8. Blackstar (2016)

It’s nigh on impossible to regard Blackstar, Bowie’s 25^th and final album, separately from the context of his death so soon after its release. So many column inches and so much space on the internet has already been taken up with analysis of this most fascinating of records, including our own contemporary review, published the day before his passing. What was said a year ago is still true now – Blackstar is up there with Bowie’s finest albums.

Backed by a new band of New York-based jazz artists, led by the versatile Donny McCaslin who works as another brilliant creative foil for Bowie, they instinctively following his lead with stark yet warm arrangements. Perhaps portentously, it was his first album not to feature a picture (or any kind of graphic representation) of Bowie on the front, simply a monochrome picture of a black star.

What you hear is a man positively balking at the idea of comfortable ‘heritage rock’, who couldn’t be satisfied with his life’s work even if he tried, still intent on using his platform to challenge his audience and defy their expectations of him right at the end of his life. With the possible exceptions of 1995’s 1. Outside and the second halves of Low and “Heroes”, Blackstar is the most avant-garde and ‘arty’ music Bowie ever made.

His singing voice, quavering at once with strength and vulnerability, is a stone-cold marvel throughout, but the overall ambience is spectral. The multi-segmented title track and ‘Lazarus’ have been the enduring ‘hits’ from the album, but it ends with a faintly subversive double-entendre with the languid ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’ (is he referring to his secrets, or his earthly possessions?). Frenetic free jazz (‘Girl Loves Me’ and the re-recorded ‘Sue Or In A Season Of Crime’) rubs up alongside dignified, mournful laments like ‘Lazarus’, all tied together by its creator’s desire to create something ambitious and unique.

Taken on its own terms, it was an incredible artistic achievement, putting even its warmly-received predecessor The Next Day in the shade. Fittingly, Blackstar immediately became the full-stop at the end of Bowie’s long and varied career. The world will never see another entertainer like him. Perhaps in years to come, if this list were to be compiled again, his final album might be even higher. (LISTEN)

In his own words: Obviously, Bowie never gave any public explanations regarding Blackstar, but its producer Tony Visconti communicated to the world soon after the singer’s death. “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us.”

Highlights: ‘Blackstar’; ‘Sue Or In A Season Of Crime’; ‘Lazarus’; ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’