Album Review: Blackstar

It has been a week since a legend was lost, and it has been nine days since he released his final album. Blackstar, the twenty-fifth studio album by the late, great David Bowie, is a marvel of experimental rock mixed with jazz. In his typical fashion, Bowie managed to reinvent his music once again, and Blackstar is a fitting testament to Bowie’s undying influence and style.

The album is pocketed with haunting, surreal tracks, as well as several up-tempo, invigorating tracks. And, throughout every track, there is a mystical jazz air fused with Bowie’s occasionally esoteric, otherworldly lyrics. On longer tracks (such as the title track, “Blackstar,”) you’ll find interesting shifts in tone and tempo – every minute savored and precise. There’s also layers of eeriness and musical contemplation on tracks like “Lazarus” and “I Can’t Give Everything Away” which serve the purpose of this album being Bowie’s final message. The only shortcoming of the album is the fifth track, “Girl Loves Me.” The repetition of expletives and Clockwork Orange-esque lyrics are rather bland compared to the intriguing instrumentals on the track. “Dollar Days” and “I Can’t Give Everything Away” finish off the album. Musically sound and combined with an excellent segue, both provide reflective lyrics that – at least musically – end on a note that suggests there is a brighter side in the end, something to look forward to while still holding onto the present.

Lyrically and musically, Blackstar is a perfectly sound album. Considering it was made by a dying sixty nine year-old who has been in the game for half a century, what Bowie put into Blackstar is an indisputable achievement. If you are a fan, then you’ll have something wonderful to remember Bowie by in Blackstar. If you are unfamiliar with the late “Thin White Duke,” there are certainly a few tracks that’ll pique your interest. A superb piece of work by a cultural icon – you don’t want to pass on Blackstar.