean i suppose those are all things in his skill set, so it's possible he just 'arrived' at that particular mix, but knowing what we (think we) know about bowie it's hard to imagine this wasn't self-conscious.

also given how some of the reviews emphasized how 'experimental' this album was, some even likening it to recent scott walker, i was surprised by how pop it is, long songs and all (the vocal melodies, the way his voice is mixed, etc etc). that's neither a criticism nor an accolade, it's just my impression.

Listening to the lovely I Can't Give Everything Away this morning, and the ending where he repeats the title over and over, it struck me how there are several readings of the phrase, e.g.:
- there is a limit to how much I can give
- I must not reveal the big secret
- I can't (or don't want to) relinquish this life
- I'm not going to explain what all of this means

And, the way he sings the line, the word "Away" becomes separated, so in the end that's the final statement in itself: "Away... away..." It's really beautiful.

"i am so rich i literally cannot rid myself of this tall coin"

one listen in : bloody hell i enjoyed that.
not so sure i can listen to it again for a while given just how obvious it is his 'goodbye' album, but it's very special stuff.

there are several songs with "live" drum&bass rhythm section, no?

i meant Sue (Or in a Season of Crime), that's the only one Mark Guiliana really Guiliana-s out.

It's weird, I haven't listened to Kaddish by Towering Inferno for a long time so my memory of it is sketchy, but I'm getting some kind of odd compulsion to dig it out and revisit because of this record, like my subconscious is telling me they would make great bookends.

one listen in : bloody hell i enjoyed that.
not so sure i can listen to it again for a while given just how obvious it is his 'goodbye' album, but it's very special stuff.

― mark e, Wednesday, January 13, 2016 8:12 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

keep noticing more and more things

like from Sue (or in a Season of Crime)

"The clinic called
the x-rays show
I brought you home"

;_;

yeah, stuff like that hit hard.
but damn, what a final statement.

I'm on the nth of many listenthroughs and I just keep noticing all the little clues Bowie peppered throughout. I can't imagine the pain he must have been in while recording it, working so hard for it to be released before the inevitable came.

just a really cool album. first bowie album I've listened to all the way through.

however it is really dark

i haven't really listened to much late bowie, but this is really tremendous

the title track is pretty much consuming me atm, not in a ghoulish way but because it's such an accomplished and original piece of work. i can't even think what to compare it to apart from maybe islands-period king crimson.

cosign

still giving the rest of the record time, don't dislike it but I am sort of thrown off by the jazzy "live d&b" arrangements. Interesting choice anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Jkv1cs6PE

'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore is a killer fucking song

The drum geek in me is jealous of the drum part on the first section of Blackstar, it's one of those perfectly conceived for the song studio parts.

man 'blackstar' is sold out everywhere on vinyl. i paid $50 to some random amazon vendor because i can't wait anymore. only heard it once at a friend's (before DB passed) and i was blown away -- besides latterday scott walker it really evoked 'the idiot' and 'lust for life' for me if not directly sonically then vibe- and quality-wise. (i guess the sax sort of reminds me of 'fun house' which i realize bowie had nothing to do with but i can't help associating the stooges in their entirety with him.) making dying a final art project is such a generous parting gesture that it seems disrepectful to even point out the obvious. i mean this is some serious 'fuck you' to the gallows, 'ballad of reading gaol'-style. thanks dave wherever you are!

I ordered it from Soundstage Direct but might have gotten there too late- now listing as "awaiting repress"

when i got my shipping confirmation email i felt serious relief. i'd been on a trip where i really didn't have the opportunity to get it, and upon returning when i tried to buy it at my local record store tuesday morning they just sadly shook their heads. but whatever -- however much the wait sucks i'm glad there's all this interest

The prices its going for on eBay are just ridiculous.

just spotify and chill

I missed the final vinyl copy in my local store by about 10 minutes, at 1145 on Monday morning. Ordered it on Amszon with a shipping date of Jan 22, then got a "delayed - awaiting repress" mail later in the week. Was persuaded to go for the vinyl on the atrength of Visconti's recommendation in Mojo - he took personal responsibility for the vinyl mastering and raved about the sound quality.

bought the cd, it's great too! 2016 is going to be my cd year

I went to buy the LP the day it came out but the record store didn't have any copies - I don't think many were initially pressed. Obviously impossible now for a month or two.

Target had plenty of CD copies, I noticed.

Vinyl repress should be ready in just about another week according to Sony, at least in UK. It went out of stock with them on Monday 11th with last stock reaching shops Tuesday/Wednesday. Repress takes about 2 weeks.

HENRY ROLLINS: BOWIE'S BLACKSTAR IS ON THE LEVEL OF LOW AND HEROES
http://www.laweekly.com/music/henry-rollins-bowies-blackstar-is-on-the-level-of-low-and-heroes-6481055

Target had plenty of CD copies, I noticed.

Good to know; I'm making my bi-weekly Target run tomorrow, and that's where I do most of my CD shopping anyway. I'm kinda hoping they've brought in other stuff of his as well; I want the 3CD Nothing Has Changed. (If they don't have it there, I'll get it from Amazon - I know they have it in stock again now.)

That's so cute that even Bowie calls Rollins "Rollins" even though they'd never met :)

Title track is as good as any song he's ever written imo

yes

It's been in my head since the day it came out

"Blackstar" single reminds me of radiohead's "Pyramid Song". Not a ripoff, just kinda similar. I haven't heard the album yet.

I hear a bit of Radiohead in the record definitely, and certainly in the first part of the title track, though not so much the second section.

Are there any good "annotations" for the videos yet? I feel like there has to be a lot of allusion and allegory in them and my ignorant American ass is just not following them.

Well, there's this... which seems insane on its surface, especially given the author's previous posts on Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, but there's actually a lot in Bowie's previous work to support his assertions, so enjoy!

His voice on "Something happened on the day he died/spirit rose a meter and stepped aside" fuck, tears.

I think my second favorite thing on this record though is actually Girl Loves Me. Feel like he is aping a specific pop singer with his vocals but can't place it.

This album is great but I've been listening to it too much & it's not really good for my frame of mind.

There's really no analog to this, just the album and it's timing and Bowie's stature and how it's so obviously tied to his impending death. Just unreal. And the number one album in the country.

What a sense of theater the bastard had too, to do this, probably knowing full well how it would go down. I mean not just to make an album about dying while dying but to make THIS insane fucking album about dying while dying. And knowing people all over the world would be having this conversation about it.

There's a really odd "'blackstar' is satanist" video, if that's what you mean by annotated.

i wonder if the Lazarus theater piece will be revived in any sense now that this has happened.

Bought the CD today, at Target as predicted. I can't remember the last time I bought a #1 album.

"Blackstar" single reminds me of radiohead's "Pyramid Song". Not a ripoff, just kinda similar. I haven't heard the album yet.

― remove butt (abanana), Saturday, January 16, 2016 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just got it today; to dovetail with 誤訳侮辱's point, I think the last time I bought a #1 album was Amnesiac.

(and according to Thom Yorke, the inspiration for "Pyramid Song" was Charles Mingus' "Freedom")

Regardless of context this is a really fabulous record. Properly up there with his best.

Note: If he had died before "The Next Day", his last song would have been that "Sad Little Man" song for Ricky Gervais.

Also, he is not on the front cover of "The Next Day" either, is he?

His face is obscured, but he's there.

Properly just playing this over and over now.

Properly.

I think my second favorite thing on this record though is actually Girl Loves Me. Feel like he is aping a specific pop singer with his vocals but can't place it.

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Sunday, January 17, 2016 2:49 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rihanna perhaps? Bitch Better Have My Money. Or even Young Thug or Future perhaps? Maybe not any of those specifically, but that rising cadence definitely suggests an affinity with the kind of vocal tics floating around contemporary hip-hop and r 'n b.

Guitars on Lazarus definitely remind me of In Rainbows era Radiohead - that clean, slightly fidgety yet fluid sound.

Someone should make a Velvet Goldmine companion drama where an aged ersatz Bowie and aged ersatz Scott Walker each see to capture dread of mortality in the recording studio though ever more eccentric working methods, each aware of the other, but never intersecting. Will rake in the ducats fer sure.

I think my second favorite thing on this record though is actually Girl Loves Me. Feel like he is aping a specific pop singer with his vocals but can't place it.

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Sunday, January 17, 2016 2:49 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rihanna perhaps? Bitch Better Have My Money. Or even Young Thug or Future perhaps? Maybe not any of those specifically, but that rising cadence definitely suggests an affinity with the kind of vocal tics floating around contemporary hip-hop and r 'n b.

― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Tuesday, January 19, 2016 7:38 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think maybe also Adam Levine?

i wonder if the Lazarus theater piece will be revived in any sense now that this has happened.

a) it hasn't even finished its original run yet

b) GOSH I WONDER

"Gosh I Wonder!"

https://bowiesongs.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/damemeditation.jpg

for the record, the play is not good unfortunately.

the new yorker was pretty meh on it. bowiesongs guy liked it though.

My 11-year-old son, who afaik had never heard of Bowie until this week, is really interested in Blackstar -- both as a pop object that everybody's talking about and also as something made by a dying man. His favorite song is "I Can't Give Everything Away" -- we listened to it three times on the way home from school today.

That's a great song. Your son has good taste.

today i listened to that, straight into ashes to ashes, and the production felt of a piece, like they'd been recorded in the same session

Jonathan Barnbrook on designing the album cover:
http://www.dezeen.com/2016/01/20/david-bowie-blackstar-album-cover-designer-jonathan-barnbrook-facing-his-own-mortality/

Mostly like his work, especially the Heathen and Blackstar design. Reality sticks out negatively though.

I've been giving this a fair amount of deep listens today, and yeah, all the praise heaped on this album is completely justified. Wonderful record.

so hilarious,

so i ordered the vinyl from Soundstage Direct the day he died (they had a huge banner on the front page for Blackstar)...I'd tried Amazon, MusicDirect & some others, all indicated it was backordered

anyway, Soundstage Direct processed my order, took the money out and so I figured it was a go...nothing ever sent to me until today and I finally got fed up and called. I pointed out that I wouldn't have placed an order if I knew it was backordered and they did not indicate that and that had a huge ad for the vinyl on the website...and that they had been sitting on my $36 since then.

anyway they were like well we had no idea of the demand blah blah blah and sorry, so i was like fine could you just cancel my order and refund the money please I'll just buy it when it's readily available, all of a sudden she's like well i know my boss said we got a small shipment in today let me put you on hold and check to see if i can give you one of those...comes back and says my boss said you could have one of the shipment that just arrived what a CRAZY COINCIDENCE lmao

i'm still waiting on my amazon order which i expect to arrive sometime in 2017

xpost it's not a coincidence it's just you being a boss and making it happen

really glad I got my clear vinyl from barnes and noble last Monday.

yeah that's a score there aren't many of those left

Clear vinyl copies were selling for £500 on eBay last week, crazy.

how stupid jeez

$350-$400 on Discogs:

http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7954685
http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7944083

barf

Even the regular black vinyl has ballooned on Discogs, starting at $50:

http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7932038
http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7954216
http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7989943

i know a lot of people wouldn't agree but i think this would have been a great cover

http://cdn.discogs.com/9bCaIiYSDSAZ-5FEGcyE8R2BXcw=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(96)/discogs-images/R-7989943-1453037402-4931.jpeg.jpg

wow look at some of the closed auctions, i would sell that clear vinyl so fast

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=david%20bowie%20blackstar%20vinyl&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

You can make that the cover on the vinyl if you put the record in the back pocket and move the book to the front.

Xpost

Like this
http://i.imgur.com/L5bbvCM.jpg

ah, that's pretty cool, but think i prefer the rectangle version

I kinda like how my rug fits the design.

Black vinyl price will drop to normal once the repress gets out properly over the next week. Clear vinyl is a different matter!

Bowie's button eye character reminds me of David cronenbergs mad psychiatrist in Nightbreed

The running time of this album is just under the length of my commute, which is surprisingly convenient.

Feel like I haven't heard this brought up, but there's a massive Roxy feel to some of the fluttering sax and keyboard bits.
Dude really did like them, it seems.

got the vinyl, wow what gorgeous packaging

i have so few rare vinyl pressings anymore I think I'll just hold on to this one.

I finally bought the album today ... was afraid to before bcz too much crying

It's really beautiful... I was kinda surprised? I shouldn't be, but the poetic-ness of it as a whole piece is really flooring me

And I love the final track, all that beautiful sax

like it is a bit sad in places but it's not as dark as I expected

there's a sound in his voice on one track, i cant remember which, where i can hear the physical frailty... i can only explain it as "hearing his teeth"... my mother in law sounded the same way, she had reached that point of frailty/emaciation where her teeth were almost too big in her mouth, like someone with new dentures. makes me sad still to hear that

Just been comparing the two recordings of "Sue". There's not much between them, but at a pinch I prefer the original arrangement over the Blackstar version.

Another thing to note is that the first version ends on Sue, goodbye, whereas in the second the lyrics are extended and there's a two new verses after that puts the rest of the song in a different(less personal?) context - Sue, I found your note / That you wrote last night / It can't be right / You went with him / Sue, I never dreamed / I'm such a fool / Right from the start / You went with that clown

Maybe he thought ending it on "Goodbye" would be a little too final, but then the whole album is nothing if not final.

The first version of Tis a Pity is so weak compared to the version on Blackstar. Still couldn't find it on vinyl over the weekend.

still on backorder on amazon for me. also the clear vinyl barnes and noble exclusive release is going for $350 avg on eBay.

My vinyl arrived from Amazon UK last week, about three weeks ahead of the revised delivery date. It sounds fantastic.

This is what Tony Visconti said to Mojo in the January issue:

"I've cut the vinyl and the vinyl mastering is superb. This is going to be a vinyl you must have. You're not going to paste it up on your wall, this is one you're going to play over and over again. The vinyl sounds like good old-fashioned vinyl. The way you dreamt it used to sound like."

ok I want to believe that but lol

but and

I am going to paste the vinyl up on the wall anyway though, I don't care what Visconti says

Black vinyl back in stock in UK record shops I notice. I got it on release day anyway. It sounds good though noticeably quieter than the average record - I have to turn it way up. Maybe that is a good thing wrt dynamic range or something? I worry about the plastic sleeve the record fits in, as well as dinging the points of the star cut-out.

Played this at record club on Tuesday. Didn't write anything of interest about it, because I'm rubbish at writing about records these days. http://devonrecordclub.com/2016/02/10/david-bowie-%E2%98%85-blackstar-round-88-nicks-choice/

It sounds good though noticeably quieter than the average record - I have to turn it way up. Maybe that is a good thing wrt dynamic range or something?

I have the CD (and love it), and was wondering how they were gonna get all this heavy bass on the vinyl without the needle jumping around. Looks like a quiet master was the solution.

i have a pretty powerful sub and the vinyl bass sounds great. it's funny when ppl say things are quiet, just turn it up it can be whatever volume you choose!

it's funny when ppl say things are quiet, just turn it up it can be whatever volume you choose!

Honestly, my stereo goes up to 30 on the volume knob, and I play most records at 20. This needs to be 28 or 29 just for sitting-on-the-sofa listening. I'd be screwed if I wanted to play these haunting death songs at a party.

Vinyl still out of stock on Amazon.

oh mine's supposed to arrive from amazon on the 17th

it's funny when ppl say things are quiet, just turn it up it can be whatever volume you choose!

Honestly, my stereo goes up to 30 on the volume knob, and I play most records at 20. This needs to be 28 or 29 just for sitting-on-the-sofa listening. I'd be screwed if I wanted to play these haunting death songs at a party.

― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, February 11, 2016 10:30 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sounds like yr stereo needs a hemi

put a blower and some straight pipes on it

This is going to be a really interesting record to reevaluate in a few years. It is absolutely impossible to think about it any context other than his passing.

Amazing record, amazing guy. One of his very best records for me.

Finally heard this record today. Definitely got some Portishead vibes from the tracks.

"To be played at maximum volume."

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6882887/david-bowies-blackstar-instagram-video-series-starts-this-week

Looks interesting

Apple Music did a playlist titled "Blackstar: the musicians behind the album" and it's stellar. One unexpected side effect of the album has been finding a trove of fantastic contemporary jazz I've never heard of. Another reason to thank Bowie for this great record.

Cool.

Lots of people playing "Istfahan" these days, interested to hear this version. Why is there an LCD Soundsystem song on there?

Murphy remixed a song from Next Day, and i guess played some tambourine on a couple Blackstar tracks.

Here's the playlist:

http://mixing.io/playlist/apple-music-jazz-the-musicians-behind-david-bowies-blackstar

here's a Spotify playlist of all the tracks I could find (missing a couple Ben Monder tracks, Jason Lindner, Rudder, and I added a different Monder track)

https://open.spotify.com/user/123055593/playlist/5VJ9C00pELCAc7IFQuTVH6

I had more reasons to avoid this record than to listen to it (I assumed it'd be too much of a downer, I disliked The Next Day, I wasn't impressed with "Blackstar" as a standalone single), but I finally got around to it and really like it. The playing is fantastic; I certainly wouldn't want a Bowie-less version, but I could easily listen to an instrumental version of this record. "I Can't Give Everything Away," "Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" and "Dollar Days" are the clear standouts for me so far, but I've even grown to like "Blackstar." The experience of listening to this album is still plenty harrowing, of course, and probably always will be, but overall I find the album so musically rich and engaging that I don't actually find it depressing.

I finally got the LP on the 2nd press and wow, what a stellar package. Gorgeous packaging, printing, booklet... really nice, and good sounding vinyl as described upthread.

feel like this album cast a dark spell over this whole year, so much death in both popular culture and also my personal life :(

Just listened to the first three tracks again this morning, for the first time in a month or so. Incredible stuff.

I was never a Bowie fan beyond the singles but his death hit me much harder than I expected. This album is stunning front to back, regardless of the circumstances surrounding its creation, though they make it even more poignant.

I've since listened to his recent work on Spotify and bought the Zeit box. I've got a whole new level of appreciation for his talents.

feel like this album cast a dark spell over this whole year, so much death in both popular culture and also my personal life :(

― robbie ca$hflo (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

You know I'm on that wavelength.

yeah i read your piece on that ez, sorry again about your friend :(
was very affecting writing

I'm curious how this record will sound a few years removed from his passing. Will it sound universal and open to personal discovery or will it be a historical relic, like a tombstone?

Will it sound universal and open to personal discovery or will it be a historical relic, like a tombstone?

future blog headline

I should give this another listen soon... it's been a while since I last gave it a deep listen, but the last time I did after all the info regarding its recording came out, I found it a bit unsettling.

I still find that it works best if you listen to it front to back, as a single cohesive work (like a jazz album), rather than as a collection of songs.

Y'all, look!

http://i.imgur.com/DWfh36J.jpg

Apparently, if you expose the sleeve of Blackstar to sunlight, a starfield emerges.

wow, just the vinyl or the CD as well?

Unsure. I don't own either format, but it clearly needs to be tested.

have not exposed my copy to sunlight, but i like this; it's magical.

i like the idea that there are hundreds of thousands of these out there in the world, but since so few bowie fans expose themselves to sunlight it is only now being discovered

ha ha yeah. my records are stored in a long, windowless hallway and will likely not see the light of day until my "heirs" inevitably dump them at goodwill.

If you close the door

Tried it. Didn't work.

apparently if you place a light behind the inner cover this happens
i.e. its not a chemical reaction to sunlight.

Good way to sell people a second copy, though...

"sue" is SOOOOOOO good

Listened to this again today for the first time in a few months. It really holds its impact, and demands to be heard as a whole - you can't pull out individual songs and discard the rest. As I've said before, it's like a jazz album in that way.

I'm not a film star!

yes, this holds up quite well. I love knowing that albums heard at the beginning of the year will be among the year's best

I heard if you held the cover long enough under a fluorescent light the tattooed arm from White Light/White Heat appears.

Where the fuck did Monday go?!

I imagine that's David's reaction to hard chemo treatments.

I'm still not 100% down with this album, but "I Can't Give Everything Away" hits me hard every time

"Where the fuck did Monday go?!" - I think he was euthanized, and died on a Sunday...

you sure have a lot of terrible opinions

http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/article/52185-image/Catch-the-pigeon-Here-are-the-best-and-worst-Flappy-Bird-clones.jpg

http://pitchfork.com/news/69088-listen-to-one-of-david-bowies-last-recordings-no-plan/
http://pitchfork.com/news/69085-listen-to-final-david-bowie-recordings-when-i-met-you-and-no-plan/

Really gorgeous, especially "No Plan." Listening brought me back to January in a big way this morning.

this thread is a grim read

Giving this a listen for the first time in a while and christ, this album has definitely retained its impact for me. I fucking love the rhythm section on this record, particularly on 'Sue'

Tis a Pity She Was a Whore is the one I listen to the most (title track is just too heavy most of the time). just an absolutely thrilling and grim death march of a song. those two final "WOO!"s Bowie lets out at the end have made me cry, facing death head on with such dignity for most of the record, but on Tis a Pity it's just primal rage.

The meat of the record is in the first four tracks and the last track, IMO.

"I Can't Give Everything Away" is such a fantastic last Bowie song. He had the class and dignity to keep his personal life private, and conveys through this song that it was always about the art and being a creative master of many disguises.

I Can't Give Everything Away is such a great performance. There's so much joyful release in it. My first reaction to the whole record was "He's really got it back, this is the best since Outside, I hope he carries on in this way". Obviously that never happened.

last five posts otm

The only thing I would change about 'I Can't Give Everything Away' is the drum loop. Everything else is OTM.

the tracks released on the Lazarus soundtrack, on the other hand, are a let down. almost wish they'd remained unreleased, as it's better to have this as his last word

I can understand that. On one hand, not having heard them yet, it's good to have more Bowie to listen to but on the other hand Blackstar is such a great final statement that it doesn't need half-fleshed out postscripts. Not just yet anyway, he's not even been gone a full year.

That was one of the things moved me the most about that Lazarus video after I heard the news: the part where he's frantically scribbling away just as he's about to disappear. The man had a very analytical brain, and while thankfully I don't know how it feels like to be dying so I can't project too much I get the sense that as angry and upset and relieved in equal measures as he would have been there was also that questing artist part of his brain going "Now as horrible as this is it's giving me so much to write about. A whole new way to talk about mortality". Let's face it, anything any of us write could easily be our epitaph if we died after writing it. Any aged artist's work contemplating The End from now on will be, in journo shorthand, "their Blackstar". At the risk of getting tedious thinkpiece-y about it that's a very fitting way to go out - he'd changed the way a lot of people thought about their lives and now he's changing the way some people think about their death too.

^ Great post, Dan.

This is one of those records that I feel it's true enjoyment and exploration for me is deferred until I'm ready to properly take it in, it's like walking away backwards from a huge object far enough to actually be able to see it all clearly, it's going to take a long while I think.

Think it's important to remember that there have been other records dedicated to contemplating the end of life from a knowing and immediate perspective -- Zevon's a good example, and Cohen just recently. Not to take away anything about Blackstar in the slightest, but while Bowie's own private contemplations can never be known now, given Visconti said that mid-2015 Bowie was in remission, it's just as possible that we'd be considering this as his 'brush with death' album as opposed to a 'this is it' album, with a later record taking another turn again. Ultimately circumstances have locked in a particular view that wasn't necessarily intended or meant, however much it was clearly a driving force thematically.

Yes! Just focusing on Bowie many last songs off his records could've been a fitting epitaph.

If he'd died after making Reality, what a poignant set of last words "Soon there'll be nothing left of me, nothing left to release" would have been.
If he'd died after making The Next Day, what a poignant last record! Starting with "Here I am, not quite dying", distorting his own past on the cover and the many references to other phases in the songs and videos ("You Feel So Lonely You Could Die" with its Five Years drums, him bringing out the headless guitar again unfortunately in the Valentines Day video).
If he'd died after making Heathen, well, the title track is one of the ones that really gave me a lump in my throat after hearing the news.

You could go on to an insane extent. This record happens to be his epitaph just because he died after its release. Anything could be your last words, and even if you didn't mean it to be significant someone's going to attach their own meaning to it anyway.

Yeah. With Cohen people keep saying daft things about how it was "obvious" that this was his last album & its like, I know he was very ill but it was inconceivable that he wouldn't hang on for, say, another year? That seems a failure of imagination more than anything else. Critics were calling each album his "final statement" for over a decade, during which time he went on two international tours, playing 3.5hr sets & literally bounding on & offstage. I mean have you ever met an old person? They talk about how they're going to die soon like all the fucking time ime

I do wonder what our reactions to Blackstar would have been if he'd stuck with the same general players as on The Next Day. The sonic novelty of the Blackstar performers in question and what resulted has, to at least some degree, given everyone a convenient talking point -- "trying something new, innovative to the end!" Yes but...he might not have.

None of which -- at all -- is meant to take away from such a remarkable album. But the combination of emotions that that three day turnaround from its release to the terrible confirmation has ultimately left a very long shadow that will be hard to escape.

The last rites have been read for Cohen since at least 1988, and Dan S. otm about Bowie. I was lucky to file a review five days before his death.

Come to think of it, Chris O'Leary pointed out on the Bowiesongs blog a while ago that if Bowie had passed in the late 2000s or at the turn of the decade, his 'last song' would have been that goofy-ass ditty for Ricky Gervais's Extras. And I'm sure people would have read THAT through a lens.

a beautiful swansong

xxp that's insane, cohen was 54 in 1988

My point is he's been in love with easeful death for a loooong time.

well his friends were gone

Think it's important to remember that there have been other records dedicated to contemplating the end of life from a knowing and immediate perspective -- Zevon's a good example

Yeah, I was about to mention this... Blackstar is certainly not the first album written and recorded by a person staring death in the face and it won't be the last. There's also examples such as Queen's Innuendo, which although it tackles the issue of Freddie's health here and there, isn't a total rumination on mortality even though he was undoubtedly seriously ill when it was made.

Wazzabout the latest from A Tribe Called Quest?

There's that 'Teeth' record, The Strain, made as mainman John Grabski was succumbing to reoccurring cancer, it's not subtle in the slightest but an intense listen.

Donuts, too - but that's a celebration, nothing morbid about it

You could go on to an insane extent. This record happens to be his epitaph just because he died after its release. Anything could be your last words, and even if you didn't mean it to be significant someone's going to attach their own meaning to it anyway.

This is why you should always end everything you write, even the silliest little clickbait news-blurb, with some stark, fatalistic sentence that's like a lingering sigh of pain and resignation. You know, just in case.

Come to think of it, Chris O'Leary pointed out on the Bowiesongs blog a while ago that if Bowie had passed in the late 2000s or at the turn of the decade, his 'last song' would have been that goofy-ass ditty for Ricky Gervais's Extras. And I'm sure people would have read THAT through a lens.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, December 10, 2016 3:43 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haha, I did genuinely think for a time that was going to be his last public act as a performer.

No idea who did this but it's wonderful. Heard it on Sweeney's 2016 best of set on beats in space.
https://soundcloud.com/thisisthenumbernineteen/i-cant-give-everything-away-farewell-mix

That's really lovely.

Yeah that was making the rounds on FB via a producer friend who got a hold of it. Supposedly a rejected remix by a big name who has to remain anonymous for legal reasons. It's beautiful.

Any takers on why you think it might be?

Four Tet? Panda Bear?

Really nice. Wouldn't be surprised at all if it were Four Tet, but you would think he would have just put it on his Soundcloud (he's done it before).

It was Tiesto.

I love my friends and love the fact that every now and again i get the chance to share something truly beautiful with you all. Here's a gorgeous unreleased remix of Bowie's 'I Can't Give Everything Away', an Xmas gift to you all.
Can't disclose who did it (I didn't) so please download it now before someone at EMI decides to arrest me. X

James Murphy?

How can you download from soundcloud? Do you need to be logged in?

They have it enabled for download, so just click More > Download. Otherwise you need to rip it (there are somewhat shady sites that do this, or use Audacity).

David Bowie, "The Last Five Years" documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjPcaiVWNRM

looks great, thanks for the heads up!

oh, this too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIgdid8dsC8

(it's not that new, but first time it's officially released I think)

No Plan EP

Features The Single 'Lazarus' From Blackstar, As Well As The Three Final David Bowie Studio Recordings From That Album's Sessions

Pressed On 180-Gram Vinyl

Side B Features A Special Lazer Etching (No Music)

The No Plan EP was originally released digitally on January 8th, 2017 the day after would have been David Bowie's 70th Birthday. The release reached #1 on the iTunes charts of 11 countries including the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Finland and Sweden, and broke the Top 20 in more than 30 territories. The No Plan EP is now being pressed on heavyweight 180g black vinyl that includes a special laser etching on side B and is housed in new artwork designed by longtime collaborator Jonathan Barnbrook.
The No Plan EP features the single 'Lazarus' from, and the three final David Bowie studio recordings during the sessions for his 28th and final album - "No Plan," "Killing A Little Time" and "When I Met You." The track "No Plan" was hailed by Rolling Stone who ranked it at #4 in their 50 Best Songs of 2016 as "a magnificent coda... one last transmission from the Bowie universe."

not surprised they'r eputting these out by themselves, but none of those three "new" songs do much for me at all.

They grew on me, needed repeat listenings.

No idea who did this but it's wonderful. Heard it on Sweeney's 2016 best of set on beats in space.
https://soundcloud.com/thisisthenumbernineteen/i-cant-give-everything-away-farewell-mix

― willem, Thursday, January 5, 2017 4:45 AM (six months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://pitchfork.com/news/watch-nine-inch-nails-cover-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away/

NIN played the remix in concert: Reznor said the band had processed Bowie’s death in the studio, working out their own version of Blackstar song “I Can’t Give Everything Away.” “We didn’t release it,” Reznor said, “but we will play it for you tonight.”

so that suggests the remix is actually a NIN cover???

Oh wow, would never have guessed that!

Several of the guys who played on this are on the recently released vocalese album The Passion of Charlie Parker, which sounds great on first listen.

Lazerus still gives me chills every time.

It's all about those drums on 'Sue'

This secretly might've turned out to be my aoty of '17. About two years on the day of its release now, after Bowie dying soon after, it was this moloch I mostly avoided, in 2016. I dipped my toes in it, sure, but it wasn't until that I felt comfortable to really dive in, trod down the many dark alleys and stumble through the many dream/nightmare scenes hidden within. It's absurdly beautiful and brilliant.

And the 'New Career' harmonica part in 'I Can't Give Everything Away' gets to me every fucking time.

When we heard it, those few days before he passed, my girlfriend said after "I Can't Give Everything Away" that she felt like it was a farewell message, a departure. She called it.

As austere and coldly beautiful as a late Stevens poem, this album. I listened it to last week driving home from work.

yeah I need to return to this

love this lyric

"I know something's very wrong
The pulse returns the prodigal sons
The blackout hearts, the flowered news
With skull designs upon my shoes"

commmunicates the awareness of his own impending death so well it's heartbreaking

As austere and coldly beautiful as a late Stevens poem, this album. I listened it to last week driving home from work.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, January 10, 2018 12:49 AM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's as beautiful as it is true, re Stevens. I need to spin this in the car, at night, too.

Listening for the first time in a while now. Still so chilling and awe-inspiring. The final WOO!'s in Tis a Pity. Can't make it thru Lazarus.

"lazarus" is fucking haunted, song and video

every time Bowie comes in with that baritone guitar, especially in the last minute (GA-RUNG) -- it's like bells in a churchyard.

Listened to it yesterday, and it more than hold up. I love how the horns are like a distorted version of the Let's Dance ones.

...yeah I dunno about this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05ss3sk

he's not a film star

that

sounds

awful

xp of course not, he's a black star

waht

Culshaw's a reasonable mimic but idk if he's an actor

xp failed pun, sorry

We got it. Well, I did.

https://www.avclub.com/a-psychic-apparently-told-david-bowie-exactly-when-he-w-1822784961

OK I’m flagging you for sharing that

i had a premonition you would

Garson's an interesting guy but...yeah.

In the Jones oral bio, Garson's attitude is, "Well, I never did drugs, ever, and...well, David didn't call me for years. Then he acted weird when I'd say something."

I'm not one for tributes or covers etc, but this (Dutch, soz) sounds promising: a live tribute and reinterpretation of Blackstar at the Holland Festival, with vocals by Laetitia Sadier, Anna Calvi and Anja Plaschg (Soap&Skin). The newly arranged music will be performed by stargaze, a classical ensemble that I only know because they performed with Owen Pallett at Berghain some years ago.

with vocals by Laetitia Sadier,

!!!

I know right?!

cause it's impossible to search for: ★

Came on my music player today after listening to another album and...wasn't prepared. I haven't listened to it in about two years but, God, what a great, elegiac yet defiant piece of work this album is. Bowie Forever.

how many times does an angel fall?

i can't answer why, just go with me.

Came on my music player today

Boy did I misread that.

Got the cd in Chester le Street market two weeks ago. Nice to hear it again. It is so good.

did a marathon run of this and no plan this morning. fucking top gear all the way. talk about masterful exits.

It amazes me still this album is so good.

i saw cellist maya beiser do her version of this the other night. haunting stuff.

https://www.mayabeiser.com/post/bowie-cello-symphonic-blackstar

I think this is Bowie's career masterpiece and I'm sure he was aware he was dying while recording it and maybe writing it as well; which begs the question of whether it's a better album with him knowing that; would it have happened if he hadn't known he was dying; what if he didn't know he was dying and made something god awful

god, the vagaries of shuffle play on my overstuffed old iPhone - the car served up "Dollar Days" as I pulled up at home, it crashed over me like a wave. I turned it up and cried.

I haven’t listened to it since he died - I bought it on the day it came out and listened to it that night in a good stereo in a darkened room in a quiet house - full reverent teenage-style listen

then two days later i listened to it on a sunny sunday morning drive and remember whooping with pleasure that David Bowie was still around and had made such a great new LP

I can guess at your pain, but don't deny yourself this astonishing gift.

it hasn't been a particularly conscious choice but has clearly become a bit of a Thing

my Bowie fandom really surged as a result of reading Chris O'Leary's blog, and had become a deep and sustained engagement and enjoyment of his work - but it was also really informed by the idea that Bowie was still out there making art - his presence in the world was just cool! I particularly found the long struggle to reclaim his powers post-80s slump a hugely compelling/inspiring creative journey

so when he died I just felt my brain needed some time to rewire itself into an appreciation of his music in a post-Bowie context, which feels a bit weird now I write it I guess, but that's how it is/was - and I've definitely been coming back to it ever more strongly - and at some point I will listen to Blackstar and it will definitely have a few emotions attached to it, but in a rewarding way rather than an overwhelming way - and I appreciate the encouragement/reminder that it is a thing worth doing

I'm not a film star!

I'm going through Chris O'Leary's book and the Pegg book while listening to the songs in more or less chronological order. I've finally moved past the Early On cd and the Deram stuff. Some of those songs finally started clicking with me while others are just *shiver* "Love You Till Tuesday" in particular is vile, there are quite a few songs that remind me of swinging London via Austin Powers. But "Silly Boy Blue" is very good.

Last night I started making my way through the Conversation Piece box. Trying to get caught up so that when the Man Who Sold The World thing (Width of A Circle) comes out I'll be able to dive into it.

finally listened to this for the first time. put it off because I wanted to catch up on the Bowie I missed...but fuck it. god damnit the final song is so perfect. can't believe he went out like this

Every time I pull out this album I'm startled anew by its goodness.

It amazes me still this album is so good.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, January 12, 2020 12:15 PM

highly good.

It really is one of his best. Not an astonishing return to form or anything, but something new and really that was he was working on.

New and really good

yeah I'd maybe go as far as to argue it's his best album

otm -- nothing in his catalog sounds like this

It’s so hard to compare it to something like sight, but incredible that it’s a totally valid convo

Sorry, autocorrect

Sight = ziggy

Marley

Who else in “rock” music put out such amazing work while conscious of his imminent death? The only parallels I can think of are in classical music: Mozart, Schubert, Mahler.

i had this tumblr i had started back then, i think i only ever made like 2 posts, but one was about blackstar which I'd received on the friday prior to his death i believe the following monday...anyway it wasn't particularly insightful or anything but i did say something along the lines of i genuinely think this might be his best album in decades and that i'd written that before his death so i wasn't being swayed by all that emotion

I was not nor am I a newly converted fan of The Next Day, so to review this rich, sophisticated, energetic album a week before his death was just marvelous.

i like next day, but it definitely has the feel of "let's try to make a David Bowie (TM) album that people will like" whereas Blackstar is like Ziggy or Low or Station to Station etc where there's this real vision he had

agreed re: general sentiment towards the next day even if i do really like that album. feels like a very solid three star album to me; plenty of good stuff, but nothing completely dazzling.

i'd be comfortable saying black star is in his top five. i'm a walking cliche, so to me the berlin trilogy is unbeatable and just so . . . mesmerizing and completely enduring. those songs still sound contemporary.

where did you guys fall on the no plan material? i've always considered it part of black star and it hangs right there with the rest of the album for me.

Good to excellent -- a coda.

I listened to this album over and over again the entire weekend before news broke that he died. (I think it was Monday morning here in the U.S.) Absolutely loved it. For that reason, when Jim DeRogatis argued that critical praise for it was distorted by Bowie's death (i.e. we'd never objectively see whether or not it was good) I thought he was full of shit.

I think Bowie was getting better and better, and Heathen was the first album he had done since Scary Monsters (yes, cliché) that didn't seem like an artistic failure or a calculated attempt to sell a shit load of records. It wasn't great, but it had a few great tracks and it was pretty decent album overall. I thought Reality was better, again pretty decent with a few great tracks but overall a more consistently strong and confident record. Then he had that great tour that I regret missing (the DVD is excellent), and when he resurfaced with The Next Day I though it was excellent too. It was kind of like, say, Beck's Guero where it was revisiting his strengths without breaking any new ground, but I thought it was a very sturdy set of songs and a big step up from the previous two. I figured a decade between albums simply gave him enough time to come up with a strong album's worth of material. I thought Blackstar would probably be good, but it felt like he recaptured his sense of adventurousness. Collaborating with jazz artists was especially a risk as it's just inherent in the music that you have to leave certain things completely to chance rather than re-work or re-compose those elements. Bowie's done that to an extent on some of his best works like the first three Eno albums, but it was really impressive to hear him and his musicians pull it off here. It really felt like he was back in a way that I wouldn't have expected anymore. It made his death all the more heartbreaking.

Yeah I loved this album on first listen even before his death

We're as one about Reality, bird.

I can't agree about his intelligent, restless, largely excellent '90s work -- for many of us our intro to Bowie.

i loved it at first, but after the initial spins i couldnt listen to it for probably 6 months after his death, it was almost too intense. now its the Bowie album i've listened to the most over the last 5 years. easily top 3 of his career imo.

Blackstar feels a bit monochrome despite (because of?) the heavy emotionality of the subject. My pick for late Bowie albums is Heathen; not as consistent, but better highlights.

Who else in “rock” music put out such amazing work while conscious of his imminent death?

Not Warren Zevon. Maybe Leonard Cohen?

We're as one about _Reality_, bird.

I can't agree about his intelligent, restless, largely excellent '90s work -- for many of us our intro to Bowie.

of course you are

So lonely

Blackstar feels a bit monochrome despite (because of?) the heavy emotionality of the subject

The title track, "'Tis a Pity," and "Girl Loves Me," to pick three, sound nothing like each other, though.

What do you mean by emotionality?

i love outside and earthling but for entirely different reasons. outside is employing a lot of misdirection; earthling is very direct

I loved the recent Pitchfork review of the Brilliant Adventures boxset b/c he wrote it as someone who was there at the time. It flabbergasted me to buy Bowie albums from 1993 to 1999 and not one of them was similar -- it was the '70s again.

The title track, "'Tis a Pity," and "Girl Loves Me," to pick three, sound nothing like each other, though.

I mean monochrome in feeling, not stylistically; after the title track, the emotions are muted, possibly because he knew this was a last testament and wanted to downplay any potential melodrama in the material. I'm glad it's well-loved, though, but I would not suggest it to anyone as a great place to start with Bowie.

to be fair, there's stuff from the '90s I like. I can't get through the albums in their entirety, but the singles are enjoyable - like "Little Wonder," and the single remixes like the Pet Shop Boys remix of "Hallo Spaceboy" and Trent Reznor's "I'm Afraid of Americans" are both excellent. "I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday" may be my favorite cover of a Morrissey song. I liked "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" when it showed up in David Fincher's Se7en. The decade's last album actually has nice songs too, especially "Thursday's Child" - I just didn't like how he recorded them, the record feels kind of light and bland in that respect.

hours is his worst album since Tonight.

1. Outside has "Strangers When We Meet" (one of his grand ballads), "We Prick You," "Thru' These Architects Eyes," "I'm Deranged" -- bangers not dependent on his fussy concepts. His best of the decade.

Shit, Black Tie White Noise boasts some of the most ear-catching Nile Rodgers productions ever: "Jump They Say," "You've Been Around, the Scott Walker cover (which I prefer to the original).

And The Buddha of Suburbia! What a delicious little thing!

I tried making sense of things here.

Love the best pets of Black Tie White Noise

Parts

woof

the emotions are muted Always sounded very intense, very exciting to me--he's jumping into the fire, and the void---the creative pushback, the overall musical effect is the expression and transmutation, not muting.

or jumping into the musical fire, knowing the void will come to him, whatever he's doing.

To me, he was mainly one of the great singles artists of his era---I like most of the albums I've heard, which is not nearly all---but I know I'd consider this one of his very best ever, regardless of release date.

(I think of "his era," radio star-wise, as late 60s-early-ish 80s.)

listening to the brilliant adventure box set and i am LOVING black tie, white noise, didn't really make much of an impact at the time beyond i remember liking "jump (they say)" but i really dig the whole thing, cool sounds

Nothing sounded like it in 1993: the Amy Grant album of my dreams. Then there's cuts like "You've Been Around" where Rodgers-Bowie destabilize the elements. Nothing unfurls as it should: the bass is mixed too high, Reeves Gabrels reduced to a surly growl, and the vocals are like a clown shouting from Everest. I love it.

If it's heretical to say I prefer Bowie's "Nite Flights" to Scott Walker's, burn me.

yeah it's such a unique sound, the arrangements always seem to zig when you expect them to zag

there's an unsettled quality to the whole thing, i guess if i had to find a point of reference in his catalog i might compare the overall feeling to Lodger?

Which is funny cause it’s his “I’m married to a supermodel and I’m happy” album

A classmate of mine interviewed/hung out with Iman like ten years ago and said she was like her best friend for the duration of that entire evening. So when Rob Sheffield argued that Iman gave him something to write about after years in the wilderness, I immediately thought of my friend's interview - like I can totally see how someone like that can suddenly turn your life into this huge ray of sunshine.

I'm not sure if I heard this before...I've heard from musicians that Bowie was really generous about singing guide tracks while they cut their parts, but not that most of the Blackstar tracks were truly live in the studio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZE2QZwtuec

Even more impressive, Bowie's home demos are not too dissimilar.

Check out what he came up with on his own:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0FmXpbcRT0

What a lovely read this thread is from start to finish. Must be one of the finest on this esteemed message board.

Also from upthread and not about Blackstar but …

Xpost I listened to this is not America today and I love that fucking song

― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Monday, 11 January 2016 23:58 (six years ago) l

I listened to this the other day and I agree

xp alfred it's not clear to me he performed the demo himself, did you read that somewhere or is it apparent from recording notes?

Yep. The band and Chris O'Leary confirmed it.

What we hear are sax, keys, and drum machine, all of which he could play.

It's a demo Bowie recorded by himself, Pushing Ahead of the Dame has lots of interesting information on it: https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/tis-a-pity-she-was-a-whore/

Although Bowie was in the studio in summer 2014 to record full demos with Tony Visconti, Zachary Alford and Jack Spann, the B-side of “Sue,” issued that November, was Bowie alone: the same home demo he’d sent McCaslin, full of keyboard presets and crackling with cheap distortion.”The B-side was a demo. It was just kickass,” Visconti said. “His production skills have gone up 5,000%.”

x-post :)

I really think Tis a Pity She Was a Whore could be the very best thing he ever did.

Anyone read this yet? Looks interesting: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/blackstar-theory-9781501365379/

xp that's so cool thanks!!

Man, she punched me like a dude
Hold your mad hands, I cried
'Tis a pity she was a whore
'Tis my fate, I suppose
For that was patrol
That was patrol
'Tis a pity she was a whore