Three years have passed since the sad death of David Bowie, it seems like yesterday that the news dropped early in the morning, the anniversary being tomorrow. On his birthday in 2013 I remember the excitement that he had suddenly reappeared with no warning and released 'Where Are We Now?' and there was a feeling that he might tour. This was sadly never to be, I personally wonder if he knew then that he was on borrowed time. When you think about it he did things the right way round, usually you work all your life before retiring if you are lucky to get that far. However people in the entertainment industry tend to work until they drop without enjoying that well deserved rest. David Bowie did it in typically skewed fashion by spending ten years doing very little work-wise so he could be at home and be a dad to his daughter before hitting a final creative peak right before the end. It is easy to listen to the album Blackstar in retrospect and read between the lines looking for clues, especially within the video for 'Lazarus'. 

Although I observed his birthday as I will the anniversary of his death tomorrow, quietly to myself, there was something that disturbed me slightly. The news showed up on the official Bowie Twitter feed (I am against the practise of verifying Twitter accounts for people who get someone else to do it, which was the case when Bowie was alive, but that's a different story) that Parlophone are going to release a collection of rare tracks and demos. 

Maybe Bowie made provision for this, he did seem quite organised after all, if you saw the David Bowie Is... exhibition you would realise the attention to detail that played a part in his life. I don't doubt that there is a lot of music in the vaults, but what I am worried about is the over selling of the legend. Spying Through A Keyhole isn't an album, it is a collection of 7" singles of rare tracks and previously unheard demo versions of well known songs. Once upon a time I would have bought anything, I would have bought a tape of David Bowie reading takeaway menus but my feelings are changing. 

Since the death of David Bowie, his social media has turned into advertising space for reissues, picture discs, and other such lucrative endeavours. You only have to look at the way that Brian May and Roger Taylor has squeezed every drop of goodwill out of the Queen legacy to worry that David Bowie will be the next victim of this. After all, they do say that death is the best career move for a musician.

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Ever since the death of David Bowie there have been a great many reports regarding what in retrospect would appear to be hidden messages from beyond the grave within his final album Blackstar. There is also a vast wealth of conspiracy theories by people who should really get out of the house more, such as the dimwit who found the time to come up with the idea that the K-West sign on the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars was in fact a reference to hip hop buffoon Kanye West. As he died two days after the release of the album it stands to reason that he was leaving himself open to speculation, especially as he enjoyed the mystery element in his later years. Obviously we now know that the reason for his secrecy was that he was close to death, and it isn't totally unrealistic to imagine that such a meticulous planner could have laid a few crumbs out for his fans. Although it is doubtful that he could have known the exact day of his death, he must have known he didn't have long, something that a post-death look at the video for 'Lazarus' tells us. 

Something that hasn't been reported on, mainly because I made the whole thing up while walking Jack, is that David Bowie predicted his career and death way back in 1967. The proof of this is in the lyrics to 'The Laughing Gnome'. Don't believe me? Of course you don't, this is all bollocks but let's go with it anyway.

I was walking down the high street

when I heard footsteps behind me. 

Was he talking about his own ghost?

And there was a little old man

In scarlet and grey, shuffling away.

For such a colourful person, David Bowie wore grey on some occasions. Each picture depicts David Bowie as an older man than he was in 1967.

Then I put him on the train to Eastbourne

Carried his bag, gave him a fag

Eastbourne is a place jokingly referred to as a place where elderly people go to die, and long time smoker David Bowie died of cancer.

In the morning when I woke up

He was sitting on the edge of my bed

David Bowie appeared on a bed in the video for 'Lazarus' in which he appeared to be talking from beyond the grave.

If none of the above totally invented facts are not enough for you, how about the London Records label for 'The Laughing Gnome'? That's right, there's a black star on it and Bowie's final album was called Blackstar.

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 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

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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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 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

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Photo by Jimmy King

It was BBC 6 Music that I and I imagine millions of others turned to on the morning of David Bowie's death in January, and today they had the exclusive on a brand new song. Radio 2 had another, so this was going to be a day once again dominated by the much missed legend. Much has been made of how carefully organised Bowie's final days seemed to be, with special messages apparently being spread through Blackstar, the final album released just days before his death. I'm not sure his passing was as meticulously planned as we are led to believe, (or would like to believe) but I do think that knowing he was ill with cancer prompted his final burst of creative output beginning with his single release 'Where Are We Now', the moment you know, you know. As such a detailed archivist in life I don't doubt that he left instructions regarding his work in the future, and to be honest he has a good team of people in charge of this; Tony Visconti among them. 

David Bowie's final job was the writing of the musical Lazarus, based on the film The Man Who Fell to Earth, and was made with the same level of secrecy that surrounded the final two albums. This might be seen as a strange thing for Bowie to do given that he was always about the future, but when you know how your future is going to pan out, I suppose it is time to look back. As someone on Twitter pointed out in January, we were so pleased to see him back that we didn't realise he was saying goodbye. 

'When I Met You' is a charming pop song that could have come from early 1980s David Bowie, and appears at the end of the play. With the lyrics "I was the walking dead/ I was kicked in the head/ I was too insane/ Could not trust the game/ Before I met you" this is a song about being saved from himself by a loved one, possibly his wife Iman or possibly the character's love. 

'No Plan' was premiered on Radio 2 at lunchtime and is, in my opinion, a more Bowie sounding song if such a thing is possible from someone who kept switching styles and influences. It's a smooth jazz number, something he had been playing with on Blackstar and I don't doubt that the kind of people who over analyse will surmise that this is David Bowie sending a message from beyond the grave - "All the things that are in my life/ My moods/ My beliefs/ My desires/ Me alone/ Nothing to regret/ This is no place, but here I am".

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 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

Thank you in advance for donating using the PayPal button at the top of this page. It all goes towards creating podcasts, sketches, documentaries, films and more, all of which I will make available for free in return for your generosity.