After many years of silence, and rumors about living legend David Bowie's presumed retirement from music, the rock icon has returned to the music scene with the beautiful single 'Where Are We Now?' from the coming album 'The Next Day.'
I first discovered Bowie's pre-released single cruising on autopilot on Vimeo. Although, 'Where Are We Now?' is very low key, it caught my attention and made me wonder how the rest of the songs on'The Next Day' will compare to the first single? So, let's take an in-depth preview of the upcoming album; what we already know about 'The Next Day' album, and some of the rumors surrounding it.
According to rumors, 'The Next Day' consists of contemplative tracks, like the single. However, the rest of the songs should be faster. The producer of 'The Next Day' and 12 of Bowie's previous records, Tony Visconti, confirms the rumors in an interview to the Guardian. The new record is going to have 5 blistering tracks, followed by some mid-tempo songs that have mysterious sound to them.
Listening to the single 'Where Are We Now?,' you might think that Bowie's music has evolved into a more mellow tune, and that his voice is going to sound old on the new album. Following Tony, that's not the case. However, Bowie wanted to show a more vulnerable side with the first song. So, while 'Where Are We Now?' sounds very low-key, elsewhere on the album Bowie is going to sing in full voice like on the epic 'Heroes' album. According to Tony, Bowie sang so loud on the new album that he sometimes literally had to step away from Bowie in the studio.
According to Tony Visconti, the album was produced over two years in NYC's Magic Shop Studios. The record was made by some of Bowie's old friends. People he had worked with before in studios and on previous tours. This made it possible to keep the recordings secret, something that isn't easy in a society, where almost every one carries a smartphone.
When Bowie called Tony, and told him that he wanted to make a new record after 10 years of musical silence, Tony had seen it coming. Although, Bowie previously had told him otherwise, Tony thought that Bowie, eventually, would want to sing again. Back in the studio, Bowie recorded 29 beautiful songs. However, they didn't all fit the new album, which ended up having 14 tracks and with 17 on the deluxe edition. According to Tony, we can expect Bowie working on a second recording sometime later this year. With the new single's great reviews, Bowie fans could be in for an awesome second surprise.
Neil McCormick, music critic at The Telegraph, thinks that 'Where Are We Now?' with its beautiful strange, perfectly orchestrated, sound might be one of the most surprising and perfect comebacks in rock history. Following McCormick, the poetic song has a mysterious sound to it, and it makes you want to hear more from the upcoming album.
NME Track Reviews, calls the song addictive and a perfectly structured ear worm, which is probably going to feature on greatest hits records some years to come. Listening to 'Where Are We Now?,' you immediately press 'repeat.'
While, Ultimate Classic Rock thinks that Bowie's voice is heartening, and the that the song is a ear worm.
Having heard the song - again and again, I have to agree, and I've been guilty at pressing repeat numerous times. What strikes me, is how the song grows on you. Slowly, it creeps under your skin and becomes very addictive.
'Where Are We Now's?' opens with the verse: "Had to get the train, From Potsdamer Platz." Bowie lived in Berlin between 1976-1979, a period where he recorded the 'Berlin Trilogy:' 'Low'(1977), 'Heroes' (1977) and 'Lodger' (1979). However, the new song focuses on Berlin as it was during the fall of The Berlin Wall and Berlin today. Thus, a verse goes like: "Twenty thousand people, Cross Bosebrucke, Fingers are crossed, Just in case, Walking the dead."
Bosebrucke is a bridge in Berlin, and one of the old border crossings during the Cold War. When The Berlin Wall fell, officially, the 9th. November 1989, the Government of East Germany gave its citizens permission to travel to West Germany. Thus, citizens gathered that day and began crossing the bridge: "Fingers are crossed, Just in case, Walking the dead."
That being said, the song is probably also about Bowie's more personal experiences with Berlin. The music video to 'Where Are We Now?,' therefore, shows the auto repair shop below the apartment, where Bowie lived in the 1970's.
If you are a hardcore Bowie fan, you would know that the front cover on 'The Next Day' album is from 'Heroes.' In a recent interview on the website Ultimate Classic Rock, front cover designer Jonathan Barnbrook told, that with the 'new old' cover Bowie refers to the album title 'The Next Day.' The use of old material in new material is in the music industry often associated with a greatest of record. Not so with this cover. With 'The Next Day' cover, Bowie wanted to express the spirit of great rock music, "which is 'of the moment,' forgetting or obliterating the past," says Barnbrook. However, we never succeed escaping our past. Especially, artists like David Bowie are always, in some way or the other, judged by their history, Barnbrook reasons. At the same time, human conditions paradoxical pushes us forward as human beings, forcing us to leave our past, because we can't chose not to. Barnbrook argues, that Bowie wanted to illustrate this by obscuring the cover from 'Heroes' and overwriting the original text.
'The Next Day' will be on the streets the 8th 2013 in Australia, the 11th in the rest of the world, except USA, where the album is available the 12th.
I first discovered Bowie's pre-released single cruising on autopilot on Vimeo. Although, 'Where Are We Now?' is very low key, it caught my attention and made me wonder how the rest of the songs on'The Next Day' will compare to the first single? So, let's take an in-depth preview of the upcoming album; what we already know about 'The Next Day' album, and some of the rumors surrounding it.
According to rumors, 'The Next Day' consists of contemplative tracks, like the single. However, the rest of the songs should be faster. The producer of 'The Next Day' and 12 of Bowie's previous records, Tony Visconti, confirms the rumors in an interview to the Guardian. The new record is going to have 5 blistering tracks, followed by some mid-tempo songs that have mysterious sound to them.
Listening to the single 'Where Are We Now?,' you might think that Bowie's music has evolved into a more mellow tune, and that his voice is going to sound old on the new album. Following Tony, that's not the case. However, Bowie wanted to show a more vulnerable side with the first song. So, while 'Where Are We Now?' sounds very low-key, elsewhere on the album Bowie is going to sing in full voice like on the epic 'Heroes' album. According to Tony, Bowie sang so loud on the new album that he sometimes literally had to step away from Bowie in the studio.
According to Tony Visconti, the album was produced over two years in NYC's Magic Shop Studios. The record was made by some of Bowie's old friends. People he had worked with before in studios and on previous tours. This made it possible to keep the recordings secret, something that isn't easy in a society, where almost every one carries a smartphone.
When Bowie called Tony, and told him that he wanted to make a new record after 10 years of musical silence, Tony had seen it coming. Although, Bowie previously had told him otherwise, Tony thought that Bowie, eventually, would want to sing again. Back in the studio, Bowie recorded 29 beautiful songs. However, they didn't all fit the new album, which ended up having 14 tracks and with 17 on the deluxe edition. According to Tony, we can expect Bowie working on a second recording sometime later this year. With the new single's great reviews, Bowie fans could be in for an awesome second surprise.
Neil McCormick, music critic at The Telegraph, thinks that 'Where Are We Now?' with its beautiful strange, perfectly orchestrated, sound might be one of the most surprising and perfect comebacks in rock history. Following McCormick, the poetic song has a mysterious sound to it, and it makes you want to hear more from the upcoming album.
NME Track Reviews, calls the song addictive and a perfectly structured ear worm, which is probably going to feature on greatest hits records some years to come. Listening to 'Where Are We Now?,' you immediately press 'repeat.'
While, Ultimate Classic Rock thinks that Bowie's voice is heartening, and the that the song is a ear worm.
Having heard the song - again and again, I have to agree, and I've been guilty at pressing repeat numerous times. What strikes me, is how the song grows on you. Slowly, it creeps under your skin and becomes very addictive.
'Where Are We Now's?' opens with the verse: "Had to get the train, From Potsdamer Platz." Bowie lived in Berlin between 1976-1979, a period where he recorded the 'Berlin Trilogy:' 'Low'(1977), 'Heroes' (1977) and 'Lodger' (1979). However, the new song focuses on Berlin as it was during the fall of The Berlin Wall and Berlin today. Thus, a verse goes like: "Twenty thousand people, Cross Bosebrucke, Fingers are crossed, Just in case, Walking the dead."
Bosebrucke is a bridge in Berlin, and one of the old border crossings during the Cold War. When The Berlin Wall fell, officially, the 9th. November 1989, the Government of East Germany gave its citizens permission to travel to West Germany. Thus, citizens gathered that day and began crossing the bridge: "Fingers are crossed, Just in case, Walking the dead."
That being said, the song is probably also about Bowie's more personal experiences with Berlin. The music video to 'Where Are We Now?,' therefore, shows the auto repair shop below the apartment, where Bowie lived in the 1970's.
If you are a hardcore Bowie fan, you would know that the front cover on 'The Next Day' album is from 'Heroes.' In a recent interview on the website Ultimate Classic Rock, front cover designer Jonathan Barnbrook told, that with the 'new old' cover Bowie refers to the album title 'The Next Day.' The use of old material in new material is in the music industry often associated with a greatest of record. Not so with this cover. With 'The Next Day' cover, Bowie wanted to express the spirit of great rock music, "which is 'of the moment,' forgetting or obliterating the past," says Barnbrook. However, we never succeed escaping our past. Especially, artists like David Bowie are always, in some way or the other, judged by their history, Barnbrook reasons. At the same time, human conditions paradoxical pushes us forward as human beings, forcing us to leave our past, because we can't chose not to. Barnbrook argues, that Bowie wanted to illustrate this by obscuring the cover from 'Heroes' and overwriting the original text.
'The Next Day' will be on the streets the 8th 2013 in Australia, the 11th in the rest of the world, except USA, where the album is available the 12th.
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For more bonus info on Bowie's new album and a review of the album when it is released visit The Next Day Preview.
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