David Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday this morning with a surprise for everyone else: he broke a long musical silence with the new single "Where Are We Now?" from a forthcoming album, The Next Day, which is due in March. Recorded in New York with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti producing, the unexpected album is Bowie's first collection of new material since 2003.
100 Greatest Artists: David Bowie
The Next Day, Bowie's 30th studio recording, follows 46 years after his self-titled 1967 debut. It's the latest chapter in an iconic career that has veered from the glam of Ziggy Stardust to a stylized Eighties pop sound to the wide-ranging musical sensibilities of albums like Heathen in 2002 and Reality in 2003. Bowie has also produced landmark LPs by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.
Bowie also released a video for "Where Are We Now?" Shot by Tony Oursler, the clip revisits Berlin, the site of no small measure of rock & roll decadence for Bowie in the Seventies, and watches as the singer revisits places he knew then, including an auto repair shop downstairs from his old apartment.
The Next Day is available for pre-order in standard and deluxe editions through iTunes.
