Earlier this year, before knowing
Bowie was dying and before listening to Blackstar whole album I made a review of the single
Blackstar. After the news of his death, naturally the meaning of the song and of the album changed.
Bowie planned his death, planned his goodbye of music, he knew that this moment was coming so he release his last statement, a fantastic album. There's a lot to analyse of the incredible way David died, his death was a unique historical moment, that will, probably, never happen again. The impact of his death was enormous. I have a solid opinion about it which I'll write later, in another article.
Now, I want to analyse and review his farewell album "Blackstar" track by track
01 - Blackstar
This, and Lazarus, are the most important songs on the album. I think David here, assumes a position of a God (a Blackstar) and, not only predicts his death ("on the day of the execution", "something happened on the day he died") but also clears how he wants to be remembered. And I think he wants to be remembered as a Godlike figure, a Blackstar, something unpredictable and unknown. On the first part of the song, his voice is very solemn, dark and divinal, and then, the song goes through a different direction, almost angelical. It's amazing.
And, the song is so well structured, that, although it has 10 minutes, it's never too repetitive and boring, Those 10 minutes pass really quickly. Love the keyboards on the last verses. Perfect song to define an album and an artist.
02 - 'Tis A Pity She Was A Whore
Bowie released this song as a b-side to Sue back in 2014. Here the song is re-recorded and, although it maintains the same line as the original, the production is must better and clear. The songs is fast, cynical, diabolic.
03 - Lazarus
Here, we say Bowie defining his death. He realizes his death and tells us that he's not OK but soon he will be free, just like he intends to be. Lazarus, the biblical figure, resurrected from the death. And this is very important, because Bowie, in a way, also came back to life. He's still here with his songs, with his legacy, just like Lazarus did, Bowie died and then came back to stay.
The melody of this song is very soft, peaceful and sad. Actually, after knowing about his death, listening to this song is something very turbulent specially if you see the video. You actually see Bowie dying and you see also his productive soul still working and creating, just like what happened. Artistically the combination of David's death, the song and the video is one of the most emotional moments (or even the most) ever in cultural terms. Fantastic, just a visionary like Bowie could have the courage to do something like this.
04 - Sue (Or A Season of Crime)
Maybe, the best surprise of the album. I was not a big fan of the original version of this song released in 2014. Too jazzy, too soft, disoriented, but here we listen to a brutal and aggressive song, very complete and strong. Much better than the 2014 version.
05 - Girl Loves Me
A nice and strange song. Bowie's voice during the chorus is perfection, and actually it is catchy (very dark catchy), you are singing it easily. Bowie sings in a fictional language during mos of the song. Again, a dark song (like most of the album) but actually very attractive and sexy.
06 - Dollar Days
The sweetest moment in Blackstar. A fantastic song also about his mortality. "If I'll never see the English evergreens I'm running to", "Don't forget for just one second I'm forgetting you, I'm dying to". A lot of people were calling this album as a jazz album, which I disagree, but actually you have on this song the jazziest moment with the saxophone fantastic solo. This is the brightest song on the album, but still a little bit sad.
07 - I Can't Give Everything Away
This is Bowie's goodbye. He knows he is passing away, and he is afraid of it, of letting behind everyone he loves. He's sad of leaving but also happy that he did everything he wanted to do with his life "This is all I ever meant, that's the message that I sent". The last verse when he re-sings "I know something's very wrong, the pulse returns for prodigal sons" is truly heartbreaking. Actually, I think we find Bowie on his most vulnerable emotional side. By now, he is everything in music, he is a God, an alien, a Blackstar but he realises that he is also David Jones, a human being that feels loss and feels pain. Fantastic.
As a whole, a lot of music critics were defining Blackstar as a Jazz experimental album, that David choose it that way because he still wanted to take us to the unknown, like the place where he is now. I disagree, fist this is not a jazz album, it has jazz moments and jazz instruments but this is some kind of glam-rock. I would prefer to call it, this is a "Bowiesh" album, some kinds of modern Aladdin Sane. But also, this a album of a man that is facing dead, so it's way it is a very sad album. For me it's perfect this way, I always preferred sad music. Bowie's voice is still on top and his tone fits perfectly with the content of the album. Blackstar is an artistic testament of Bowie's capacities and is one of the best and most interesting albums of all time because of the brilliance and quality of the music but also because of everything that surrounds it.
Blackstar is one of the most important albums ever released, and we were here to see it. David was here too, and he still is. Just like Lazarus he resurrected and is eternal in this word with his music.
Thank you.
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