★ cover
Released

It wasn’t quite David Bowie’s final work — his musical Lazarus debuted after the sessions, and even in the days before his death he’d demoed some new songs. But Blackstar, recorded in the shadow of his secret cancer diagnosis and released just a couple of days before his passing, was a moving, striking meditation on the end, recorded with a strong creative team of New York jazz musicians. Songs like “Lazarus,” the title track and especially the concluding “I Can’t Give Everything Away” served as a hail and farewell, a last example of his stunning artistic range.

Ned Raggett

Recommended by

Suggestions
Day of the Dead cover

Day of the Dead

Various Artists
Villfarande Barn cover

Villfarande Barn

Tord Gustavsen, Arve Henriksen, Kim Rysstad
Darkwater cover

Darkwater

Lamin Fofana
There's a Riot Goin' On cover

There's a Riot Goin' On

Sly & the Family Stone
Intensity Ghost cover

Intensity Ghost

Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band
Hubris cover

Hubris

Oren Ambarchi
Behold cover

Behold

Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke