David Bowie - The Next Day
Critic Score
Based on 46 reviews
2013 Ratings: #61 / 1115
Year End Rank: #12
User Score
2013 Rank: #157
Liked by 129 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
musicOMH

The release of The Next Day would have been one of the biggest stories of the year no matter what its quality – the fact that it also happens to be one of the best records of Bowie’s career to date just makes the comeback that much more triumphant.

100
Time Out London
‘The Next Day’ is a very brilliant rock record. It’s intelligent, memorable and even a little provocative.
100
Pretty Much Amazing

This is no “comeback” for David Bowie. Rather, it is a magnificent continuation: an ellipsis connects his nine earlier masterpieces to his tenth, The Next Day.

100
The Telegraph
It is an enormous pleasure to report that the new David Bowie album is an absolute wonder: urgent, sharp-edged, bold, beautiful and baffling, an intellectually stimulating, emotionally charged, musically jagged, electric bolt through his own mythos and the mixed-up, celebrity-obsessed, war-torn world of the 21st century.
91
A.V. Club

The Next Day isn’t great simply because it’s the return of Bowie. It’s great because it’s the return of Bowie’s voice: rich, delicate, smoky, wise. And, yes, shaded with the first expectant blush of mortality.

90
FasterLouder

Though not ideal, the slightly colourless production is far from a fatal flaw. David Bowie’s careful stage-managing of The Next Day’s release ingenious, it’s also wholly unnecessary. The Next Day is an excellent album, even by his stratospheric standards.

90
Billboard
Bowie and producer Tony Visconti, who helped shaped his sound in the 1970s as well as produce seven T. Rex records, have struck gold in creating a work that is modern and well-connected to the artist's fabled sonic-past.
90
The Line of Best Fit

The Next Day is very, very good. Purposefully good – the work of someone who seemingly knew that if he was going to come back at all, it had to be with something blessed with brilliance.

90
God Is in the TV
To say it’s a pleasure to have him back would be an understatement.
85
Under the Radar

Though it's been 10 years since his previous release, The Next Day is Bowie's most consistent record in twice as much time.

85
Northern Transmissions
As long as he still walks this Earth it seems Bowie is here to create music that weaves in and out through many narratives. To listen to Bowie for the first time when you’re a teen is exhilarating, but for that to keep happening throughout your life is an even more incredible experience.
85
Paste

The Next Day is not the kind of listener-friendly, career-encompassing record that many of Bowie’s contemporaries have often settled for of late.

80
Slant Magazine
Vital, confident, and defiantly alive, Bowie has, with an imperfect but exhilarating album, announced his return to rock's top table. Anything from this point on is a bonus.
80
The Arts Desk
The initial sense of a comfort zone being retreated into is shot out of the water by the simple fact that 'The Next Day' is bloody good.
80
The Independent

This album is not David Bowie's first overtly nostalgic work, the first to reference his own career, nor the first to feature meditations on aging, but it repeats those tricks with immense style.

80
Record Collector

The Next Day is certainly his most engaging and intriguing since Outside. For now, that’s more than enough.

80
Mojo

Bowie's most impassioned and convincing work in decades.

80
Louder Than War

Parts of The Next Day are less predictable than I expected, and there are some really sweet, poignant moments that have stayed with me after a handful of listens.

80
The Guardian
An album that's thought-provoking, strange and filled with great songs.
80
Clash
This is a contemplative, confident record which will only strengthen with further listening.
80
Classic Rock
A vintage Bowie album for vintage Bowie people, of whom there are many; a reflection on his own journey and also on ours.
80
Q Magazine

The Next Day is a loud, thrilling, steamrollingly confident rock and roll album full of noise, energy, and words that--if as cryptic as ever they were--sound like they desperately need to be sung.

80
Evening Standard
Bowie reborn is dark, daring and dazzling, confidently inviting comparison with his finest work.
80
Beats Per Minute

Another striking feature of The Next Day is how much it doesn’t sound like an old man trying to keep up with the times. There’s a confidence exhibited here that’s refreshing.

80
Drowned in Sound

The Next Day is only a little better than its two predecessors and probably only Bowie’s best album since Outside, but that’s not to knock what is easily the best mainstream art pop record of recent times.

80
NME

This album is, foremost, about songcraft. Rather than reinventing Bowie, it absorbs his past and moves it on, hungry for more.

80
No Ripcord

It’s one of the year’s best albums, and a genuinely great work of unashamed pop music that finds a way to be adventurous.

80
Consequence of Sound

It’s a challenging album, and not just because its tracks are a puzzle box — the mix is dense. Perhaps more than any of Bowie’s prior 23 records, this one is an art record. 

80
The 405

There's a feel to this album that sounds like it could only be created by one man, and that's David Bowie.

80
The Fly

It’s happy to take the listener on sudden, unexpected, journeys but also to just be exactly what it is; a really great rock album from a man who knows a thing or two about writing really great rock albums.

80
DIY
Each song feels like a separate vignette, but putting your finger on the exact theme isn't easy; more often it's left entirely to the interpretation of the listener.
80
Sputnikmusic

The Next Day is an excellent record, that brings David Bowie back into the spotlights, but also introducing him to a new generation of listeners (myself included). This is an excellent record for newcomers to sink in and a great one for old fans, too.

76
Pitchfork

On The Next Day, he hasn't only come to terms with his past-- he's making his old material work for his new material. 

75
Entertainment Weekly

A few tracks lack clear antecedents, and some simply lack cohesion, or at least enough melody to anchor them. But Day is also an excellent reminder that Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, and the lunatic who sang Christmas songs with Bing Crosby have been coexisting in the same brain for decades.

70
The Needle Drop
On his latest album, David Bowie reconnects with what made a lot of his classic albums great, revisiting his old stomping grounds in an incredibly mature way.
70
American Songwriter

The bottom line is that The Next Day proves that Bowie, whoever he might be, is back, invigorating his listeners even as he stupefies them.

70
AllMusic

The Next Day neither enhances nor diminishes anything that came before, it's merely a sweet coda to a towering career.

65
Spectrum Culture

The Next Day is not a comeback album, but it doesn’t particularly feel like an attempt at one. If anything, this may be one of Bowie’s few records that doesn’t feel like he’s trying to either set a trend or fit in with one. Instead, it feels like Bowie making music he wants to make regardless of how others may feel about.

60
NOW Magazine

Pop music is never a purely cerebral exercise, and despite its intriguing concept, The Next Day is woefully short on anything to sing along to.

60
The Observer

If it is the mark of a satisfying album that you want to absorb every last note and reference, then The Next Day is a banquet, but one in which superfoods and gristle both feature.

60
Exclaim!

The Next Day is a good latter-day Bowie record, worthy of at least a few listens, but since it's so evocative of his earlier, better work there's little reason not to put on Scary Monsters or Heroes instead.

50
SPIN

The Next Day is an album that didn't need to be made.

50
PopMatters

Now he’s just an old fellow who is fighting against the current, and The Next Day is a brutal drowning.

SnowyFighter
80

I unironically love how he just slapped a white box on one of his older albums and was just like “Yeah this works”

YESSS. This is great. After awhile of mid to pretty good albums, here is the first one in a little bit that I can confidently say is really great. I feel like on this album, he goes back to the magic in his golden days a little bit, with just really interesting and catchy songs. The album is 14 songs but it barely drags. The production on this album is fantastic, and ... read more

BartDaGoat
89

[David Bowie's discography ranking 25/27]
https://youtu.be/lCy04DTYTmA?si=bO65_H52OvTLhlen
On one of his show at "Reality" Tour, Bowie suffer heart attack. Rest of shows on tour were cancelled and Bowie withdrew from public view. In that time, he has showed up in some films. He have made special version of "Changes" with Butterfly Boucher for "Shrek 2". Wes Anderson film -"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", features many covers of classic Bowie songs. ... read more

reptilia0000
80

Visually impactful

So, today, the songs won't be the main focus of this review. Yeah, I know, weird, but, that's because, to me, there's something a thousand times more meaningful about this record, and that is the album cover. I know a lot of people absolutely despise the album cover because it's lazy or really boring. I mean, sure, it's just the album cover of "Heroes" with a white square put right in front of it, covering up David's face and with the title of the album "The ... read more

ThEggMcWaffle
84

The first six songs and the last three songs are phenomenal, some of Bowie's best work. But it's that run of tracks from 7 to 11 that really brings the record down from being an all-time favorite for me

Favorite Track: Literally any of the first six tracks

Least Favorite Track: If You Can See Me

77

i mean.... it's good but is it better than the buddha of suburbia, heathen, outside, let's dance, earthling, the man who sold the world, lodger, young americans AND diamond dogs????? yeah... no. also i hate that the album's best song isn't even on the album😭😭😭

VespertineFan
100

Bowie returns to some of the sounds from his earlier work, and while that usually doesn't work for most artists, Bowie does it incredibly here. This album is just full of fantastic songs. The standouts for me are The Stars Are Out Tonight and Valentine's Day, which are two of my favorite Bowie songs, but the rest of the songs on this album were also great. What an impressive comeback after a decade without releasing music

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Added on: January 8, 2013