Song 94 - Blackstar (the album) - David Bowie

In this week where we have now lost two great artists in their respective fields, the Friday album into the Jukebox is David's Bowie's Blackstar which was released a week ago today  before his tragic death was announced three days later. The title track was released in November 2015, and was used as the theme song of the TV programme The Last Panthers. We now know that it was in November that Bowie received the news that his cancer has spread across the rest of his body and that this would be his last studio album.  What a statement to leave us all with.

In Rolling Stone Magazine, Bowie's producer Tony Visconti, paid tribute to his friend by saying "He was so brave and courageous"... "And his energy was still incredible for a man who had cancer. He never showed any fear. He was just all business about making the album." If you want to read more of this interview, the link is at the bottom on the page.

Blackstar was Bowie's 26th album in a career spanning five decades. Recorded in New York City, Bowie began writing songs for his last album straight after he had finished his last album The Next Day. Two songs that appear on the album had been previously release, Sue (In a Season of Crime) and Tis a Pity She was a Whore were re-recorded for the album. Like other Bowie Albums, it foundations came from Bowie being inspired by different artists like Kendrick Lamar,  Boards of Canada and Death Grips.

There are no surprises that the songs and their lyrics are very clearly the words of a man trying to come to terms with his own death, and for me, it doesn't feel right to pick over the lyrics  highlighting what they might refer to. For me, we just have to be thankful that Bowie gave us the music that he did and he shared his incredible journey and talent with us.

To see the haunting video of Blackstar:
Blackstar by David Bowie

Written by David Bowie
Album: Blackstar
Released: January 2016

To read the Rolling Stone Article, please see the link below
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-planned-post-blackstar-album-thought-he-had-few-more-months-20160113#ixzz3xFW8HLwI 

Song 92 - Changes by David Bowie

It is really interesting looking back on the career of David Bowie and researching the songs to realised how some songs which I think are massive hits didn't really perform in the chart when they were first release. Changes, released in 1972 as single, falls into this category and maybe demonstrates that Bowie was ahead of his time and perhaps the mainstream of 1970s pop didn't embrace him fully when he was first releasing material.

One of the quotes that I've seen on social media and news sites this week given by Javis Cocker from Pulp is "Bowie made people feel that it was alright to be a bit different and try things out", and when you think about how much there is today in today's society about conforming to a certain life or look, perhaps it would be healthier for younger people to be encouraged to be more like Bowie in their outlook. He walked his own path, he didn't feel it necessary to fit into one particular image and because of this he created a legacy in music and film that I think will be there forever.

Changes, taken from the 1971 album Hunky Dory album, was almost a prescript to Bowie's career as it is based on the idea of an artistic continual reinvention and distancing themselves from the rock and roll mainstream. It was the first track on the album and the album was hailed by Rolling Stone as "Bowie's most engaging album musically, but also finds him one more writing literally enough to let the listener exam their ideas comfortably without having to withstand a barrage of seemingly verbiage before  getting at an idea."

Perhaps when listening to the track today you can think what changes there are to be made by you
Changes by David Bowie

Written by David Bowie
Album - Hunky Dory
Released - 1972.