Heathen [VINYL]

This, his first album since the tuneful but dissapointing Hours..., has had exactly the same treatment, except that this time, the cliche that is "His best since Scary Monsters" is entirely justified, beacause with Heathen, Bowie has managed to rediscover three things: his unique ability to construct a wonderful tune, his lyrical inventivity and his talent at making a beautifully flowing album.

Sunday, the album's opener, is an incredibly pretentious and majestic song, which builds slowly to an incredible climax. A wonderful opening song. In Slip Away, the former Thin White Duke has made one of his best songs in years. Emotionally delivered and with a beautiful tune to boot, this is perhaps the albums highlight. Other great songs are I Would Be Your Slave (a paranoid and moving love ballad) and Everyone Says Hi (a little ditty with a catchy tune which works brilliantly). But Bowie isn't just fantastic with his own work, and on Heathen, he turns his talents towards the work of three other artists, covering the Pixie's 'Cactus', The Legendary Stardust Cowboy's 'I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spacecraft' and Neil Young's 'I've Been Waiting For You'. All are exectued to perfection, and Cactus, a song which suits Bowie down to the ground, is particularly good.

In truth, Heathen doesn't have a bad track, the closest being Afraid, and in the final song, Heathen (The Rays), Bowie has made yet another masterpiece to add to his repertoire. The opening single, Slow Burn, is Bowie's best single release in years, with the legendary Pete Townshed giving a guitar performance filled with verve, enthusiasm and energy. Overall, Heathen is an album made and executed wonderfully. Much of this has to do with the return of produced Tony Visconti, who famously produced many of Bowie's greatest albums (including the aforementioned Scary Monsters...), and who's talents with string arrangements are highly in evidence, especially in I Would Be Your Slave and Afraid. However, more important than anything else, Bowie now sounds like he cares about and feels for his music again. His voice has matured beautifully, and instead of slipping quietly into mediocrity as many artists of his generation have done, Bowie continues to surprise and delight.

A return to form? Most definitely.

Despite the scepticism of certain fans, and the reluctance of musical press to rate any new material from Bowie above average, I would say, yes, it is.

One obvious answer is Bowie's reunion with his long-time collaborator Tony Visconti, last seen on Scary Monsters, and, as die-hard fans will know, on the Placebo single Without You I'm Nothing and The Rustic Overtones' Viva Nueva. Visconti's string arrangements in Heathen are truly superb - ranging from the dark, intense and enigmatic I Would Be Your Slave to deceptively jolly Everyone Says 'Hi'. Yet, I believe, Mr. Visconti is not the only reason making Heathen exceptional.

Those who have followed Bowie's work during last three years will know that there was one more album between hours... and Heathen. The album was tentatively called Toy, and contained polished rerecordings of Bowie's early songs, an attempt, according to him, to finish what was started over thirty years ago. Then-Bowie's label Virgin, possibly scared by the imagery of Laughing Gnomes and Rubber Bands did not consider this idea that brilliant, and the album suddenly disappeared even before finalizing plans for the release. However, two tracks from Toy were reworked for Heathen. Afraid, a live favourite, is on par with such rockers as Suffragette City and Fame. Slip Away, Bowie's homage to the bizarre TV show, witnesses some of Bowie' best composing and some of his mot cryptic lyrics (even distorted further by the reviewers, thank you very much The Guardian). More tracks from Toy are being released as B-sides and other additional material, and should definitely be given due attention.

Next, come three covers that mostly provoke a love-or-hate relationship to the listener. In Cactus, a cover of The Pixies, David not only sounds naughtier than his multiple character in the Outside murder saga, but he also does almost all of the instruments on the track. I've Been Waiting For You, originally Neil Young's, is a look back to the Tin Machine era. The best of the three (or the worst, depending how you see it) is Legendary Stardust Cowboy's Gemini Spacecraft, a surreal cosmic love story, invoking the imagery of Bowie's alien personae without directly referencing to them. In addition, Bowie's vocals are so mellow and sexy, the track could easily be on Young Americans.

Heathen has everything a good album needs: an interesting, yet not intrusive or too in-your-face concept, very rich and deep melodic textures and wonderfully diverse vocals. Every new listen of Heathen brings a new discovery - whether it's a chord you did not hear before, subtle synthesizer effects or a pun in the lyrics. But in order to truly appreciate Heathen, one has to stop comparing it to Bowie's "classic" works. If you have Ziggy and Low engraved deep in your skin, Heathen will feel like a cup of two-day-old coffee.

But onto the actual album at hand, and it pretty much caters for every Bowie fan while still retaining its sense of individuality. There's the electronic soundscape stylings of Sunday and Heathen bookending the album, Sunday being a particular favourite of mine. You've got the more rockier climbs of Cactus and Slow Burn, and as an added bonus for any of you who think Bowie just poses and gets other people to do all the hard work he plays all the instruments himself on the former. Afraid and Slip Away hark back to some of the more orchestral moments on Hunky Dory, but evolved into something entirely new.

I must say I'm not a huge fan of the covers on here, not that they're bad songs (far from it) but in comparison to Bowie's own songs they just aren't as good. Especially if you have the limited 2 CD version with the updated Conversation Piece on, which would have fitted on the album proper so well. But that's just me trying to find fault with such a good album.