Another day another new Bowie track and it seems that they saved the best until last. 'Killing a Little Time' would appear to be one of the final three songs completed by David Bowie and as with the two I mentioned yesterday make up what will no doubt be the highlight of the Lazarus soundtrack. As I said, they have saved the best until last with this song that resembles his 1990s era output. "I've got a handful of songs to sing/ To sting your soul/ To fuck you over/ This furious reign" is a poignant lyric from an artist who stung our souls and fucked us over with his art throughout his life and will probably be read as a cry about having so much to give before he dies, knowing full well that he was going to do just that.
True Bowie fans will be delighted to hear these new tracks together while at the same time saddened that this really is the end. Even in death Bowie was leading the way, becoming the first high profile casualty of the 2016 Grim Reaper's over enthusiasm he raised the bar for what was to follow. With no disrespect to any of the much loved stars we have lost this year, none stirred up the worldwide emotion felt on January 11th (he died in New York on the 10th but the news broke on the Monday morning). All three of these songs are polished products that weren't just cobbled together by some bean counting record company vultures, they were recorded during the Blackstar sessions and are David Bowie all the way through.
There has been speculation regarding how much Bowie left behind with some commentators predicting that several albums are waiting to be released every time interest and coverage of David Bowie threatens to dip. Nobody did this trick better than David Bowie himself when he released 'Where Are We Now' on his 66th birthday with no preamble, so could he have stipulated that he will continue to drop surprises for years to come? What worries me personally, and maybe other Bowie fans feel the same, is the quality of what is left behind. If there was a plan and each new song sounds as good as the three we have been given this week, then there's no real problem but what if the public's lust for new Bowie comes at a cost? I once said that I would buy a recording of David Bowie reading aloud from the phone book but if such a recording exists then I don't think I'd care as much now, preferring everything to be perfect. Freddie Mercury is the cautionary tale here, as Brian May and Roger Taylor have pissed on his grave and squeezed every last drop out of the Queen legacy.
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