New David Bowie single 'Where Are We Now?' and album The Next Day
Bowie marks 66th birthday with first single in a decade and album released on Mar 16
David Bowie has released a new single 'Where Are We Now?' this morning - his 66th birthday - with absolutely nothing in the way of the fanfare or marketing that accompanies most releases by both new and established artists these days.
A combination of health scares and the fact that Bowie seemed genuinely content away from music - bringing up daughter Alexandria, born in 2002, with wife Iman in New York - made the possibility that he's actually retired from music pretty plausible.
'Where Are We Now?' is produced by Tony Visconti, a musical partnership made famous on several of Bowie's most successful albums, including the Berlin trilogy of Low (1977), "Heroes" (1977), Lodger (1979) and the lyrics to the new track reference several Berlin landmarks. Visconti also produced Diamond Dogs (1974), Young Americans (1975), and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) and the pair reunited for the albums Heathen (2002) and Reality (2003).
Musically, 'Where Are We Now?' is the lush, full sound of a proper Bowie torch song, with a string pallette that could be lifted from Absolute Beginners, and with what could be long-time collaborator Mike Garson's florid piano in there too. Through it, Bowie's voice sounds audibly older - the man is 66 years old today - but melodically it's a trademark performance.