David Bowie – The Next Day (2013)

I picked this up for next to nothing at Holcot boot fair a couple of weeks ago, but only just got round to listening recently.

It was welcomed in 2013, since many, knowing of Bowie's failing health, had assumed he'd retired from making music, so anything released by him (and it was ten years since his previous studio album) was going to be an event.

Would it be harsh of me to suggest that the long wait, and the sense of relief at Bowie's return led to this being received less critically than it might have been a decade earlier? That's not to suggest it's a bad album, it's certainly not. But, for me, it's not a Bowie classic either. However, there are plenty of songs to enjoy, even if none will appear on a "Best of Bowie" in 20 years time.

There's a solid rock opening with The Next Day, a sound carried on in The Stars, while Love Is Lost is slower, darker and more sinister. The single Where Are We Now? (top 10 in UK, the only one of four singles released to hit the top 100) is a lovely, gentle reflective song, followed by the catchy Valentine's Day and the more adventurous If You Can See Me, but after these first half highlights, the outstanding becomes harder to find.

It's not until Set The World On Fire that anything makes me sit up and take notice and there's not much else from the second half, which excites. There's a heartfelt, dark closing song in Heat, a fitting close. Of the bonus tracks, only I'll Take You There really shines as a strong song.

Despite my lukewarm reception for this, it's an enjoyable listen, without much feeling particularly outstanding. Perhaps it was more about relief that it happened at all, rather than expecting it to be a great.

Link to full album

3* - a solid, if unspectacular late Bowie return