The Next Day

The fact that this album exists was a massive shock to most people when it was announced very shortly before it was released. A new Bowie album? Produced by Tony Visconti? Amazing! Many people, myself included, believed David to be in very poor health and had written off such a thing happening a long time ago. I can't remember an album having so much hype and excitement surrounding it for a long time, which probably explains why, when I finally heard it, I was a little disappointed. Let me clarify that. Yes, I thought "The Next Day" was very good indeed, but it wasn't the work of genius, the magnificent masterpiece that some people had started saying it was. So, from the initial let-down that comes from believing the hyperbole of people simply delighted to have a new album from Bowie, I have had to listen to it many, many times and re-adjust my expectations before being able to form a proper opinion about it as a whole. Now, many months after the initial release, I finally feel as if I have a balanced, stable view about how much I like this album and where it fits into Bowie's catalogue. In a nutshell, I like it a lot and love certain songs (around half of the album), but I think, for the first time in a long time, after many years of his latter-day albums perhaps not receiving as much critical acclaim as they deserve, one of David Bowie's albums has been slightly overrated."The Next Day" opens with its title track, a cracking, rollicking, dirty rocker, sounding very much like a missing single from "Scary Monsters" with lyrics that allude to his perceived illness ("Here I am, not quite dying"); it's quite a statement. "Dirty Boys" with its honking saxophones and disjointed feel is a little more difficult to love, but the chorus brings it all together brilliantly. "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" is a curious one that seems to have been singled out as something special, but, although I find it quite pleasant to listen to, it's not one of my favourites on the album, as there seems to have been little attention paid to any kind of melody line. The appeal of "Love Is Lost", a song that never quite gets out of first gear, goes over my head a little too, although it's also perfectly listenable. The single, "Where Are We Now", almost undisputed in its magnificence, has a stately tempo and grandiose arrangement that almost makes it sound like David is delivering a eulogy for his own life. My favourite track on the album, however, is probably "Valentine's Day"; it's a classic Bowie superior pop song, equally catchy as it is poignant, with killer lyrics."If You Can See Me" is the only composition on "The Next Day" I actually don't like at all; I find it messy, unfocussed and easily the worst thing on offer here. Thankfully, the memory of it is short lived, as it is followed by the brilliant "I'd Rather Be High", easily one of the stand-out tracks of the whole project, pinned together by an insistent, catchy guitar riff and an excellent chorus with some chord changes that confirm Bowie's genius (if you weren't convinced already). "Boss Of Me" took some getting used to thanks to some slightly ordinary lyrics, but the insistent hook gets you in the end and your attention is rewarded by some inventive, pleasing saxophone work and a really quite cool groove throughout. I can take or leave "Dancing Out In Space"; it sounds quite pretty, but it's slightly unsubstantial as a composition. "How Does The Grass Grow" is much better, reminding me of Bowie's underrated "Buddha Of Suburbia"/"1. Outside" phase and it boasts an irresistible chorus that will be firmly planted in your head for days. "(You Will) Set The World On Fire" starts brilliantly, with a meaty guitar riff that Jack White would be proud of, but the whole song doesn't quite live up to the early promise and it pans out as a relatively ordinary composition, albeit with some brief glimpses of magic. Big ballad "You Feel So Lonely You Could Die" is so close to being mind-blowing without actually achieving it, it's actually quite frustrating. It's a beautiful song, there's just something about it that doesn't quite reach magnificence, although it's fantastic to hear that drum pattern at the end, harking back to "Five Years". For me, that's where the real enjoyment of the release finishes; "Heat", as lyrically interesting and attention-grabbing as it is, is almost an anti-climax to what is a largely excellent album and the bonus tracks were definitely best left off the main body of album, if they were ever contenders."The Next Day" sounds gorgeous; Visconti's production gives the album a full, warm character throughout and ensures that it actually feels like a proper album, rather than just a collection of songs, something that is becoming rarer and rarer these days. I have a theory that, had this particular album been released a year or two after 2003's "Reality", it would probably have been happily received, been given a four star average rating in the music press, warmly praised and talked about in the same kind of reverential terms that 2002's "Heathen" received. However, because ten years have passed without a Bowie studio album, people seem to have gone a bit overboard in their praise for this one. It's a very good album indeed, excellent in places, but it's about as good as "Heathen", not quite on a par with "Hunky Dory", "Ziggy Stardust", "Aladdin Sane", "Low" or "Heroes". If you compare it with the music that occupies the mainstream radio stations and music TV channels, yes, it's undoubtedly better than the vast majority of commercial dross that sells millions of units, but compared with Bowie's own work, it falls comfortably within the second tier of his output. This, his twenty-fourth studio album, would perhaps just about manage to sneak into a top ten of Bowie's releases. However, that doesn't mean it's not a brilliant release, because it is (and it's certainly one of the better albums by anyone released this year), but the breathless, gushing praise for "The Next Day" that happened on the week of release overstated exactly how good it is. Excellent album? Without a doubt - it just about does enough to get the full five stars from me. Masterpiece? No. There are quite a few Bowie albums much more deserving of that particular accolade. Having said that, what a pleasure it is to have that voice back and to be able to own another quality album of Bowie compositions when many of had come to believe that something so wonderful was all but an impossibility. I only hope we won't have to wait another ten years for the next one...

I'll preface this review with a straightforward statement of my opinion - The Next Day is a remarkable album from a remarkable musician. Just as the world was growing accustomed to the idea that David Bowie had slipped into a silent retirement, he sprung a single and the news of a forthcoming album on the world - the news came on his 66th birthday and sent the world's press scrambling for copy. The single `Where Are We Now?' seemed to be a powerful hint at the album's contents - the word `elegiac' became ubiquitous in the reviews rushed out by the music press and many speculated that The Next Day would be a respectable mediation on death, memory and old age.Thankfully, a single listen to the album proves such theorizing groundless. The Next Day is remarkably alive - it pulsates with energy and overflows with ideas and melodies. The title track - which opens the album - is vicious, angry and urgent - think `It's No Game (Part 1)' just with added narrative content and menace.Anger pervades the album, though it takes radically different forms from track-to-track - `Valentine's Day' dives into the mind of a wannabe high-school shooter who fantasizes about a world kept `under his heel'; `How Does The Grass Grow' conjures up images of a muddy battlefield and girls who `fill with blood'; `You Feel So Lonely You Could Die' is a tale of unraveling paranoia and betrayal, culminating with a vicious statement `I hope you feel so lonely you could die.'I linger on the lyrical content of the album only because it's so rich - the songs touch on everything from Vladimir Nabakov to priestly hypocrisy. A testament to the sheer density of the album's lyrics is an advert that appeared in The Times which set them out - every last word - in black and white.The Next Day also fascinates musically - saxophones are prevalent and are used to particular effect in `Boss of Me', a tight, punchy rock song with a great refrain. `Valentine's Day's' unnerving subject matter is somehow made more eerie by the fact the song takes the form of a joyous pop song that could have easily been slotted into the track-listing of Hunky Dory - only Bowie could make lines like `Teddy and Judy down' radio friendly. The grandiose swell of an organ dominates `Love Is Lost' and lends additional melodrama to the track, amplifying the hysteria of Bowie's climatic cry of `what have you done?'. The final track on the album proper is the sparse and (ironically) icy 'Heat' - its chilling central lyric (`my father ran the prison') takes the form of a disquieting chant.Having said all this, the album is by no means perfect - `Dancing Out In Space' fails to leave a stamp and `(You Will) Set The World On Fire' doesn't kick into gear until its chorus. The presence of several weaker tracks does not detract from my enjoyment of the album as a whole - if anything, it makes me appreciate the strong tracks even more. The album is best described as restless in that each track is an experiment in some way - Bowie toys with perspective, tone and genre to produce a truly exhilarating collection of songs.I became a Bowie fan when I was a teenager in the wilderness period after the release of Reality - I had grown used to the idea that Bowie would never release another album and the news that accompanied his 66th birthday hit me like a thunderbolt. Seeing the press rhapsodize over The Next Day and pique the interest of people who would have otherwise never given Bowie a second thought has been a rare pleasure.The Next Day embodies everything that makes Bowie great - eclecticism, curiosity and energy. Far from presenting himself as an old man preparing for death, Bowie has put out an album that defiantly proclaims his presence - I can't imagine anyone pulling off a better return from the dead.