Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room David Bowie

It does - will be settling down in front of that lot!

The Dame is back! It's his birthday today and blimey! He's given us a present! From The Guardian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyDTy9DtHQ

David Bowie has celebrated his 66th birthday by releasing a new single, Where Are We Now?, ahead of his first new album in 10 years.

The track was put on sale in the iTunes store in 119 countries on Tuesday morning and a video preview posted on his website, which has been relaunched for the occasion. His 30th studio recording, The Next Day, would be released in March, said the Iso/Columbia record company.

The glam-rock singer shot to fame in the late 60s with Space Oddity but has been largely silent in recent years, not performing live since 2006 and rarely appearing in public since then. Bowie turned down the opportunity to appear at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony despite a personal plea by director Danny Boyle.

"Throwing shadows and avoiding the industry treadmill is very David Bowie despite his extraordinary track record that includes album sales in excess of 130m, not to mention his massive contributions in the area of art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social commentary," said a Columbia press release.

The record, produced by long-term collaborator Tony Visconti and written by Bowie, was recorded in New York, Columbia said. The single is accompanied by a video directed by Tony Oursler that harks back to Bowie's time in Berlin. He is seen looking in on footage of the auto repair shop beneath the apartment he lived in along with stark images of the city at the time.

The spokesman added that Bowie was the sort of artist who "writes and performs what he wants when he wants".

A second representative subsequently told the Guardian there were no plans for interviews or live dates.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/08/david-bowie-new-album-single

hmm, its certainly a bit laid back, and the main question is why has he been cruelly conjoined with Bjork? what a way to spend your birthday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyDTy9DtHQ

Nice (enough) song, shame about the video

The video is a bit low budget and unusual, but at the same time as understated as the song itself, which is hardly what you might call "single" material. That said, it's a lovely piece, sad, reflective and haunting. There's a vulnerability to David's vocals as he looks back over his time in Berlin. I was really moved and excited by this somewhat unexpected release!

And he's number 1 in the iTunes charts

It's a nice song. Probably not a single material but good nonetheless. Not too keen on the video though.

No surprises in being no. 1 in the charts, although it must surely be one of the fastest selling 'singles' ever.

I like the song and the video .. it's all a bit low key, back to basics, simple, almost completely stripped of all past frivolities. It's obviously a 'nostalgic' piece, "old man" looking back on his past and all that. I can relate to it!

I'm yet to find the words to write sufficiently about this... though I'm not afraid to admit it was an emotional moment for me to hear the new song for the first time.

According to Tony Visconti, "Where Are We Now" is the album's only real inward/backwards looking track and he even thinks it's a surprising choice of lead single. I guess it's a favourite of David's, and he has earned the right to release what he wants (and evidently when he wants to!).

I haven't felt this excited by the news of a new album in a long, long time.

A really interesting track, reflective and his vocals sound quite fragile which suits the song, is it "Single" material, i'm not sure but would make a brilliant closing track on his new album.