10: June 2nd — “Neo-Classical” Bowie and Blackstar
You should first listen to this selection of Bowie's music in the 2000's, his "neo-classical" phase when it appeared, to critics at least, that he was trying to work in a similar vein to his Berlin period.
Some of these have videos which are really cool, other's don't. It's 20 songs from the albums Heathen, Reality and The Next Day. The last track is an early, industrial version (with now strings) of "Tis a Pity She's a Whore" which appears on Blackstar.
Neo-Classical Bowie Tracklist
Then you should listen to Blackstar in its entirety. There's a stream of the entire album on YouTube which includes the two videos he made (both of which are intense and shouldn't be missed). But I think this album really pays listening to in the highest quality, so you should probably listen on a different service. It's up to you.
Bowie - Blackstar (full album)
Blog question: Is there a way that we can see Blackstar as the culmination of Bowie’s work throughout his career? How does Blackstar work as the end of the "neo-classical" phase? Also, how does his use of percussion and other instrumentation relate to his 90s work such as Outside and Earthling? Do you see a connection there (this is one of my pet theories)?
Here are links to his very last recordings. You don't have to watch these if you don't have time:
- David Bowie - No Plan (Video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIgdid8dsC8
- David Bowie - Killing a Little Time (Audio) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpzVxylreME
- David Bowie - When I Met You (Audio) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fDy-mRGFkw
This weekend, I got around to re-watching the documentary "David Bowie: The Last Five Years" which was all about "Next Day" and "Blackstar" as well as his work on his musical "Lazarus." Getting to see the process behind several music videos was covered, one specifically was "Where Are We Now?" The fact that he wanted to use projections and such a distinct style was also followed with a sort of eerie reflection on his life. Images of industrial, black and white photos of placed like "Potzdamer Platz" seemed to be a sort of harken back to Berlin era Bowie (as well as all the places he mentions that seem to be mentions of that time/place as well). The song itself seems like a wistful look back at life as well as all about getting older, as Bowie reflects on a significant portion of his life and the time of "Low", "Lodger", and "Heroes."
ReplyDelete"Blackstar" does seem to be a culmination of Bowie's work and life. It is just incredibly powerful the fact that only a few days after it was released that he passed away. The "theme" of Bowie's eyes being covered by a strange blindfold, or 'the blind prophet,' seemed to be a sort of final persona for him to evoke. Supposedly, the blind prophet comes to represent fear and is also related to death. All the more reason that the album does deal with mortality and dealing with death's finality. There is the continuation of the electronic noise of "Earthling" present, alien sounds coming from the plethora of distorted voices in songs such as the title track of "Blackstar."
In the music video for the song "Blackstar" itself, the reflection that it is on David Bowie's life is all the more prevalent. References and hints to past personas are all over, as well as moments such as the skull inside of an astronaut suit evoking 'Major Tom' or more images of him blindfolded as well. It is an album heavy with stories and legend yet in one of the most complicated and experimental as it can be. A key element in the album was the idea of his illness and awareness of his death. "Lazarus" was also a song from the album, yet in the video it sees Bowie in a hospital bed. Many lyrics from the album allude to the illness Bowie had been suffering through: from the title of black-star referring to a type of cancerous lesion, to the idea of someone coming to replace Bowie in the lyrics, "Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried/ (I'm a blackstar, I'm a blackstar)" in "Blackstar", to even the lyrics of "Oh, I'll be free/Just like that bluebird" from "Lazarus" seemingly echoing the famous song "somewhere over the rainbow" where Dorothy sings (as if the place over the rainbow is the other side after death)
All in all, when "Blackstar" was released, I was in middle school and listening to it a day after it came out with a fellow friend of mine. I wasn't that into David Bowie, but my friend had idolized him for much of her childhood. I remember the fact that two days later the two of us were sitting on the bus from school and heard about his death as she burst into tears. This album was really emotional to sit through now, after following Bowie essentially from the start and really diving deep into the true masterpiece that is Bowie's life. It is all the more fitting and emotional listening to this album once more.
Wow thanks for the great post!
DeleteI definitely think Blackstar was a culmination/ paid homage to Bowie’s work throughout his career given the album’s several references and nods to his past hits. The album name itself seems to be a homage to Bowie’s obsession with space/ sci-fi: With several of his hits using space as a metaphor or theme (eg. Space Oddity, Life on Mars?, Hallo Spaceboy), it is only fitting that Bowie’s final album does this too. The fact that a “black star” is seen as an allusion to blackholes gives the album a sense of finality, with all of Bowie’s past themes collapsing into one cumulative album.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the songs themselves, I found various callbacks or references to past characters and melodies used in his songs. Blackstar’s music video opening with the image of a fallen astronaut could be a reference to Major Tom, one of Bowie’s first personas. The fact that it shows the astronaut as being dead could allude to the end of his use of personas, foreshadowing his illness. In addition to the astronaut imagery in Blackstar, I found, after some research, that Bowie’s striped suit in the Lazarus video was very similar to Bowie’s Station to Station promo photoshoot (here’s a picture comparing the two: https://stevepafford.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-bowie-lazarus-station-to-station.jpeg ). I definitely have not been into David Bowie for as long as a lot of you have, but listening/ watching Blackstar still gave me the dull but nostalgic feeling of flicking through a yearbook full of memories. Blackstar was a great album that paid homage to Bowie’s impressive career and gave his audience some closure before his unfortunate passing.
- Natasha Mubeen
Blackstar can definitely be seen as the culmination of Bowie’s work throughout his career, as it is infused with many references to and influences from his earlier works, both thematically, as well as instrumentally. Overall, the album is quite experimental, bringing together jazzy and electronic elements, and weaving them together with a sort of darkness, in a way that is quite reminiscent of the Berlin Era. There were also some similarities between this album and his 90s work, such as Outside, in terms of instrumentation. In “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,” for instance, there is a sort of dissonance formed between the more consistent rhythm of the drums and the jazzy, somewhat “off” sound of other instruments that mixed with ambient, electronic sounds, which reminded me of the unsettling atmosphere of “A Small Plot of Land” that was formed from many of these same elements.
ReplyDeleteIt also introduces his final persona coming after a long line of predecessors, like Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, the Blind Prophet, whose blindfolded and bandaged eyes may be interpreted to represent the fear of the unknown, the “unknown” in this case being death, or what comes after it. This focus on death, explored throughout the album, essentially works as an end to his “neo-classical” phase, and his life’s work in general, and culminates with the final song, “I Can’t Give Everything Away.” With harmonica taken from Low’s “A New Career in Town,” it serves as a sort of look back at his past. Lyrics like “Seeing more and feeling less / Saying no but meaning yes / This is all I ever meant / That's the message that I sent” reflect on his career and serve as a sort of farewell. After going through so much of Bowie’s music, spanning over decades, it was strange, somewhat sad, and bittersweet, to arrive at the last song on his last album, but I guess that everything must come to an end.
- Lillian Gabrelian
Blackstar was an amazing album that went back to Bowie's roots and implemented a jazzy, electronic sound in every song. Blackstar incorporated many dark, sci-fi, storytelling elements that Bowie used a lot of on his earlier albums like Outside and during the Berlin Trilogy. The tracks had deep sounds that used saxophone, mellow guitar, drums, and other sounds to create this ominous atmosphere. I think it was really cool how Bowie's voice was the highlight of these tracks and the music didn't overtake his voice like on other albums like Earthling. I feel like Blackstar was unique in itself within the "neo-classical" period while drawing on many different genres, sounds, and stories that were told in his past. Bowie's love for space and this otherworldly theme is really seen in the Blackstar music video. We see a woman-cat hybrid of some sort pick up a skull, which is assumed to be the long-forgotten Major Tom. I think this was a great way to tie back into his earlier work and also step into the modern light by using updated visuals and compelling lyrics: "Something happened on the day he died/Spirit rose a metre then stepped aside/Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried/(I'm a blackstar, I'm a star star, I'm a blackstar)." When I listened to this album before Bowie's death, I thought to myself "why is he talking about death so much in his songs? Is it a metaphor for the death of the Starman or Major Tom or some other character?" Then after his death, I saw that these in a sense where his final words to the world and his acknowledgment that he was himself a unique, revolutionary "star star" or "blackstar" and that someone was going to replace him. Bowie's last character, a man with bandages and small buttons for eyes, was a little scary and showed just how secretly sick Bowie was. Instead of a picture of good health, Bowie appeared frail and sickly. It's amazing how he was still able to release this final album even if he was secretly suffering for many years. He definitely left an impact on the world that will never be forgotten.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Cohen
Blackstar definitely brings listeners back to earlier David Bowie albums. In this sense, I think this can be seen as an important part of Bowie’s career, as he worked to recapture sufficient use of the sounds that he had utilized so frequently in the past. I don’t know if the album can be seen as a culmination of Bowie’s entire catalog, due to the vast range of sounds and styles that Bowie utilized throughout his decades-long career. I think the only way that a Bowie album could ever be seen as a culmination of his entire life’s works would be if the album was extremely disjointed and contained a variety of sounds, styles, and thoughts, while the tracks of Blackstar work very well together overall.
ReplyDeleteBlackstar works as the end of the “neoclassical” phase by reminding Bowie fans of some of the sounds of his past, while lyrically signaling an end to his career and his life. This album works as Bowie’s final hurrah, of a sense, as he creates a beautiful album that reminds listeners of his greatness, while he announces in less than explicit terms that the end of the road is near for him.
The percussion and instrumentation utilized in this album is similar to that of the instrumentation utilized in Outside and Earthling, due to the heavy influence that instrumentation plays into the success of the tracks on Bowie’s final album. Although his voice also plays a main part in the success of these tracks as well, the instrumentation is loud and powerful, helping to create a distinct atmosphere, as is done in some of Bowie’s 1990s works, but the instrumentals of Blackstar are more closely tied in with the vocals than is done in Outside and Earthling. I don't see a significant connection in terms of instrumentation between Bowie’s 1990s works and his final album, but more of a gradual change in his use of instrumentals and vocals throughout time over his many albums.
Overall, I really truly enjoyed this album. His powerful vocals paired with the ominous instrumentals really create an impactful atmosphere. This is definitely one of my favorite albums by David Bowie that I listened to while taking this course. Thank you so much for teaching this course. I am really happy that I had the opportunity to take it!
There’s something exceptionally poignant and chilling about “Blackstar ''. The album’s proximity to Bowie’s passing makes it very difficult to critique it outside of its context. I remember having the same reaction to Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker” when I listened to it for the first time. The name of the album invokes the impending, inevitable darkness Bowie was facing, while at the same time, underscoring his figurative stardom as well. Some people have mentioned the role of percussion in "Blackstar" as reminiscent of “Earthling” and “Outside”, and I definitely agree. The songs flow forth in a very rhythmic manner -- I don’t know why I thought the album would be lacking heavy percussion. The only difference is that this album does showcase Bowie’s vocals a lot more than some of his preceding works. I thought the closing track was outstanding -- the melody reminded me of his earlier works but I can’t put a finger on which song I’m drawing a connection to.
ReplyDelete- Oksana
I really enjoyed Blackstar. I think it was an excellent way for Bowie to wrap up his career. It is a little sad that Bowie wrote this album knowing he was going to die, but it was such a surprise to all of his fans. In the song “Blackstar,” Bowie sings, “Something happened on the day he died / Spirit rose a metre then stepped aside / Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried (I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar),” which I think foreshadowed his death. Overall, the album was definitely a culmination of Bowie’s work throughout his career. There were hints of different rock styles and jazz, and a slight influence of hip-hop. When I was doing more research on this album, I actually found out that he took inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s album, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” which I thought was really interesting. The actual name of the album reminded me of Bowie’s previous obsession with space which we’ve seen throughout many of his other albums. When I was looking up what a blackstar really is, I found a medical definition describing the shadowing of cancer on x-ray, which was Bowie’s cause of death. Also, the song “Lazarus” just had a complete death theme. In my opinion, this album seems like it pulls a little bit from most of his past albums we have listened to. I saw a lot of connection to Outside and Earthling because of the instrumentals and experimentation. There are a lot of similar sounds and space themes.
ReplyDeleteSofia Sabra
I doubt listening to Blackstar will ever feel like anything less than a surreal, out of body experience. It probably did not help that I was walking around a city at sunset while blasting the album through headphones - it felt at times like Bowie was whispering in my ear at times, and controlling the oncoming dusk. This is only the second time I have listened to the album - my first time was when it had just come out, and had not yet really experienced personal grief (though I was mourning the loss of Bowie and Prince at the time). I do not think it hit me quite as hard then as it does now. Blackstar really is Bowie speaking to us from beyond the grave. I am grateful for his giving us nearly everything.
ReplyDeleteWhile undoubtedly much more experimental in terms of jazz influences (thank you Maria Schnieder), this album does provide a tour of old Bowie. Maybe I was just looking for my favorites to pop up again, but “‘Tis a Pity” felt like it matched the energy of “Queen Bitch” at times, and the somewhat acoustic opening of “Dollar Days” felt like a call back to “Five Years”. This album felt very distinctly Bowie in a way a lot of his later work does not for me, probably because of how his voice is used so much, and so well, throughout the album. I am curious to know who was playing saxophone throughout the album, because I feel like it really added a lot to the tone and the cohesiveness of Blackstar. I do not have a very good understanding of percussion so I am afraid I cannot speak to how well it matches up to last week’s assigned listening, but I do think the form of most of the songs relates a lot more to last week’s listening than the music that preceded it. Long, evolving experimental songs structure most of the album, as opposed to the more melody or groove centered songs that make up a lot of Bowie’s earlier work.
Thank you for a great class, professor.
- Elizabeth Gulli
Blackstar is very interesting because it does seem to be a culmination of other Bowie albums. When listening to it, it was hard to pick a genre. Some songs like “Blackstar”, for example, seem more jazzy with the slow saxophone while “Tis a Pity She Was a Whore” sounded more like EDM. The jazz influence makes me think that this album was a good follow up to Bowie’s neoclassical era. But in general, the songs seem to pull inspiration from different Bowie albums and time periods. Outside and Earthling especially seem to be related because some songs seem to be experimental and sound electronic. There could easily be a connection between the albums.
ReplyDelete-Sydney Beale
This album was extremely beautiful to me. I feel like Bowie comes full circle as an artist on the “Blackstar” album, ending up exhibiting some features from even his very early years, while also bringing a very matured, developed version of his music, with elements Bowie picked up and exhibited throughout the entirety of his career. Particularly when I pulled the album up and heard the opening song “Blackstar,” I was reminded of Bowie during the 70’s, but it feels very polished and modern, especially with the now prominent electronic aspects that Bowie seamlessly weaved into his music to heighten an enigmatic and spacey mood. I do however feel that this album is more somber than early Bowie, who was more poppy and conventional in a way. I love that the music still feels quite cosmic, and even the album name “Blackstar” reminded me of the celestial themes early Bowie channeled. I really appreciate the lengths of these songs because they feel more like art rather than songs you’d just find playing on the radio. There’s this echoey, ethereal feeling, which makes it especially poignant to listen to because although Bowie’s passing was untimely, this album actually feels like Bowie’s goodbye. A seasoned Bowie had become really comfortable in his style, and it is clearly felt in this music.
ReplyDeleteI’m not completely sure if I picked up on the percussion connection to “1. Outside” and “Earthling,” but I felt that there was definitely a similar feeling across all three of these albums. The rhythms felt a little more deliberate and drawn-out, but the music was still pretty intense as a result of the complexity and layering of the instruments. I also felt that this album was a bit more cohesive and less experimental.“Lazarus” prominently exhibits this more drawn-out rhythm as well as a more somber tone, especially at the beginning. I really enjoyed the progression of intensity throughout this song while still being very homogenous. “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)” is a great example of the echoes and a more subdued feeling, but also a great vibrancy in the complexity of electronica, rock, and pop elements, while still maintaining a mysterious mood and a story being told. “Dollar Days” was my favorite song of this album, and I especially feel the piano is breathtakingly beautiful; Bowie is very soft here, and it felt even more like a farewell song to me. The lyrics are quite sad here, and the constant references to death made me especially emotional. Finally,“I Can’t Give Everything Away” was another stellar piece, and I love how it perfectly wraps everything up, not only the album, but the entirety of Bowie’s career, despite that maybe being unintentionally so. It feels cinematic, almost like the music you’d hear swelling at the end of a movie as the main characters are at the end of their incredible adventure together and must part ways.
-Mila Daniel
While Blackstar isn’t my favorite of Bowie’s albums, I can absolutely see how it fully wraps up his career. The percussion and experimental beats, especially in the titular track, is very reminiscent of Outside and Earthling. I found that a lot of the imagery of solitude, “Stands a solitary candle, ah-ah, ah-ah/At the center of it all” (“Blackstar”) alluded to his feelings of loneliness in Low and disillusionment in Aladdin Sane.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite song on this album was without a doubt “Dollar Days”. The grotesque imagery “We bitches tear our magazines/ Of all the gastly foaming mouths from now and then” reminded me of the first track and general vibe of Diamond Dogs. But coupled with the strumming guitar that felt very Hunky Dory-esque and the jazzy saxophone that called back to Young Americans, this song was a mash up of my favorite parts of Bowie. The bleakness in the repetition of “I’m trying to/ I’m dying too” makes me wish I listened to this on the day it was released in 2016, before anyone knew he was going to die two days later. When listening to this song, I feel like Bowie was trying to convey a sense of mourning for something that hasn’t been lost yet, “if I never see the English evergreens”.
I always wondered if Bowie knew how much time he had after releasing Blackstar. It’s clear he knows that he will be gone soon, “Look up here, I'm in heaven/ [...]/ Look up here, man, I'm in danger/ I've got nothing left to lose” (“Lazarus”), but the abruptness of his passing so close to the release just gets me. His death makes the album so bittersweet, and when listening to it, I definitely got the sense of Bowie saying goodbye. After 10 weeks of analyzing his work so deeply, it genuinely hurts to know that this was the end of his, frankly, massive discography.
Tanvi Gaitonde
One of the elements of Blackstar that reminds me the most of Bowie's earlier career is the heavy use of saxophone, which at this point just screams Bowie to me. The entire album sounds a little bit like a death march (I guess that's where the neo-classical comes in?), but not in a threatening way, more in a solemn, accepting way. One of the standout parts of the album for me is the reference to the character of Lazarus, who is resurrected by Jesus in the Bible. Besides being an obvious reference to Bowie's impending death, it also reminded me of the general procedure for famous musicians' discography after their deaths-- when celebrities die, their work tends to be held in much higher regard, or often there's a huge resurgence of interest in a musician's work after they die. I think with the allusion to resurrection, Bowie knows that much of his older work will be resurrected after his death, and held in even greater regard than it was when he was alive. "I Can't Give Everything Away" was also very straightforward about his death in my interpretation, the title to me means that he can't give everything away upon his death. The reference to a "pulse" and the references to his legacy with lines like "That's the message I sent," combined with the fact that it's the very last track on the album, to me mean that this track is his official goodbye. The lyric "flowered news" also brought to mind bouquets or floral arrangements at funerals, the image that immediately popped into my head was that of all of the flowers that were left at Buckingham Palace in tribute to Prince Philip after his death earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought this was a fitting tribute to Bowie's career. Even to the end he continued to experiment and produce an entirely new sound, and it occurred to me while listening that the main constant in his career wasn't anything concrete, but was instead the fact that he tried something new with every era. He could have easily gone a different route and done a bunch of obvious tributes to his former eras, but he did something out of left field instead.
Thank you for creating and teaching this class! It was a really nice break from my other classes every week.
Sofia Potter
Blackstar ended up being a culmination of all of Bowie’s work throughout his career due to the fact that he drew from several different artists and styles for inspiration. He didn’t want to do a straight-up rock and roll album revealing the combinations from all of his albums. Throughout the album, you hear hints of jazz, experimental rock, folk, and hip hop. It becomes very apparent in this album that Bowie was trying to experiment as much as he could to produce some new sounds. Similar to Outside and Earthling, Bowie used a drum and bass rhythm in this album bringing back the roots of the rock and roll sound. You can even hear the similarities between Young American and Blackstar through the use of the Saxophone which was used in both albums for solos. It can also be noted the similar use of the harmonica solo in Blackstar and Low. After doing some research, I found out that Bowie gained a lot of inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pint a Butterfly. Which I find to be very interesting because that is one of the last artists I would think Bowie would be inspired by but I loved that Bowie looked to him because he was so open-minded and did not keep to one specific sound or style which makes a lot of since for Blackstar. I love that for Bowie’s final album is was really reaching out of his comfort zone and looking at modern artists and albums to gain inspiration from. I think it really shows how far he truly came with his career even until his final days.
ReplyDelete- Ella Barnes
Before this week, I had never listened to the entirety of Blackstar, and, to be honest, I was a little hesitant to do so. This nervousness was not motivated by the possibility of me not liking the album, as I have heard non-stop praise for this project since its release. Rather, it was rooted in the awareness of Bowie’s intentions while producing these tracks, considering he knew they would be his last. What does a man with such an immense and iconic impact wish to say as his goodbye? What does he wish to say about life in general?
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved Blackstar, and I am so happy that I waited to listen to it fully after first becoming more familiar with Bowie and his career. If I had not been patient, I would have missed the plethora of clear influences Bowie took from his prior work to create this album, which adds so much to its genius and effectiveness. For example, the saxophone in “Dollar Days” reminded me of its prevalence in Young Americans, an album now decades old. Featuring an instrument that Young Americans was so reliant on, and presenting it, on Blackstar, in such an updated manner, wholly exemplifies the growth and maturity Bowie presents on the entire record. Therefore, I definitely agree with the prompt that Blackstar is a culmination of Bowie’s discography. I also agree with the prompt’s ascertainment of the connection between 1.Outside and Earthling. I initially noticed this connection, however, through the use of transitions. When listening to 1.Outside, I remember being very struck by its peppered transitions, as it was something I had not seen Bowie do much before. That is why the seamless flow in Blackstar from “Dollar Days” into “I Can’t Give Everything Away” was such a pleasant surprise. This choice, I believe, not only hints at inspiration from his unique 90’s projects but also perfectly closes the album, representing how his music will continue live on forever.
As a newer Bowie fan, listening to most of his albums for the first time over these past few weeks, it has been remarkable to experience his consistently evolving career; it is incredibly saddening to see it end. Thank you so much for a lovely quarter!
- Devin Bosley
Listening to Blackstar was truly an experience. I couldn't think of a better send off for Bowie. I've been meaning to listen to this album fully ever since it came out and it's honestly a crime that it took me this long to get around to it.
ReplyDeleteI loved how experimental this album was while still portraying the raw and honest emotions that Bowie experienced while coming to terms with his own death. It serves as a reflection on both his career as a whole and his current struggles with dying. As others have commented on, the skeleton in a spacesuit during the "Blackstar" music video can be seen as a depiction of Major Tom. The shot of the skeleton floating in space toward what appears to be an eclipse (or a "blackstar") really spoke to me. The beginning and end of his life coming together as one. His star has shone for decades but he realizes it will soon dim; it will become black. In astronomy, a black star occurs when a star has collapsed in on itself, reaching a point of singularity, but continues to release energy eternally. This can be seen as a metaphor for Bowie's career. He knew that his death, his collapse, was coming but he will never truly die in the cultural sense. The character Bowie played in both the "Blackstar" and "Lazarus" videos , known as "The Blind Prophet", is a callback to the many personas he adopted throughout his career. However, it also represents the anxieties and uncertainties surrounding the afterlife. He is in the dark; he is blind.
The instrumentals on this album also really stood out to me as a combination of old and new. The freeform jazz influences are particularly strong and work very well as a musical representation of Bowie's feelings. Both the horns and percussion back Bowie's vocals up perfectly and add a sense of urgency/emphasis to his lyrics. At times, the instrumentals also sound very chaotic and ominous which speaks to Bowie's introspection about his demise. As for how these songs connect to his 90s work, I noticed the instrumentals on "Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)" really sounded like something off of Outside. It sounded very dystopian/futuristic and created a dark soundscape with the constant drumming and horns in the background. "Dollar Days" reminded me a lot of his earlier works with a slower tempo and more acoustic instrumentals.
I'm not quite sure how Blackstar builds off of Bowie's "neo-classical" era as the Youtube playlist link wasn't working for me :( but I can say that it is truly a masterpiece. Blackstar is not easy listening, but it is vital listening. Although David Bowie is gone, he will never truly die and Blackstar is a testament to that.
- Addison Harms
(Thank you so much Professor Stefans! I loved every moment of this class. Discussing one of my favorite musicians with you and everyone else in the class was truly something to look forward to every week.)
I really was not expecting to like "Blackstar." I distinctively remember when it was released right before his death and I refused to listen to a deathbed Bowie proclaim that his end is near. However, listening to it now, with the full breadth of Bowie knowledge I'm pretty impressed. It terms of the percussion and instrumentation I hear a lot of his Berlin era but there is a new quality that I've never heard from Bowie before, almost like an experimental jazz rap genre. "Girl Loves Me" is probably one of my favorites from the album, and I'm happy that he got to dip his feet into hip hop because he executed it really well. Overall, I'd say the album is pretty intense in terms of its themes and I'm sure Bowie and Tony Visconti worked tirelessly to make his last album ever a memorable one. It doesn't sound like the Bowie we'd always known, but at the age of 69 he did a great job of going out with a bang and not a whimper like I expected.
ReplyDeleteSabrina
I think the hardest thing about Blackstar is that it is almost impossible to look at it without taking into account how immediate Bowie's death was after its release. I think, in my mind, this makes it almost feel as though it is his attempt at 'summarizing' his life as a human being and as an artist. You can see almost every motif of Bowie on display on this album: feeling alien, trying to push boundaries and try every genre, using sound itself as a mode of expression outside of music. I personally feel as though this album is exactly what I was talking about when we started the class and I said that the best music is a balance of obscurity and listenability. Every song on this album is impressive instrumentally, definitely borrowing from the aesthetics of the era we looked at last week, however, I think aesthetics of all of the Bowie eras are on display on this record. The album is experimental, yet very accessible and pleasant. I think my final thoughts on this album is that it really does sound final. I mean that in a way where I think this album is where Bowie finally really gets it: the direction of his music, the peak of his aesthetic and the trajectory of the music of our time in general. Every album's feelings and instrumentation comes together on this album and allows Bowie a very sincere ending to a legendary career.
ReplyDelete- Charles Whitcomb
Delete