Bowie Returns

One has to hope that David Bowie has an incredible 66^th birthday to make up for the gift he gave us all on it. Ten years removed from his last album and in a supposed retirement that was never confirmed by the Thin White Duke himself comes the out of nowhere announcement of a new album called The Next Day. The album is made up of fourteen songs and nearly clocks in at an hour long, not including the three bonus tracks exclusive to the deluxe edition of the album which push the run time to just over an hour.

Along with the album announcement came a strange and creepy video, featuring Bowie's and a woman's (who looks weirdly like Bjork, but never sings) head imposed on dolls mixed in with archival footage of Berlin, for a single called "Where Are We Now?" It's an astonishingly beautiful and restrained song, a piano driven ballad with synth whirs and guitars that concentrates on Bowie's noticeably older but still fantastic voice. It's a perfect way for Bowie to return and shows us that the long thought to be retired rock star still has plenty of ability left in him.

With the release of the album and its single there are more questions than answers, but the biggest is whether Bowie will tour in support of the album. Without a doubt Bowie could make a great deal of money doing such a thing, but he could have done that anytime and the length of time he has spent away from the spotlight and the music scene in general other than small guest vocal spots on other artists albums shows how little the idea of cashing in matters to him.

Bringing more questions on are the nods to Berlin in the lyrics and video of "Where Are We Now?" which immediately brings to mind Bowie's brilliant trilogy of albums recorded in Berlin: Heroes, Low, and Lodger. This leads to the question of whether Bowie is possibly drawing back on his old career to garner new material? It's a bit of a stretch admittedly, but it's hard not to speculate and wonder about something as rare as a David Bowie album when it's still in such an unknown state and when he fixates on a city that meant so much to his career previously.

Furthermore, when one puts into perspective the amount of time Bowie spent without putting out an album and that he has been known to shelve albums that he didn't find worthy (he recorded an album in the early 2000's called Toys that he scrapped, though songs off that album did re-appear on later albums), his releasing new material is practically a miracle. More than anything it shows us that Bowie himself has faith in the material, which helps add more fire to the idea of Bowie touring in support of the album. It also shows that this album, based on the quality of the single as well, will likely be a great addition to Bowie's storied discography. Either way, it's an incredible surprise that Bowie is back and a welcome one with that. Here's hoping he doesn't stay away nearly as long next time.