The Next Day is the 25th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released over several dates in March 2013 through his ISO Records label, under exclusive license to Columbia Records. It marked Bowie's return to recording after retreating from the public due to a heart attack on the A Reality Tour in 2004. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, the album was recorded in New York City at the Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios between May 2011 and October 2012. It featured contributions from new musicians and returning contributors, including Gerry Leonard, Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey, Steve Elson, Sterling Campbell and Zachary Alford. The sessions took place under complete secrecy, with all personnel involved signing non-disclosure agreements.
Musically, The Next Day is primarily a rock album, featuring elements of art rock. Numerous commentators highlighted references to Bowie's prior works. The dark lyrics were partly inspired by the artist's readings of English and Russian history, and cover different types of conflict and topics such as tyranny and violence. Meanwhile, the characters vary from soldiers, assassins, school shooters and street gangs. The cover art was designed by Jonathan Barnbrook and is an adapted version of Bowie's 1977 album "Heroes", featuring a white square containing the album's title obscuring his face and the "Heroes" title crossed out.
The debut single "Where Are We Now?" and news of the album were released online with no prior announcement on 8 January 2013, Bowie's 66th birthday. Within hours, he made headlines around the world, surprising fans and media who had assumed he retired from music. Preceded by a viral marketing campaign, The Next Day topped charts around the world and debuted at number one and two on the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200, respectively. It was his first UK number-one album since 1993 and his highest charting US album since 1976. Several singles with accompanying music videos were released throughout 2013. Outtakes and additional remixes appeared on The Next Day Extra in November.
The Next Day was met with critical acclaim and was regarded as a return to form for the artist and his best work in decades. Many highlighted the performances of the band and Bowie himself and invited positive comparisons to prior works. However, some felt the music lacked innovation and found the album overlong, a sentiment echoed by Bowie's biographers. Among the first surprise albums of the 2010s, The Next Day was included in the 2014 revised edition of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
There’s some strong stuff on here, and it’s Bowie after all, but it sort of highlights my continuous gripes about this list giving some artists too many spots. If you’re boiling down Bowie to a “must hear before you die” list this obviously doesn’t make the cut in my book.
While I'm not surprised to see a Bowie album crop up, I *am* surprised that it's an album from 2013. Sadly, this album feels like the work of an aging artist who's lost his edge. There wasn't a song on this album that caught my ear, and I have to imagine that there are at least 1001 albums out there better than this one. The fact that it's Bowie doesn't automatically mean it belongs on the list.
Because I'm familiar with Bowie's great albums, this is very much a dissappointment.
There's nothing special or moving about this.
I hold Bowie to higher standards than I would any other artist, so I'd expect better from him.
I'm glad blackstar was so much better than this, what an awful thing it would be if this had ended up being Bowie's last studio album.
Likely no other artist will go out like Bowie did: surprise release two great albums relatively close together and then promptly die without any warning. A true king.
Definitely a highlight of the late stages of Bowie's career. Incredible that he could keep this level of innovation and songwriting quality throughout.
Perhaps also one of the most accessible and thoroughly enjoyable Bowie albums out there - which is certainly not a bad thing. 'Where Are We Now' really is magnificent.
I like David Bowie, and he has a lot of classical in his musical history, but how is it possible to create a whole album that does not have fails?
This is one of that rare cases where there is no single bad song in the entire album. This is impressive.
Interesting to note some "new" things applied to some songs here for the first time that will follow his career until "Blackstar."
I really like this album. I seem to remember it didn't get the best reviews but maybe that's not true. It was a surprise release and just popped out one day. I really like the title track The Next Day, it's one of my fave Bowie tracks. I really like the darker nature of this album, bit scary in places, such as on Lost is Love
I only really got into Bowie just before Blackstar came out, so missed the hype around The Next Day when it was first released. I'd always dismissed it, thinking it probably only got the acclaim it did because it was such an unexpected return
But nope, it's also pretty damn good
I think the rapturous reception of The Next Day revealed the thirst many music fans had for David Bowie to recapture some of his past glories. We all desperately wanted Bowie to have a late career resurgence, to come back from his creative hiatus with a meaningful and impactful record. The album went to Number 1 and onto Dimery's 1001 albums list, but time has not really been kind. Dimery removed it from the list because, truth be told, this is an OK album, but not special. Its place as the "late career capstone album" was superseded by Black Star, which had an emotional resonance associated our collective mourning for Bowie that The Next Day will never be able to overcome.
I think the cover is the perfect metaphor for this album; a simple, minimal and tasteful design with the iconic past peeking out from behind. it may have been intended to show how the new is replacing and overlaying the past, but really just serves as a constant reminder of his past achievements, and how much more interesting they were.
The record is OK, but forgettable, and not a patch on Bowie's greatest moments.
I had no idea what to expect from this one, but was pleasantly surprised. It's a bit bland overall, but the lyrics are inspired (as you'd expect from Bowie) and some tracks stand out from the rest. Nothing mindblowing, but an enjoyable rock album.
01) The Next Day - 8,0
02) Dirty Boys - 7,5
03) The Stars (Are Out Tonight) - 9,0
04) Love Is Lost - 7,5
05) Where Are We Now? - 8,5
06) Valentine's Day - 8,0
07) If You Can See Me - 7,5
08) I'd Rather Be High - 7,5
09) Boss of Me - 7,5
10) Dancing Out in Space - 7,5
11) How Does the Grass Grow? - 7,5
12) (You Will) Set the World on Fire - 7,5
13) You Feel So Lonely You Could Die - 7,5
14) Heat - 7,0
TOTAL: 7,71 (77/100)
The surprise release was cool, I remember it like it was yesterday... I wasn't really impressed by the album when it came out, I felt like it was too artsy for me. It's a 3 and a half stars from me, but as I am always generous with the marks, I will give it 4 stars. Favorite song "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)".
𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 Bowie album?
I find it absurd there's eight or nine David Bowie albums when there's tens-of-hundreds other glam rock acts.
Hell, they could've included "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" by David Bowie's right-hand man, Mick Ronson. After all, his guitar is what makes Bowie's works magical.
I've heard "The Next Day" before and I can safety declare that, excluding "Valentine's Day," the album lacks basic depth, and we could've gone our whole lives without exhausting David Bowie's entire catalogue.
Really makes me question the intention of whoever chose these albums.
Think I prefer 2000s Bowie over the classic stuff - this was brilliant, never listened to it the whole way through!
New songs I loved were ‘The Next Day’ and ‘How Does The Grass Grow’.
Huge Bowie fan, and I was so happy when he surprise released this. I listened to it on and off for eight months or so. Great record. I think it shows a lot of maturity vs. some of his other output.
I can specifically thank this website for getting me to listen and enjoy Bowie. I wasn't a fan until this website gave me the suggestions and I'm really digging his music. This isn't my favorite album. A bit low energy for me, but still great writing.
We all get old and it sucks but it really sucks for singers. Something happens to our voices the older we get and at some point we all get the old people voice. This album has the old people voice a lot. If he was in his prime there would have been no issue and this album would probably considered his dark horse. But this is an album by a 66 year old trying to sing and make music like he’s still young. I love Bowie and a lot of his work but some of these songs were hard to get through without thinking about his age constantly. Crazy to think this isn’t even his last album. 6/10
There is very little to say about this, which is disappointing for a David Bowie record. It's basically fine as a rock record, but it's not pushing any boundaries.
Rating: 2.5/5
Playlist track: Where Are We Now?
Date listened: 22/06/22
I have two albums left from David Bowie on my journey. Not only are they the last two albums he put out in his lifetime, but the one I got today is the second to last. Even if my album journey with him wasn't exactly in chronological order, this is going to be a fitting ending for my relation to him.
In the time since the 1970s, Bowie's work took twists and turns that were daring for him but hard to encompass the legacy of the classic albums he already laid out. From the attempts at mainstream crossover in the 1980s, to the hard-rock side project Tin Machine, to the cannibalization of industrial and electronic music in the 1990s, Bowie went through "changes" in his sound to mixed results. Then, during the 2000s, Bowie reconnected with producer Tony Visconti, and the two worked together for the former to regain his creative form on Heathen and A New Reality. All was well until Bowie had to abruptly end his touring career after undergoing an angioplasty for a blocked heart artery. Afterwards, he largely withdrew from the public view, only making minor contributions in music and acting for others. People speculated that David Bowie was largely retired at this point, which would have been fine if he wanted to rest on his laurels.
Then, this album dropped out of nowhere. His first album of material in a decade, Bowie worked on The Next Day with Visconti and other personnel in secret until the time was right to release. That in and of itself is a feat in a day and age when the rise of social media has made leaking more commonplace. It also helps that the album in question is amazing.
Not only did The Next Day sound creatively revitalized, but it showcased Bowie reflecting on his legacy with enough self-awareness and maturity to make these songs feel fresh for a man in his 60s. After all, Bowie and Viconti took production cues from the Berlin trilogy and lyrical benchmarks from previous efforts to create a bouncy and experimental record that explored darker themes and conflicts. From the condemned man facing his punishment on the opening title track, to the aging celebrity looking to the next generation of performers on "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)", to the people lost as their lives move on in "Love is Lost" and "Where Are We Now?", to the inner monologue of the school shooter on "Valentine's Day", there's palpable rumination on death and decay as the two loom over. The first half of the album is some of the strongest and most consistent work Bowie had written up to this point in time.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the more varied experimentation in the second half. Unlike the aforementioned Berlin trilogy, the innovations made here come off as more curated and refined with age. The odd time signatures and pitch shifting on "If You Can See Me", the psychedelic haze over a militant drumbeat on "I'd Rather Be High", the glam rock strut with the horn accompaniment on "Boss of Me", the shuffle beat with the ethereal guitar hooks on "Dancing Out in Space", and even the stab at 80s arena rock on "(You Will) Set the World on Fire" were all played excellently. Then the album closes on two wonderfully resonant notes - the absolute callback to the Ziggy Stardust era on "You Feel So Lonely You Could Die" in the spare drum beat, guitar line, and vocal arrangement, and the simmering synthesizer of "Heat" as Bowie sang away in his lower register. What an eloquent way to close out an album.
I do not mean lightly when I say The Next Day was the best record David Bowie made in decades. It's a shot of well-written, well-realized momentum that recaptured the ragged danger that ran through his best work. There's only one album left from him, and I cannot wait to get that.
This is one of the few Bowie albums that I had never listened to before.
But as I had already imagined, Bowie doesn't have bad albums! I always prejudged this album because of its similarity to the cover of Heroes, but I can see that (or maybe I'm crazy) The Next Day is a kind of sonic and spiritual continuation of Heroes... It may not have anything to do with it, but that's the feeling I got. Anyway, 5 stars.
Hadn't heard this album before now. Shame on me cos I am a Bowie fan. Found it quite emotional listening to it as it was the last studio album he did before Black Star. I could detect a lot of the early stuff throughout this album. Bowie was an absolute God and nothing he did was bad. Legend
Never heard this one, for some reason I didn't think Bowie could make something this good as a comeback album but it's absolutely cracking. Much more upbeat, rocking and ballsy than Black Star. There are some great parts here, love the drumming and horns, and the guitars are heavier than in some of Bowie's work. The lyrics are sometimes a bit sad but the vibe of the music lifts the mood in most tracks
Better album Black Star for me and a belter that I sadly overlooked!
Exceedingly rare for an artist to continue to make such compelling, inventive music at the end of their career. Doesn't reach the heights of Blackstar but some really good tracks here, I even liked it more than some 80s Bowie albums (and of course more than all the 90s stuff). Love is Lost is a standout track
13/1001
The Next Day is at its core a nostalgic album. At times it songs like songs like Love Is Lost and Dirty Boys could be taken straight out of his Thin White Duke era, while Valentin’s Day is pure 70s glam. Other stuff adds a lot of Bowie’s post 80s pop sensibility to the album. However I think that kinda detracts from the interesting mix of all of his 70s sounds. (You Will) Set The World On Fire is probably the albums most interesting cut. With its almost Fripian-esque riffage combined with the bright production makes this track work incredibly well.
4/5
Definitely his best material since Let's Dance (which wasn't all that great, albeit one of Bowie's most popular). Some of the darkest as well, putting it in league with ★.
Bowie's albums are always complex and span vast galaxies. This is no exception. Lots of lyrics to pore through backed by incredibly skilled musicians.
Bowie has a weirdness that is his ands his alone. This album captures that so well. There are some sonic throwbacks to his earlier material, but that isn't here for nostalgic reasons. And the references are so indirect, unless you're very familiar with all of Bowie's catalog, you won't notice.
I had to listen to this three times to get even a small idea of what Bowie was trying to accomplish. It's great - deep, creepy at times, multidimensional - reminds me most of Lodger, being like an observer traveling from place to place. In this case it's all places in the mind. A lot to unpack. Beautifully complex and, as ever, grateful to have lived at the same time as David Bowie.
I imagine there's more Bowie on this list but it's so interesting this made it. It feels like he's older and has slowed down. The inventiveness and what made him so unique is there but there's a spark seemingly missing.
It wasn’t bad, far from his best work though. Probably could’ve been omitted from the list, but I’m still glad I listened to it because I mean come on, it’s Bowie.
Laziest album cover ever?
No deathless hits here to arrest attention, but 25 albums he might not have felt compelled: making something still diverting after such a stretch is remarkable, and this is a solid album of artist following his interests, enjoyable in way not far from the endless stream of post-hippy roots rock of the early seventies - you just put it on and let it latch onto a little part of you for an hour.
Another "one and done" when it came out, I was quite excited to give this another chance today. I've read the "best since Scary Monsters.." line many times before (my first contemporary one being "Black Tie White Noise", which is marginally better), so wasn't too disappointed with the decent but unremarkable material within. To be fair, it is quite like "Scary Monsters.." (for me, inferior to both "Lodger" and "Let's Dance"), but could do with some Frippery to spice it up a bit. Not great, not terrible.
Much like "Earthling", the cover art promises a more exhilarating set of songs than is found within. My weekend plans to re-evaluate the similarly-touted "Hours", "Heathen" and "Reality" fizzled out, replaced by a mild shrug. Mark - you need to add "Lodger" to your growing list of essential Bowie; the rest not so much.
Never really liked David Bowie, even though I know everybody raves about him. His voice has never done it for me, I can't imagine I'm going to like it more when he's old.
Yeah I don't love this. The music isn't really all that bad, but man his voice sounds old.
I don't know what it is, I just don't really like David Bowie. Can't say I didn't try.
7th Bowie album and really? Did this need to be on here? It's fine but jesus christ stop sucking his dick. His material is fine but this is far from essential. Blackstar, yeah I get that. That album was important in his career, but this... no it was bland stuff by an aged rocker that is forgettable.
Boo. Realizing more and more that Bowie's the kind of artist you have to "appreciate" even though his music doesn't do anything for me. Very boring stuff overall. He's grossly overrepresented on this list, why the hell do we need this album from 2013? He was past his shelf life here.
Favorite tracks: Love is Lost.
Album art: A square superimposed over the cover of one of his better albums. Would rather listen to the song "Heroes" on repeat for an hour than listen to anything on here again.
1.5/5
Love me some David Bowie, but I was fully prepared to think that maybe 9! Bowie albums is a bit much and that this one was perhaps expendable.
Then I remembered this is a fantastic album. World class songwriting, innovative and distinctive, arrangements and performances exquisite and music that you believe is made by people who deeply care about it.
All it "lacks" is a distinctive narrative like Blackstar or cultural/historical context that locks the listener to a time and/or place long since gone.
This is a downright excellent rock album. Although it might not touch some of the high point of Bowie's 70's and early 80's work, I think it is strong enough to stand aside most of it. The fact he was able to make albums this good this late into his career/ long after whats considered his peak just demonstrates what a mega talent he was. 5 Stars.
He's still got it. I'd never heard this one, but a lot of these songs stood out straight away. The instrumentation and production sounds great. A really great record that I definitely want to listen to again. I can see some of these becoming favourites. 5
I can't avoid being bias with Bowie - it's been a great journey for me to discover how much I enjoy his music and this is just another path to discover.
I once listened to all of Bowie's music. This album came out quite unexpectedly. Like most Bowie albums, it was different from what you'd come to expect. Looking back, I think Scary Monsters is the best album of Bowie. This album, however, is also quite good.
Another case of bias. If I hadn't heard this a lot there's no way I'd consider 4 let alone 5 stars. Very much a grower but even thy weirder tracks are a delight. Helped by seeing Lazarus which was build around these songs (the cast version of Valentine's Day is epic).
Très très sympa. Bravo David, tu as de l'avenir dans la musique. Il faudra que je réécoute l'album pour déterminer les chansons auxquelles j'accroche le plus.
La obra de Bowie es un monumento a la música. Con una influencia capital en el rock y otros géneros, una carrera tan lóngeva como fructífera y un final digno de elogio.
Este disco es especial, por todo lo que vino después, un epílogo magnífico (que siguió con Sue (Or in a Season of Crime) en el recopilatorio al año siguiente) con un desenlace ejemplar en Black Star apenas 3 años después.
Si en Black Star la línea a seguir eran los Radiohead, aquí en The Next day fueron los Arcade Fire (que le idolatraban y con quienes colaboraría en la excepcional Reflektor ese mismo año 2013). Algo que se nota en Daning out in space, o If you can see me ( aunque no son las mejores del lote precisamente).
Ya con Heathen había logrado un disco bien redondo, con temas excelentes, por primera vez en bastante tiempo. Eso pudo influir en una retirada a tiempo de publicar cosas menores. Aquí lo hizo de forma tan inesperada, todos le dábamos por semiretirado (esa operación a corazón abierto...), como abrupta: ahí os va.
Y funcionó, desde la portada hasta las canciones. La mano y confianza en Visconti seguro que influyeron en el resultado.
Pocas veces alguien ha usado la misma foto para dos discos diferentes (Cohen usó la misma chaqueta hasta tres veces), pero claro con Bowie todo es diferente y genial.
En lo musical destacan los sencillos The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (a mi me recuerda en la ambientación a Sunday de Heaten, es una temazo) y sobre todo la enorme Where Are We Now?, una de mis canciones favoritas de Bowie. Pero el nivel es muy alto: Love is lost, Valentine´s day, Dirty Boys, la fuerza de (You Will) Set The World On Fire... How Does The Grass Grow? con su homenaje al Apache de los Shadows.
En resumen un álbum que se sostiene solo dentro de la fabulosa discografía de Bowie, que suena actual y que tiene algunas de sus mejores canciones.
This album came out a decade after his last one when at the time it wasn't clear he was going to do more. Big statement to take the cover Heroes and slap a title overtop of it, especially when it was released as a surprise.
I remember when this one came out and I told someone there was a new Bowie album and they said that late Bowie was junk. He hasn't had a major hit for a bit and a lot of people thought his best work was behind him. This bucked that expectation hard and then Blackstar obliterated it.
This album does so much in so many different ways and is catchy and poetic and powerful and restrained and thoughtful all at the same time.
There's something unique about an artist who had nothing left to prove but was still pushing to relearn and reinvent themselves in the face of their death. Maybe part of me is voting with the entire narrative of it but while Bowie has stronger albums, this had a statement that continued to define his style that further enriched everything he had done. Blackstar is a five with another star at the end.
I expected to give it a 4, but listening this morning I just found myself enjoying it too much for that. In my mind it was a 4 but in my heart it turns out to be a 5. I have a suspicion that it is because this is the first new Bowie album I heard as a fan, which can often bias me positively. Listening back this morning after a few years was really special.
it was great to revisit this album. There are three or four songs on here that I really love, including If You Can See Me. It’s just such a unique tune. I also like The Boss of Me and the closer (Heat). I do think that Bowie brought something special to every single song across his career. The quality of the musicians and the attention to detail is always there for me.
I had underestimated this album, skipping ahead to Blackstar when it was released. But really The Next Day is just as good. I've had Boss of Me in my head all day. There are a lot of Bowie albums on this list but I haven't given one less than 5 stars and am not going to treat this one any differently
This is an interesting album to include on this list. It was only in one edition of the book (rightfully replaced by Blackstar in the next edition), and it genuinely feels like it was probably only inclided under the assumption that it was going to be Bowie's last. I remember the buzz around the surprise release, and I remember even at the time being generally underwhelmed by it.
It's solidly Bowie, so it's good stuff, but it's not his best. I feel like some of the songs were probably ones that weren't quite album-ready but got thrown on here anyway to (unnecessarily) pad it out. The sounds and themes he's playing with here will eventually be refined and perfected in Blackstar, but they aren't there quite yet.
Really wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this. I hadn’t really listened to 2010s Bowie and expected to feel like it fell off from the 70s era Bowie that I loved. The few songs I heard I didn’t love when they first came out. But my god, this was so good. Every song got better and better, and the songs are so varied in style, theme, and genre, but they flow together perfectly. This album is cohesive but varied, and so stunning to listen to. This is top tier Bowie. The singles I didn’t love years ago grew on me when combined with the entire album, but in some ways they were also the weaker tracks, but of course, they were still amazing. Haunting, melodic, and beautiful. I just can’t get over how much I loved this.
2013. David Bowie, in his mid-sixties, puts forth one heck of a creative effort, but he does not sound good for a man in his sixties. His health must have already been in decline; Blackstar was his farewell, this is the dark themed lead up to that farewell.
I mean, it's damned good for what it is, the musings of a powerful talent contained in a weak flesh vessel that was breaking down. It's got to be taken in context, though.
I’m at a 5.
Sixth time around for David Bowie, by far the most we’ve gotten of any singular artist. Fourth time in a row he’s getting a 5 from me – this goes right behind Station to Station as my second favorite Bowie album so far. Again, I’d probably have to relisten to “Low” or “Aladdin Sane” to really give a proper ranking of my favorites so far, but it’s a testament to the man that he could release an album like this in 2013 and still feel so damn compelling around 40 years after his prime.
As far as the production goes, this does feel like what a “modern” David Bowie album should sound like; enhanced and refined from his 70s/80s work, with new production tricks abound. There’s a lot of influence from late 2000s indie rock here, and while it’s a little jarring at first to hear David Bowie seem so contemporary, the combination of his more withered (yet still powerfully present) vocals & the classic production tricks strewn throughout keep everything grounded in a way that still distinctly feels like a David Bowie album, and not just him jumping on the trends of the era. The only real tracks that sort of feel flat like that are “Boss of Me”, which felt rather broad & a little too plain, & “Valentine’s Day”, but that one makes up for it decently well with the lyricism and storytelling.
This album really does shine well lyrically – a few broader tracks than others, but so much of this album feels like a sort of meta-commentary on the time David Bowie spent away from the industry, as well as a commentary on his older status. I still haven’t listened to Blackstar, because I know it’s on the list, but if that album is the grandiose swan song in musical form that it seems to be, he certainly planted the seeds for it here. When he’s not wistfully looking back on his Berlin period, and how radically the landscape has changed, he’s just jamming out, in ways that are less cerebral than I’m used to from Bowie, but certainly welcome enough, especially on the stadium rock-esque “(You Will) Set the World on Fire”.
I really want to point at the last track, “Heat”, in particular. I could be wrong, but I really think the track is about his father controlling the prisons of his mind, long after his death. Him saying “I can only love you” is likely referring to himself, and the amount of identities he went through just to try and find one that he felt could mentally appease his dad. I can see why that track would end the album, even if I preferred “You Feel So Lonely You Could Die” from a musical standpoint. “Heat” seems deeply personal, and I think it’s worth ending on, assuming my interpretation is right. It’s a hell of a track either way.
So, yeah, I really enjoyed this – it’s probably a little jarring to people who hold his older stuff in mythical regard, and I imagine that once we actually get Ziggy Stardust, I’ll understand exactly why. For my younger, more contemporary tastes, this felt like a really nice blend of Bowie’s older sensibilities with modern, updated production. It’s not perfect, but given that the 53 minutes of this flew by in a heartbeat, it felt captivating all the way through, and it was certainly worth the listen. Hence, the 5.