David Bowie made dying into a work of art in Blackstar [Review]

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Agence France-Presse
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With David Bowie's death two days after he released Blackstar, the album takes on a startlingly new light, as it turns out to be the legend's intricate final statement.

The album, Bowie's 25th, proved him as cutting edge to the end as he uses a quartet to create a hard jazz sound.

The macabre, 10-minute-long title track shifts musically several times with Bowie's gentle wail holding it together.

The British artist, whose sexuality was never simple, sings in Victorian gay slang on Girl Loves Me, before singing over haunting minor piano on Dollar Days: "If I'll never see the English evergreens I'm running to/It's nothing to me."

Blackstar ends with the anthem I Can't Give Everything Away, with a hint of New Wave dance layered with bold, poised blasts of saxophone, electric guitar and Bowie's voice.

Bowie closes with a hint of mystery, singing, "This is all I ever meant. That's the message that I sent. I can't give everything away."

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