Blackstar

Lately, classic rock artists (Paul McCartney NEW, Paul Simon SURPRISE+, Robert Plant and Alisson Krauss KICKING SAND, Dylan All of his recent stuff, etc.) have been indulging in "sonic soundscapes" in their music. With producers like David Lanois and Brian Eno adding textures and the artists themselves experimenting with new melodic riffs and time signatures. All of this has been happening for the better part of a decade, and then came David Bowie and BLACKSTAR. This one not only out-did them all, it became a prophetic masterpiece on the last three days of his life. Quite purposefully he made this in the full knowledge of his ultimate departure. We all cried on another day that "the music died" because Bowie was one of the most prolific artists of the latter 20th century and frankly, the 21st Century will absorb his art much more easily than our generation did. BLACKSTAR is simply the best album that David Bowie ever made, so talk about a Swan Song! I've been listening to this man and purchasing his albums ever since The Spiders From Mars attacked the airwaves. While each incarnation and album wielded a new brush stroke and turned heads on their ears, David Bowie made a body of art that will live forever in history so long as the human race continues. Davie Bowie, along with a handful of "artists" from this generation will become the "classical music" of future generations. As another review already said, this album defies categorization. It is sonic textures and jazz fusion and avant garde and all the other things we always try to pin down but in Bowie's case that always seems impossible anyway and what you end up with is just absorbing the feeling of something that the master wished to paint upon our palettes and his pigments are always elusive anyways but the heart hears his music and the soul feels his rhythm and this is just the best David Bowie album I have ever heard and owned, if all his others were five star reviews this one should be held aloft above the dinning crowd and worshipped as the venus de milo or mona lisa or the starry night or maybe the sistine chapel with God reaching his finger out to touch David on the day of his next creation as a bodhisattva. See you next time around Aladdin Sane...

I decided to wait awhile before reviewing this album to ensure my assessment would not be biased by Bowie's death. My initial impression when I first heard some of the songs was that this is pretty strong stuff. Then that Monday when hearing of his death my thoughts were wow this is an incredible piece of work. I usually do enjoy Bowie's albums but some parts of his albums at times would be too experimental to me. So I can say now after listening to it over 6 weeks this is truly a modern day classic with a perfect blend of melodious rifts, jazz infusion, inspirational lyrics and leading edge production. Some highlights include Black Star with its mood changes and musical transitions. Pity She was a Whore with driving horns and unrelenting drumming is a rave. Lazarus which grabs you the first time you hear it and keeps you coming back more is just one of his best songs ever. The musical segue that takes you from Dollar Days to I Can't Give Everything Away is actually breath taking. To me the music in I Can't Give it Everything Away has that unmistakable "Bowie" sound to it... its as if his theme song is being played in the background as he emotionally says goodbye to his fans. What a closer. There are classic acts well into their seventies putting out some really good albums such as Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan but I have to say as a final product of a great star- Bowie's Black Star cannot be surpassed. It is a classic. This will be remembered as one of his best works (right there with Station to Station and Young Americans). Yes, Bowie has set the bar as it can go with this parting gift to those who listen to it.

This album has only 7 tracks (plus videos) on it. But, those tracks carry a depth and quality not found on today's music. The quality is on every single one of the songs on the album, a refreshing change from all those auto-tunes songs so prevalent on the radio. It would not surprise me to never hear any of these fine tracks on the radio (shows how lousy radio has become) or see them chart on Billboard (that rag has gone down the toilet during the past 20 years, too). But, the album charted at the top--it's sales, not corporate decisions or paid spins, that drives that chart. To compare, I found one of Bowie's earlier albums (from 1969). Space Oddity, released in 1969, has the same level of quality. True, that album had greater dynamic range (then again, I used a volume leveling program on Blackstar but not Space Oddity, so that could have made that difference). The depth of the music was comparable, not something you find on other artists that don't know when to retire. Bowie seemed a good 20 years away from retiring based on the quality of Blackstar--too bad he had a week left to live after it was released. Most pop stars have a few good years, then their albums start taking on a wimpy adult contemporary sound that barely resembles music. Not so with Bowie. About the only reason I could see to not get this album is if you are truly into adult contemporary exclusively, or you think alt-rock has taken a turn for the better (it hasn't--it, too, has been sanitized). But, if you want something that has not been excessively sanitized, this is a great album. True, there are only 7 tracks on them (one of them nearly 10 minutes). But, it is proof that, if you know where to look, there is still real music with a 2016 date attached.

Perfekter als mit diesem musikalischen Vermächtnis hätte er seinen leider viel zu frühen Abgang nicht planen können. Dass man anläßlich seines 69. Geburtstag, also noch grade zu seinen Lebzeiten bereits vom "Album des (sehr jungen) Jahres sprach, wurde spätestens zwei Tage später traurige Wirklichkeit. Bereits die wenigen Ausschnitte, die man zu hören und zu sehen bekam, waren schon so grandios, dass es eine Selbstverständlichkeit war, das dazu gehörige Album zu bestellen. Sphärische, jazzige Elemente, Klangimpressionen und depressive Melodiebögen, Musik, die wie aus einer anderen Welt klingt, in der er sich emotional schon zu befinden schien, ein Video-Clip, der seine Leiden mit schockierender Deutlichkeit offenbarte und ihn am Ende in einen Schrank, den er selbst von innen zuzog, verschwinden, um nicht zu sagen entrücken ließ, alles das wirkt im Nachhinein wie eine letzte große Inszenierung dieses Jahrhundertkünstlers, der ein Meister der gleichermaßen optischen wie akustischen Umsetzungen immer seiner selbst war. Er hat uns mit immer wieder überraschenden, hemmungslosen und dabei oft gradezu grenzenlos authentischen Facetten seiner Kreativität konfrontiert und begleitet. Mit seiner zeitlos schönen und scheinbar alterslosen Ehefrau bildete er eine Synthese, die auch in der Traumwelt des Show- und Musikbusiness etwas Außergewöhnliches war. "Black Star" zeigt noch einmal in aller Deutlichkeit, was diese Traumwelt an ihm hatte und mit ihm verloren hat. Eine verdiente und überzeugende Nr.1 in den Charts und ganz sicher eines der besten Alben des noch jungen Jahres. 5 schwarze Sterne für einen Allzeitgroßen der Showszene! Nachtrag 13.Februar 2017: ....und dazu 5 Grammys, die David Bowie auf seinem schwarzen Stern im Universum erreichen mögen. Gänsehaut pur! Nachtrag 23. Februar: Und dazu die Brit-awards für David Bowie als Künstler und für das obige Album!

Una auténtica genialidad. Triste, melancólico, oscuro. Es su epitafio. Lógico. Una de las cosas que más valoro en la música es que con una sucesión de acordes de guitarra, con una batería, con un bajo, con un teclado o un saxo, da igual, transmitan el mensaje de cada canción. Para eso hay que crear una atmósfera, una ambientación. Éste disco la tiene. En una época en la que nos movemos por canciones sueltas de "Spotify", "Amazon Music", "iTunes", etc, se está dejando de lado el concepto de disco completo con su número de canciones elegidas en un orden por alguna razón. En este disco todo cuadra, todo es perfecto, el orden es magnífico, el concepto. Transmite lo que Bowie quería transmitir, rodeado de músicos de excepción (Mark Giuliana a la batería, ejem, magistral). Este hombre se quiso ir dejando huella. Y lo hizo. Un disco adelantado a su tiempo, marcando tendencias. Como siempre ha hecho.

its a great record a great farewell by David Bowie. i love each and every song featured in this album. my personel favorites are tittle song BLACKSTAR and LAZARUS. i just loving to listen it all the time. Thank you so much David for BLACKSTAR and may your soul REST IN PEACE.

A distanza di poco più di due anni dall'ultimo "The Next Days" David Bowie torna a deliziare i suoi fans con questo nuovo lavoro in uscita proprio il giorno del suo sessantanovesimo compleanno! Un disco molto diverso dal suo predecessore, caratterizzato da forti influenze Jazz, ambient e avantgarde rock come solo un artista poliedrico come lui poteva fare. Si narra che questo album dalle forti influenze jazz sia nato grazie ad una band che suonava in un locale di New York in presenza del cantante inglese che è rimasto folgorato dal feeling e dalla musica che i musicisti in questione stavano suonando al punto da ingaggiarli per questo "Black Star" e accantonando completamente la band che lo aveva accompagnato nelle registrazioni del precedente "The Next Days" ed il risultato sono sette brani intensi, ricchi di feeling e Groove, chiudendo gli occhi si viene trasportati in un altra dimensione, un altro tempo, in una fumosa taverna di una New Orleans degli anni venti; insomma, per chi scrive un disco fantastico! Basta ascoltare i dieci minuti scarsi della title track che apre le danze, magnetica, surreale, semplicemente fantastica! Segue "Tis a pity she was a whore" più ritmata del precedente brano dove la voce viene accompagnata dal sax e dai fiati, assoluti protagonisti di questo nuovo disco del Duca; la successiva "Lazarus" è il brano che ha anticipato di qualche settimana l'album, accompagnato da un bellissimo e strano video clip; questa canzone è più simile a "Black Star" rispetto alla precedente, dove una chitarra effettata disegna le melodie insieme alla voce del cantante inglese, producendo all'ascoltatore una sensazione magica di pura genialità creativa! Una canzone stupenda! "Sue (or in a season of crime)" è il brano che ricorda più da vicino "The Next Days" con le sue melodie più accessibili combinato con una sezione ritmica quasi isterica; personalmente è la canzone di tutto il lotto che meno preferisco, ma siamo sempre ad alti livelli di creatività! "Girl Loves" è un'altra ottima track dominata da una melodia surreale e da un ritornello dove la voce di Bowie ci accompagna in tempi e melodie non distanti da quella "Sweet London" creata dalle prime composizioni di un certo Syd Barrett e compagnia bella nella seconda metà degli anni sessanta, e già da questo possiamo capire a che livello è la creatività di Bowie alle soglie delle settanta primavere! "I can't give". altra grande composizione, da ascoltare e riascoltare insieme alla conclusiva "Everything away" anch'essa di ottima fattura con sempre i fiati ed i sax in grande spolvero! Concludo chiedendomi come sia possibile che un artista a sessantanove anni, con cinque decadi di carriera e ventisei album in studio e che ha attraversato quasi tutti i generi musicali, che vanno dal rock a l'elettronica, passando per il pop ed il glam, creando mode e personaggi senza mai cadere nell'autoriciclo riesca ancora a dare alla luce capolavori come "Black Star" e la risposta credo di averla; David Bowie è un genio assoluto in grado di dare ancora grandi lezioni di musica a tutti questi nuovi musicisti dell'ultima ora e non solo! Per noi fan una vera delizia, grazie di esistere David!!!

Véritable chef d’oeuvre mettant en scène la fin et la cloture de la vie de David Bowie, Black Star est un album aboutis, à la créativité irréprochable mélangeant les styles musicaux. Parfois lugubre mais toujours emplis d’émotions, cet album est probablement l’album le plus réussit que Bowie ait produit. Bowie sur cet album symbolise également et tragiquement la fin de l’ère Bowie, en mettant en scène sa propre mort dans un album qui n’aurait pas pu être plus parfait. Émouvant, triste, remplis d’émotions, Black Star est un album chef d’oeuvre d’un tragique évident. RIP Bowie, jusqu’au bout dans son art