David Bowie
The Next Day

Let's get it straight: we never would have wanted "Reality" from 2003 to be the Duke's last album! In light of this close call, the strong punch in the gut of "The Next Day," March 12, 2013, after ten long years of silence is surprising. David Bowie has immortalized himself once again! Erasing ominous thoughts of artistic death: sublimating life into art even after the 2004 heart attack. And silence remains the key to understanding this new artistic path of his composed of evasions, of absolute anonymity, fitting the quintessential indie artist.

The splendid cover of "The Next Day," with the revisited cover of Heroes, creates the real effect (wirklich) of a temporary lack of reflection with his face, and at the same time, gives us a very inspired Bowie. The dazzling opening The Next Day stuns the listener with a cool jolt, made of simultaneous references to: Repetition (Lodger) - Beauty and the Beast (Heroes) - It’s No Game part 1 (Scary Monsters), and the singing, a march, whose lyrics reveal Bowie's current passion for medieval poetry and philosophy. Dirty Boys revolves around "The Idiot" (Iggy Pop), and with The Stars (Are Out Tonight) the Duke gives us an unexpected track of pure pop perfection. Love is Lost combines the glam of Ziggy with the post-punk of the Eighties; Where Are We Now? is the nostalgic recollection of a Berlin (1977) ever-present in the restless horizon of his life; Valentine's Day captures the evil-pop of "Hunky Dory" while medieval madness/ dissonant voice and syncopated rhythms merge in If You Can See Me (with rhythm reminiscent of Give Me It by the Cure). Psychedelic is the sixties political reference in I’d Rather Be High; "Diamond Dogs" atmosphere and decadent pose in Boss Of Me; and again: Lust for Life (Iggy Pop), "Lodger" and "Scary Monsters" provide a backdrop to the splendid Dancing Out In Space and How Does The Grass Grow? Not particularly incisive, yet no less worthy, are: the classic-hard-rock Tin Machine of (You Will) Set The World On Fire and the apocalyptic-glam-rock of You Feel So Lonely You Could Die (with explicit reference to Five Years from "Ziggy Stardust"). The album concludes with the powerful and evocative dark lyricism of Heat.

It's a real shame that bonus tracks like Plan and I’ll Take You There couldn't find adequate space in the rotating internal context of this "The Next Day." Thus, "The Next Day" is a concept album capable of re-actualizing all of Bowie's sound to a new present and a new future in 2013. Furthermore, here the Duke re-presents himself in great shape in the swirling and complicated flow of unprecedented vocal metamorphoses and ancient inquietudes. With "The Next Day," all we can do is bow our heads in absolute respect for this living genius. Tony Visconti, who produced the album, has stated that a second album of unreleased tracks along the same lines as this astonishing work is already prepared: a concentrate of pure Bowian-molecule. "The Next Day" is a record of great creative depth and yet another testament to broad artistic and human significance.