David Bowie
The Next Day Extra

Something in music marketing still seems bizarre: why were almost all the unreleased tracks gathered on the Bonus-CD of this new and ultra-refined box set "The Next Day Extra" largely wasted on the "The Next Day Deluxe" version (unrepeatable bonus tracks like: "Plan", "I’ll Take You There", the ethereal: "So She") and on the Japanese Deluxe Edition (with the beautiful and cynical "God Bless the Girl")? Wouldn't it have been better to enjoy all the unreleased tracks in a dizzying sequence, precisely coinciding with the release of The Next Day Extra? No! We would probably have been caught by too much astonishment; precisely because "The Next Day", by David Bowie, is by far the best album of 2013 and (without getting lost in useless precisions and historical-critical interpretations), a perfect and monumental classic to urgently add to his long list of essential masterpieces.

The "The Next Day Extra", in addition to containing the brilliant CD from last March and the DVD (of the videos: "Where Are We Now?", "The Stars Are Out Tonight", "Valentine’s Day", "The Next Day"), is characterized especially by the music on the Bonus-CD. This includes the already mentioned bonus tracks, a remix of “Love Is Lost” by the super-talented James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem (with well-chosen inserts from "Ashes To Ashes")), a negligible remix of “I’d Rather Be High”, and as many as four breathtaking new unreleased tracks: the super-electric-rock of "Atomica", the retro-futuristic climax of "The Informer" (“I’ve got major questions about the Lord above, about Satan below, about the way we love”), the delightful Beatles-esque pop of "Like A Rocket Man", the explosive "Born In A UFO" (here Bowie reclaims what Bauhaus and Suede have “plundered” with both hands from his Berlin repertoire).

After these four new unreleased tracks, listening to the entire work assumes a new Gestalt Bowie nullifies the sense of time and space, and for a moment, we no longer know how old we are. The Next Day Extra is the Rock-object of 2013: the unconscious desire of Bowie fans: a masterpiece with 22 tracks that leave no room for doubt or hesitation about quality, inspiration, genius.