David Bowie
Heathen

THE REVIEW

Once again "Heathen".

Why listen to this "Heathen" when we have behind us the red mane of Ziggy Stardust, the Apocalypse of "Diamond Dogs", the electronic rain of the Berlin pentalogy, and the blood palette of "Outside"?
Because "Heathen" is my tireless Bowie album. Careful, I'm not saying it's the best: I'm saying that it is absolutely magnetic, like the trip-hop magnets of "Sunday", a slow and inexorable opening track, "the beginning of an end" with the chorus of judgment day. Certainly deceptive as a beginning, since it's followed by a "Cactus" (Pixies cover) first acoustic then assertively electric, electronic, and choral together. But let's drop the drumsticks for a moment and head to a more classic zone for Bowie, that of the majestic ballad "Slip Away", a future "Space Oddity" dedicated to the show of Uncle Floyd, a sort of ingenious 70s BimBumBam. Bowie is relentless; following these three masterpieces are immediately two more: "Slow Burn", an epic rock fury inflamed by Pete Townshend's guitar and an effective bass line, and "Afraid", the speed of sound supported by precise string counterpoints.

Aside from two in my opinion weak covers, namely Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You", which adds nothing to the album's sound, and the brand new and delirious yet annoying "I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship" by Legendary Stardust Cowboy (an obscure 60s bluesman from whom Bowie stole a piece for Ziggy's surname), all the other tracks on the album manage to amaze and surprise me every time. In "I Would Be Your Slave" the artist returns to experimenting by combining his slow crooner singing with unmistakably jungle drumming and an anxious electronic base of breaths, and in "5:15 The Angels Have Gone" the rhythms transform into the beats of our panting hearts as we try to run in the snow, with sudden bursts of drums, sprinkles of strings, and synthetic choirs.
The work closes with three songs I consider absolutely indispensable to understand that with this album Bowie wanted to gracefully conclude a phase of his discography: "Everyone Says Hi" is a lighthearted orchestral-acoustic pop ballad that summarizes and improves on the style of the previous "...Hours", "A Better Future" is an anguished protest glance towards God, dark and apocalyptic, while "Heathen (The Rays)" is a sky of magnificent and solemn suggestions both in the text and the sounds.

This is my relentless, magnetic, tireless, and visionary album of the White Duke, a furious, circular, and pagan concept album... and for now, it's also the last of "my" Bowie.

"Steel on the skyline
sky made of glass
made for the real world
all things must pass"