David Bowie -Blackstar

David Bowie.  Ziggy Stardust.  The Thin White Duke.  Call him whatever you like, but call him one of music’s most influential artists of all time.  With the release of his final album, Blackstar, just days before he passed away, Bowie left the music world a diversely beautiful kiss goodbye.  Don’t get me wrong, the album isn’t great because it is his last.  It is great because it is Bowie at his eclectic best.  To simply call Blackstar a synth jazz album is a bit short sighted and lazy as some reviews have described it.  The opening of his final opus is the title track, clocking in at nearly ten minutes.  The first half is dark and moody with his distorted “I’m a blackstar” vocals layered around lyrics of someone coming to grips with their mortality.  The music creates an atmosphere of space reaching out into the words.  About midway through, the song changes pace to be more mellow with lyrics sounding almost like a eulogy.  Then as quickly as the sound change came, it is gone replaced with more sax taking center stage during this haunting space trip.  By songs end, once the blackstar has said goodbye, sax and flute playfully end the journey.  “Blackstar” is more of an experience than it is a song.  More upbeat is “‘Tis A Pity She Was A Whore.”  Very sax driven, it has a very strong sound reminiscent to early eighties Bowie.  Short on lyrics, but still very catchy, this song could easily be a radio hit single.  Probably the happiest song on the album.   In contrast, “Lazarus” is the most haunting song on Blackstar.  By far an away my favorite song on the release, it paints Bowie as a figure letting go.  The opening line “look up here, I’m in heaven” just transcends words and feelings, especially once he past two days after the release.  It is such a powerful piece, words fail to do it justice.  The way the song fades out with the bass leading, most of the other instruments becoming rhythmically sporadic fills the listener with a sense of death and life.  I highly recommend viewing the video just to see how powerful the song truly is.  Going back to more a classic Bowie vibe, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)” feels like it had it’s roots planted in 1995’s Outside release.  The electric sound accompanies his voice flawlessly.  There is once again sax to be heard, but it isn’t the focus of the fast paced moving song.   “Girl Loves Me” plays right off the electric sound of “Sue,” but with more attitude both musically and lyrically.  Opening with a run of events occurring on varies days, lyrically the big question becomes “where the fuck did Monday go?”  Is it a love song?  Is it about lost time?  I certainly don’t know, but it is one of my favorites.  It does have some more of the haunting sound with dark keyboards washing over the musical landscape.  The truest blues-jazz-esque track is “Dollar Days.”  Infused with piano and sax taking the lead, I can almost picture this song being performed during the “China Girl” days in some club.  It has it’s own up tempo beauty to it that none of the other six songs have on this album, making a unique song in this collection.  “I Can’t Give Everything Away” ends this album in a very beautiful light.  Jazzy and up beat, the words are almost as if Bowie is apologizing for not being able to give more.  Sax solos, followed by guitar solos, followed by flute solos, every instrument gets a moment in this song.  His voice sounds as confident and young as ever in this song.  “Seeing more and feeling less, saying no but meaning yes, this is all I ever meant, that’s the message I sent.”  Simply beautiful.  Ever the poet, musician, and human being, Blackstar allows Bowie to say goodbye without ever having to leave us so long as we continue to listen to his amazing musical art he gifted the world.