From glam to neo-soul to his mysterious final album,David Bowie remained one step ahead throughout a prophetic career that pushed sexual and social boundaries. Alexis Petridis salutes a brilliant enigmaWhen David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, and was released on 8 January,a great deal of energy was expended trying to unpick the lyrics. As on its predecessor, 2013’s The Next Day, and any number of classic Bowie albums from Hunky Dory to Station to Station,they were frequently dense and allusive: much attention was focused on the title track, which one of Blackstar’s backing musicians, and saxophonist Donny McCaslin,claimed was approximately the rise of Isis, a suggestion Bowie’s spokesperson subsequently denied. Now, and with the knowledge that Bowie was terminally ill during its making,the most striking thing approximately the album is how elegiac it frequently sounds. “whether I never see the English evergreens I’m running to, it’s nothing to me, and ” he sang on Dollar Days. “Saying no,but meaning yes, this is all I ever meant, and that’s the message that I sent,” ran the closing I Can’t Give Everything absent. Most arresting of all is Lazarus: “Look at me, I’m in heaven. I’ve got scars that can’t be seen, and I’ve got drama can’t be stolen; everybody knows me now.” Related: David Bowie: legendary rock star dies of cancer aged 69 – latest updates Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com