THE NEXT DAY. DAVID BOWIE. Crónica De Un Álbum Inesperado.

Cuando en enero del 2013 David Bowie anunció The Next Day, su primer disco en una década. Los fans aferrimos esperábamos impacientes este nuevo trabajo pero albergábamos dudas razonables. Nunca es sencillo adivinar qué va a pasar con el regreso de un de los grandes, pero aún menos si además es alguien como Bowie, al que quien más quien menos ya daba por retirado de la música. Ya que este inesperado trabajo guardado con el máximo secreto saldría a la luz diez años después del últmo trabajo de Bowie "REALITY".

Fue precisamente donde en la gira mundial "Reality Tour", Bowie sufrió de dolencias cardíacas teniendo que verse obligado a suspendar todos los conciertos que le quedaba por realizar, a partir de ahí David Bowie practicamente desaparece, no se encuentran noticias, se habla que sufre una enfermedad mental, un transtorno que le hace creer victima de una conspiración, pero todo esto eran simples rumores sensacionalistas. Los fans querían saber algo de Bowie y la prensa amarilla entregaba dosificado rarezas de un icono idolatrado Duque Del Pop.

Una vez con el disco ya a la venta y tras escucharlo por primera vez, la sensación es nostalgia por el Bowie que siempre tuvimos. La sorpresa es mayúscula cuando nos presenta un trabajo muy parecido a todo lo anterior pero repleto de un toque muy especial, de unos temas grandiosos y de ritmos que no desentonan para nada con los tiempos. Nos encontramos ante un Álbum innovador, oscuro, rotundo y creativo.

Creo que nadie podía creer lo que estaba escuchando tras diez años de ausencia del mundo de la múscia.

Podemos decir que para empaparnos del álbum hay que escucharlo una par de veces debido a la gran mezcla de temas por ser tan dispares entre si. La impresión general es de diversidad. Quizá esto se deba a que en los últimos años el señor Bowie no ha estado tan parado como parecía y tenía en el cajón un buen puñado de ideas. 

Muchos daban por hecho que este seria el último disco de David Bowie, ya que el cantante le falta muy poco para entrar en los 70 años. 

Bowie y el productor Visconti trabajaron en secreto, sin el conocimiento de la prensa musical, junto al ingeniero Mario J. McNulty, grabando el álbum durante un periodo de dos años. Las sesiones de grabación fueron esporádicas, y Visconti, que tras la publicación de The Next Day se convirtió en el principal promotor del álbum, estimó que durante los tres primeros meses solo grabaron demos.

Durante los días que no trabajaba en el estudio, Visconti reconoció caminar por las calles de Nueva Yorks escuchando la música de The Next Day en sus auriculares: «Estaba caminando por Nueva York con los auriculares puestos, mirando a esa gente con camisetas de Bowie y pensando: "Si supiéseis lo que estoy escuchando ahora"». La banda canadiense Metric casi revela el secreto de las sesiones de grabación cuando llegaron a los estudios Magic Shop en 2011 y Steve Elson, saxofonista de Bowie, se vio tentado de revelarlo todo.

Pero no se filtró nada, apareció ante el público quedando perplejos ante tamaño majestuoso regreso.

La edición sencilla del álbum contiene 14 temas mientras que la versión deluxe continene 18 temas. Son canciones y letras estudiadas al milímetro, algunas rarezas como nos tiene acostumbrados y para mi cinco temas esenciales que lo hacen más vendible, llamativo y atractivo.

1 THE NEXT DAY (Canción con el mismo nombre del álbum).

2 The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

3 I'd Rather Be High

4 Where Are We Now?

5 Valentine´s Day

THE NEXT DAY

Look into my eyes he tells her
I'm going to say goodbye, he says yeah
Do not cry, she begs of him, goodbye yeah
All the day she thinks of his love yeah
They whip him through the streets and alleys there
The gormless and the baying crowd right there
They can't get enough of that doomsday song
They can't get enough of it all
Whisper!
Ignoring the pain
Of their particular diseases
They chase him through the alleys
Chase him down the steps
They haul him through the mud
And they chant for his death
And drag him to the feet
Of the purple headed priest
First they give you everything that you want
Then they take back everything that you have
They live upon their feet
And they die upon their knees
They can work with Satan
While they dress like the saints
They know God exists for the devil told them so
They scream my name aloud down into the well below
Here I am, not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day, and the next
And another day
Here I am, not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day, and the next
And another day
Listen!

THE STARS (Are Out Tonight)

 

Stars are never sleeping
Dead ones and the living

We live closer to the earth
Never to the heavens
The stars are never far away
Stars are out tonight

They watch us from behind their shades
Brigitte, Jack and Kate and Brad
From behind their tinted window stretch
Gleaming like blackened sunshine

Stars are never sleeping
Dead ones and the living

Waiting for the first move
Satyrs and their child wives
Waiting for the last move
Soaking up our primitive world

Stars are never sleeping
Dead ones and the living

Their jealousy’s spilling down
The stars must stick together
We will never be rid of these stars
But I hope they live forever

And they know just what we do
That we toss and turn at night
They’re waiting to make their moves
But the stars are out tonight

Here they are upon the stairs
Sexless and not aware
They are the stars, they’re dying for you
But I hope they live forever

They burn you with their radiant smiles
Trap you with their beautiful eyes
They’re broke and shamed or drunk or scared
But I hope they live forever

And they know just what we do
That we toss and turn at night
They’re waiting to make their moves on us
The stars are out tonight

The stars are out tonight
The stars are out tonight

I'd Rather Be High

 

Nabokov is sun-licked now
Upon the beach at Grunewald
Brilliant and naked just
The way that authors look

Clare and Lady Manners drink
Until the other cows go home
Gossip till their lips are bleeding
Politics and all

I’d rather be high
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be dead
Or out of my head
Than training these guns
On those men in the sand
I’d rather be high

The Thames was black, the tower dark
I flew to Cairo, find my regiment
City’s full of generals
And generals full of shit

I stumble to the graveyard and I
Lay down by my parents, whisper
Just remember duckies
Everybody gets got

I’d rather be high
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be dead
Or out of my head
Than training these guns
On those men in the sand
I’d rather be high

I’m seventeen my looks can prove it
I’m so afraid that I will lose it
I’d rather smoke and phone my ex
Be pleading for some teenage sex
Yeah

I’d rather be high
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be dead
Or out of my head
Than training these guns
On the men in the sand
I’d rather be high...

Where Are We Now?

 

Had to get the train
From Potzdamer Platz
You never knew that
That I could do that
Just walking the dead

Sitting in the Dschungel
On Nürnberger Strasse
A man lost in time
Near KaDeWe
Just walking the dead

Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
You know, you know

Twenty thousand people
Cross Bösebrücke
Fingers are crossed
Just in case
Walking the dead

Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
You know, you know

As long as there's sun
As long as there's sun
As long as there's rain
As long as there's rain
As long as there's fire
As long as there's fire
As long as there's me
As long as there's you

VALENTINE´S DAY

 Valentine told me who's to go
Feelings he treasured most of all
The teachers and the football stars
It's in his tiny face
It's in his scrawny hands
Valentine sold his soul
He's got something to say
It's Valentine's day
The rhythm of the crowd
Benny and Judy down
Valentine sees it all
He's got something to say
It's Valentine's day

Valentine told me how he feels
If all the world were under his heels
Or stumbling through the mall
It's in his tiny face
It's in his scrawny hands
Valentine Knows it all
He's got something to say
It's Valentine's day

Valentine, Valentine
Valentine, Valentine
It's in his scrawny hands
It's in his icy heart
It's happening today
Valentine, Valentine
It's in his scrawny hands
It's in his icy heart
It's happening today
Valentine, Valentine

Aquí les dejo un Performance Fan Video de la canción VALENTINE´S DAY.

 

David Bowie anuncia nuevo disco para enero de 2016 La estrella lanzará Blackstar el 8 de enero, justo el día en que cumplirá 69 años. Su primer sencillo será difundido este 20 de noviembre.