1001 Albums Summary

★ (Blackstar) (2016) is the 26th studio album by David Bowie; released on 8 January, only two days before his death on 10 January 2016. The album only contains seven tracks, three of which were released as singles - Blackstar, Lazarus and I Can’t Give Everything Away. The album was recorded while Bowie was undergoing treatment for the liver cancer that would ultimately be the cause of his death. The music is an experimental mix of jazz, rock, electronica, funk and hip-hop overlayed with Bowie’s dark and somewhat brooding lyrics. I don’t own a copy of the album so listened to it three times on Spotify before rating it (I’d previously only listened to it once). It’s quite a difficult album to rate being so closely connected to Bowie’s death. It’s quite an emotional listen and has layers of complexity. Even the tracks chosen to be singles are not easy listens. The last album I rated was Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings. If that album was ‘nice’, this is something else entirely. Raw, complex, intelligent and confronting. A gift from a dying man. Track listing: Blackstar - a haunting mix of genres - the first half reminded me of Radiohead- 4/5; ’Tis a Pity She Was a Whore - lots of tension sitting between Bowie’s vocal and the chaos of the jazz backing track - 3/5; Lazarus - this gave me The Cure vibes so strong that I Googled it and found DAVID BOWIE - THE CURE A forest for Lazarus (acoustic) on YouTube - 4/5; Sue (Or in a Season of Crime) - drum’n’bass rhythms aren’t my natural habitat but they provide an interesting foil to Bowie’s subdued vocals - 3/5; Girl Loves Me - “Where the fuck did Monday go?” - 3/5 Dollar Days - the most fragile track on the album - 4/5; I Can’t Give Everything Away - melodic and upbeat rhythm but heartfelt lyrics 4/5