Review: David Bowie – The Next Day

David Bowie

The Next Day

Iso/Columbia Records

Street: 03.12

David Bowie = David Bowie

I still remember pulling Ziggy Stardust from the vinyl sleeve, the phrase “TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME” challenging me from the lower corner of the back cover. Every second of “Starman” forevermore altered my musical outlook. That said, I was skeptical as hell when I heard Bowie was releasing another album. Mainly because it’s been a decade since his last release, but also because his last album, Reality, fell a little short (in my opinion). Fortunately for us all, The Next Day meets the high expectations that Bowie sets by being, well, Bowie. “The Next Day” brilliantly uses religious imagery in a bit of satire about religion itself, “Where Are We Now?” offers up powerful emotion through Bowie’s reminiscence about Germany just after the Berlin Wall fell and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” is an intelligent and catchy examination of the magnitude of the attention we pay to celebrities. I just might have a new favorite Bowie album. One thing is for certain, hearing that iconic voice break out of a chorus and barrel into the next verse will never get old. –John Ford