Blackstar (album)
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Blackstar (stylised as ★) is the twenty-fifth and final studio album by English musician David Bowie. It was released on 8 January 2016, the date of Bowie's 69th birthday and two days before his death,[3][4][5] through Bowie's ISO Records label.[6][7] The title track was released as a single on 20 November 2015[8] and was used as the opening music for the television series The Last Panthers.[9] "Lazarus" was released on 17 December 2015 as a digital download and received its world premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq the same day.[10]
Background and recording
Recording of the album took place at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City.[11] Bowie began writing and making demos for songs that appear on Blackstar as soon as sessions for The Next Day concluded. The two songs that appear on Blackstar that were previously released, "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" and "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore", were re-recorded for Blackstar, including new saxophone parts played on the latter song by Donny McCaslin (replacing parts Bowie played on the original release).[12] According to producer Tony Visconti, the album was inspired by rapper Kendrick Lamar with his 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly, and had also cited electronic duo Boards of Canada and experimental hip-hop trio Death Grips as main influences for the album as well.[13][14]
Lyrics
According to producer Tony Visconti, most of the album's lyrics were confirmed to be foretelling Bowie's eventual death from his secret 18-month long battle with cancer, ultimately revealing that Bowie had actually planned for the album to be his swan song or "parting gift" for his fans.[15][16] The title of the second song takes up that of a play by John Ford, an English dramatist of the 17th century.[17]
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 86/100[18] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The A.V. Club | A–[20] |
Entertainment Weekly | A–[21] |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Independent | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 4/5[24] |
Pitchfork Media | 8.5/10[25] |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin | 7/10[27] |
Blackstar has received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 86, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 28 reviews.[18] Rolling Stone critic David Fricke described the album as "a ricochet of textural eccentricity and pictorial-shrapnel writing".[26] Andy Gill of The Independent regarded the record as "the most extreme album of his [Bowie's] entire career", stating that "Blackstar is as far as he's strayed from pop."[23] Reviewing for Q magazine, Tom Doyle wrote "Blackstar is a more concise statement than The Next Day and a far, far more intriguing one."[2] In a favourable review for Exclaim!, Michael Rancic wrote that Blackstar is "a defining statement from someone who isn’t interested in living in the past, but rather, for the first time in a while, waiting for everyone else to catch up".[28] The New York Times described the album as "at once emotive and cryptic, structured and spontaneous and, above all, willful, refusing to cater to the expectations of radio stations or fans".[29]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Blackstar" | 9:57 |
2. | "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" | 4:52 |
3. | "Lazarus" | 6:22 |
4. | "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" | 4:40 |
5. | "Girl Loves Me" | 4:51 |
6. | "Dollar Days" | 4:44 |
7. | "I Can't Give Everything Away" | 5:47 |
Total length: | 41:13 |
No. | Title | Length |
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8. | "Blackstar" (video) | 9:59 |
Total length: | 51:12 |
Personnel
Personnel adapted from Blackstar liner notes.[11]
- David Bowie – vocals, acoustic guitar, mixing, production, string arrangements, "Fender Guitar" on "Lazarus"
- Donny McCaslin – flute, saxophone, woodwinds
- Ben Monder – guitar
- Jason Lindner – piano, organ, keyboards
- Tim Lefebvre – bass
- Mark Guiliana – drums, percussion
- Kevin Killen – engineering
- Erin Tonkon – assistant engineer, backing vocals on "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"
- Joe Visciano – mixing assistant
- Kabir Hermon – assistant engineer
- Joe LaPorta – mastering engineer
- Tom Elmhirst – mixing engineer
- Tony Visconti – production, strings, engineering, mixing engineer
- James Murphy – percussion on "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" and "Girl Loves Me"
Release history
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
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United Kingdom | 8 January 2016 |
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[31][32][33] | |
United States |
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[34][30][35] |
References
- ^ Dalton, Stephen (27 November 2015). "David Bowie: Blackstar". Classic Rock. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ a b c d Doyle, Tom (January 2016). "David Bowie: ★". Q (354).
- ^ "David Bowie announces new album Blackstar for January release". BBC News. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "David Bowie confirms 25th album will be released in January 2016". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "Watch ★ video teaser online now". Davidbowie.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "David Bowie Confirms New Album Blackstar Coming in January". Pitchfork. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "Details of David Bowie's 25th album 'Blackstar' revealed". NME. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "David Bowie Confirms New Album 'Blackstar'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "David Bowie: 7 Things We Already Know About His 2016 Album 'Blackstar'". NME. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "David Bowie launches trailer of new single Lazarus". The Guardian. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ^ a b Blackstar (album liner notes). David Bowie. ISO Records. 2016.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Fusilli, Jim (5 January 2016). "'Blackstar' Review: Ziggy Stardust Plays Jazz". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ^ "New David Bowie album, inspired by Kendrick Lamar, features LCD's James Murphy". The Guardian. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ http://www.nme.com/news/david-bowie/89960
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html
- ^ http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jan/11/was-david-bowie-saying-goodbye-on-blackstar?CMP=fb_gu
- ^ The Inside Story of David Bowie's Stunning New Album, 'Blackstar', rollingstone.com, 23 November 2015
- ^ a b "Reviews for Blackstar by David Bowie". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Blackstar – David Bowie". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Vishnevetsky, Ignatiy (8 January 2016). "David Bowie goes noir with the intoxicating Blackstar". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Greenblatt, Leah (8 January 2016). "David Bowie's Blackstar: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Petridis, Alexis (7 January 2016). "David Bowie: Blackstar review – a spellbinding break with his past". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ a b Gill, Andy (22 December 2015). "David Bowie's Blackstar – exclusive first review: A Bowie desperate to break with the past". The Independent. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ Richards, Sam (8 January 2016). "David Bowie –'Blackstar' Review: The NME Verdict". NME. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Dombal, Ryan (7 January 2016). "David Bowie: Blackstar". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ^ a b Fricke, David (23 December 2015). "Blackstar". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ Soto, Alfred (6 January 2016). "Review: David Bowie Remains the Original Starman on '★'". Spin. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Rancic, Michael (7 January 2016). "David Bowie – Blackstar". Exclaim!. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (7 January 2016). "Review: 'Blackstar,' David Bowie's Emotive and Cryptic New Album". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ a b "Blackstar by David Bowie". iTunes. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
- ^ "Blackstar by David Bowie". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ "Blackstar by David Bowie". iTunes Great Britain. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ "Blackstar [VINYL] by David Bowie". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ "David Bowie - Blackstar". Amazon.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ "David Bowie - Blackstar (Vinyl)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
External links
- Official website
- Blackstar at Discogs (list of releases)