What next? 2013’s The Next Day did its job like no David Bowie album since Let’s Dance, back in the last century. His first British No.1 since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise, it was also his highest charting album in the US where it soared to No.2. Moreover, for all that The Next Day took fewer chances than much of his 21st Century output, it was objectively a superior effort: the songs were better.
Having retreated – though not retired – from public life since his heart attack of 2004, the release of The Next Day came as a surprise. Bowie had regained his aura of mystery. The question remained, though. What next?
With no touring duties to fulfil and no interviews to give, Bowie submerged with as little fuss as he’d surfaced. To the outside eye, he disappeared, but walked his daughter Alexandria, aka Lexi, to school every day; he frequented Puckfair, a bar opposite
