Bowie

I've been listening to the new Bowie album for a week now and have decided that new Bowie sounds exactly like old Bowie - and perhaps that's the point of the baffling cover which is actually the cover of his 1977 album, with a white square stuck over it and the title, Heroes blacked out. Even the rear of the sleeve contains a partially redacted Heroes track list.

The meaning of the cover teases - what is Bowie trying to say? Search me?

On first listen the album feels like a collection of mostly uptempo rockers which sound as if they could have come from Bowie's Berlin period, but delve a little deeper into the songs and you come across some dark corners - war, hunger, murder and ghosts linger behind each and every riff. Stand out tracks for me are Dirty Boys and the awkwardly titled Boss of Me, both of which recall past glories, but the rest of the album is pleasing enough. I don't think it's quite as good as Bowie's last album, Reality but it is superior quite a few platters in his back list.

That this could turn out to be Bowie's last album looks likely, especially since it's been ten years since his last and in that time heart problems almost killed him. Let's hope we get more Bowie in the future and if this album is any indication then the master still sounds good.