This album was exactly what I was hoping to find in this project: Excellent music I would never have considered thoroughly listening to otherwise. I spend the last day discovering the Soul genre and countless fantastic artists I had heard of, but never actually listened to. Is this particular album one of the greatest of all time? I have no idea, but it certainly is pretty great, and I'll give it five stars just for getting me interested in this huge part of music history that I had'nt been too invested in before.

Dreadful. I get it, they're challenging the norms on what could be considered music. That's why there are only like four tracks on here that have any sort of rhythm or melody, and all of them suck. I find it hard to believe that anyone, including the "artists", could possibly enjoy this, so the 1-star review must be what they've been going for anyway. ... That was the review I had prepared after making it through the album. And yet, a day later, there is more to be said. Most albums so far didn't captivate me for much longer than their runtime. This one was different. I did thorough research on the band's background. I found a concerningly active subreddit and was shocked to realize at least several people spent actual money on their physical records. I regrettably listened to "20 Jazz Funk Greats", which is still terrible, but at least undoubtedly music for the most part. I really tried to understand why this is a thing. I still don't. I spent the rest of the day listening to Igorrr and Mr.Bungle and had a great time. Long story short, this is still obviously a 1/5, but it might be the most fascinating one out there.

I listened to it twice because I didn't really like it the first time at all. I am still puzzled by how overrated Bowie is. Sure there are a few great ideas in this album, but pretty much every song has something I hate. The vocals are either too quiet or too loud, melodies are dissonant to the point of his singing sounding out of tune, and most of the choruses are frankly just annoying, including Changes which might be one of my least favorite tracks on here. Maybe I need to get to a few different Bowie records to really get it, but what I'm hearing here is mostly just barely enjoyable. I'm sure I'm missing something here as the whole universe seems to disagree and this guy evidently influenced some of my favorite artists, and I will come back to this record sometime in the far future. Life on Mars and Song for Bob Dylan are actually pretty great.

This album was exactly what I was hoping to find in this project: Excellent music I would never have considered thoroughly listening to otherwise. I spend the last day discovering the Soul genre and countless fantastic artists I had heard of, but never actually listened to. Is this particular album one of the greatest of all time? I have no idea, but it certainly is pretty great, and I'll give it five stars just for getting me interested in this huge part of music history that I had'nt been too invested in before.

I just recently really got into Sam Cookes music, so that's a nice coincidence. I've avoided this album so far because I usually don't like live albums at all. This one however is outstanding. The crowd interaction is part of the performance as much as the music, rather than getting in the way, and everything works together flawlessly to create an incredible experience that really captures what a great time it must've been to be at the venue back then. I expect to come back to this album many times, and I'll give more live albums in general a chance as well.

Bohemian Rhapsody might be the single greatest song of all time, but the album? There are a few songs I'd rather skip every time, and most of the rest aren't particularly outstanding (that might be due to my high expectations in anticipation of the penultimate track though).

I have been holding off on this review for a few days. I love a good coincidence, and getting this album on Jan 7th, the day before the anniversary of its fateful release, led me to the decision to really take the time to dig deep into Bowie's discography for the next three days and give him a proper chance. Now, in the past I have not been a fan of Bowie at all. Something about most of his songs I inevitably came across irritated me. It's hard to pin down what exactly the issue was, but I had always been bewildered by his immense success and legacy. After listening to the Blackstar album the first time, I was tempted to leave it at a 2-star rating. Like much of his stuff it is full of dissonance and rhythmic incoherence, and frankly was a slog to get through. Clearly I am not into jazz. But I wouldn't leave it at that. I can respect a swan song, and after spending a full day familiarizing myself with Bowies progression throughout his many studio albums, while listening to the title track again, staring up into a black winter night sky, it started to click. You can't have that sort of versatility without a bit of weirdness. His music is pretty much hit or miss for me, but I've been focusing on the frustration of the misses so much that I overlooked the greatness of the hits. Now, how to rate this album in particular? I can't think of many occasions in which the title track would be enjoyable, but for what it is it is brilliant and I wouldn't want it any other way. Lazarus and Dollar Days are fantastic, as is the drumming throughout the entire album, and the closing track is pretty good albeit a bit long. The issue is that I honestly still can't stand the remaining three songs. Now, normally I'd never consider a 4-star rating for an album with 3/7 somewhat unbearable songs. But if I have been unreasonably harsh to Hunky Dory, which I learned to thoroughly appreciate over the past three days, I can be generous here. I found some fantastic music because while this album might be irritating, it is above all interesting. Maybe Bowie will be my gateway into jazz, who knows. If you read this far, thank you for your time. This turned out longer than I anticipated. I'm not sure if this text is going to be helpful for others, I mostly wrote this for myself to look back upon years later. If I had to give some advice, I guess if you're on the fence about this album, consider giving it another listen. So far I've found something new to appreciate everytime I did. Today is January 10th, and I'm excited about where my musical journey will lead me next. I'm sure there's a lot more to discover. Rest in peace, Starman.