he sounds a little weak to me. there were rumours he was sick. but then roger waters sounded winded a few years back and now he's as strong as ever. have to wait to hear the rest of the album.

Funny that Weird Al also has a rare Peter and the Wolf album.

David Bowie Releases First Single in a Decade, Album to Follow



David Bowie

David Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday today by dropping a new single "Where Are We Now?", which went live in the early hours of Jan. 8 through Iso/Columbia Records. Today's retail release is an exclusive across the iTunes Store in 119 countries.

The Thin White Duke has been away for some time. Too long. But it seems he's not been idle. "Where Are We Now?" is a taster of a promised new album "The Next Day", his 30th studio recording and his first since "Reality" ten years ago. "The Next Day" will also be distributed as a pre-order, in the "standard" and "deluxe" packages, the latter containing three bonus tracks. The staggered release will arrive in Australia on March 8, followed by the rest of the world-excluding the U.S. on March 11 and the U.S. the following day.

The new single is written by Bowie, and recorded in New York with his long-term collaborator Tony Visconti on production duties. It's a slow tempo number that grows in intensity from a swelling guitar play.

Bowie's surprise birthday gift to his fans includes a video, directed by Tony Oursler. In the clip - which can be seen here - Bowie revisits the well that was his Berlin years. He's seen looking-in on the auto repair store beneath the apartment he lived during the '70s, as footage flashes past detailing the bleak landscape of the German capital's recent past. There's more than a touch of Johnny Cash's remarkable promo for "Hurt".

There is no news, however, on whether Bowie will tour in support of the album.

While only the single "Where Are We Now" is available on iTunes, it also lists the track listing for the deluxe edition of "The Next Day," which is as follows:

The Next Day
Dirty Boys
The Stars (Are out Tonight)
Love Is Lost
Where Are We Now?
Valentine's Day
If You Can See Me
I'd Rather Be High
Boss of Me
Dancing Out in Space
How Does the Grass Grow?
(You Will) Set the World On Fire)
Heat
So She (Bonus Track)
I'll Take You There (Bonus Trac)
Plan (Bonus Track)

I'll say it again-Bowie and I have a birthday tomorrow. Gifts will be tolerated.

On a serious note-what wonderful news this is as I absolutely loved Heathen and Reality!

Yes, that really is the finalised artwork.

There has been much discussion surrounding the cover of the new David Bowie album The Next Day so thought I would answer a few questions that people have asked about it.

– Why not a new image for the cover?
We wanted to do something different with it – very difficult in an area where everything has been done before – but we dare to think this is something new. Normally using an image from the past means, ‘recycle’ or ‘greatest hits’ but here we are referring to the title The Next Day. The “Heroes” cover obscured by the white square is about the spirit of great pop or rock music which is ‘of the moment’, forgetting or obliterating the past.

However, we all know that this is never quite the case, no matter how much we try, we cannot break free from the past. When you are creative, it manifests itself in every way – it seeps out in every new mark you make (particularly in the case of an artist like Bowie). It always looms large and people will judge you always in relation to your history, no matter how much you try to escape it. The obscuring of an image from the past is also about the wider human condition; we move on relentlessly in our lives to the next day, leaving the past because we have no choice but to.

– Why “Heroes”?
If you are going to subvert an album by David Bowie there are many to choose from but this is one of his most revered, it had to be an image that would really jar if it were subverted in some way and we thought “Heroes” worked best on all counts. Also the new album is very contemplative and the “Heroes” cover matched this mood. The song "Where Are We Now?" is a comparison between Berlin when the wall fell and Berlin today. Most people know of Bowie’s heritage in Berlin and we want people to think about the time when the original album was produced and now.

– Why the white square obscuring the image?
We worked on hundreds of designs using the concept of obscuring this cover but the strongest ones were the simplest – it had to be something that was in direct contrast to the image underneath but that wasn’t too contrived (we know all design is contrived, that is the essence of the word ‘design’). It would have been clearer to many people if we had scribbled all over the cover but that didn’t have the detachment of intent necessary to express the melancholy of the songs on the album. Obscuring Bowie’s image is also reference to his identity, not only in the past when he changed endlessly but that he has been absent from the music scene for the past ten years. Was this an act to hide his identity or that he has simply become more comfortable with it?

– Why is there no colour?
The title of the album The Next Day evokes numerous reference points, notably Macbeth’s speech ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow’ which deals with the relentless onward push that any unnatural position of power requires. It also has the existential element of Waiting for Godot with waiting for The Next Day – these all seem to question the nature of existence so a monochrome palette seemed most appropriate to this feeling.

– Why didn’t you do a logo, or new design of his name on the cover?
We wanted the cover to be as minimal and undesigned as possible, we felt the most elegant solution was to use the original one from “Heroes” and simply cross out the title of the old album. It has the detachment appropriate for the atmosphere of the new album.

– What is the font you used for the main title?
It is a new font that we are working on called Doctrine – this is the first major use of it. Doctrine will be released in the coming weeks at VirusFonts.

– What is Bowie like to work with?
He is quite a private person, so no need to say too much about him other than that he is a pleasure to work with. Very intelligent, funny, serious when he needs to be and generous in his thoughts and actions.

– Is there anything else you can add?
Yes, having said all this, we know it is only an album cover with a white square on it but often in design it can be a long journey to get at something quite simple which works and that simplicity can work on many levels – often the most simple ideas can be the most radical. We understand that many would have preferred a nice new picture of Bowie but we believed that would be far less interesting and not acknowledge many of the things we have tried to discuss by doing this design. Finally we would like to give David Bowie great credit, he simply did what he always does which is to go with a radical idea and that takes courage and intelligence. That is why we love his music and love working for him.

My cover of David Bowie’s new single has gone somewhat viral, attracting over 5000 hits in 24 hours. “So Nick,” asks YouTube user Kkidzz, “break it down for all of us: 1) @ what time did you hear the track? 2) when did you start recording and how long did it take you? … all done on your laptop?”



It’s an interesting question. The answer is that the cover was made pretty much entirely with products from Apple and Google, as all my music is these days. Using a MacBook Air, Garageband, Google Search, the Chrome browser, and YouTube, I put the song together in eight hours. Bowie has made a beautiful, melancholy song haunted by memories, and my cover is haunted by my own memories of Berlin and of a lifetime immersed in Bowie’s work. It’s also haunted by a series of sound samples I gathered from YouTube clips using Audio Hijack Pro. Here’s the timeline:

http://mrstsk.tumblr.com/post/40077382336

he sounds a little weak to me. there were rumours he was sick. but then roger waters sounded winded a few years back and now he's as strong as ever. have to wait to hear the rest of the album.