#6. Blackstar
By: David Bowie
There is nothing more I can say about Bowie’s artful farewell address that hasn’t been said a thousand times over, so I will save you the time of reading something you’ve already seen. That said, no other artist in the history of music - possibly art itself - has demonstrated such masterful control over his story. No other artist, ridden with cancer or otherwise, has ever given away a final album filled with such boldly graceful sentiments of the end. Each of these seven tracks have transformed themselves as the year unfolded; even the album artwork was a gift that kept giving. Is the fact that Blackstar is still a masterpiece after you separate it from Bowie’s death worth mentioning? Of course it is.
Key Track:
“Lazarus” - Listen to the music. Study the words. Watch the music video. Repeat, repeat, repeat. “Lazarus” is everything I said about the album as a whole in song form. Though, the same could be said about the title track…and “Dollar Days”…and “I Can’t Give Everything Away.”
By: David Bowie
There is nothing more I can say about Bowie’s artful farewell address that hasn’t been said a thousand times over, so I will save you the time of reading something you’ve already seen. That said, no other artist in the history of music - possibly art itself - has demonstrated such masterful control over his story. No other artist, ridden with cancer or otherwise, has ever given away a final album filled with such boldly graceful sentiments of the end. Each of these seven tracks have transformed themselves as the year unfolded; even the album artwork was a gift that kept giving. Is the fact that Blackstar is still a masterpiece after you separate it from Bowie’s death worth mentioning? Of course it is.
Key Track:
“Lazarus” - Listen to the music. Study the words. Watch the music video. Repeat, repeat, repeat. “Lazarus” is everything I said about the album as a whole in song form. Though, the same could be said about the title track…and “Dollar Days”…and “I Can’t Give Everything Away.”