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10.0
82841
10.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
The artist lowers his mask and takes a bow. And the audience applauds
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9.3
83552
9.3 |
AU Review
While the Starman himself might be no more, this album is a perfect reminder that his gift to humanity will never die
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9.3
82621
9.3 |
Paste Magazine
With his divine status, Blackstar becomes, in a strange way, a worship album about Bowie
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9.1
82650
9.1 |
A.V. Club
With its simple (though oblique) lyrics and endlessly repeated choruses, it’s a secret pop record submerged in the dark places of studio improvisation
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9.0
82641
9.0 |
PopMatters
Blackstar is Bowie’s most unconventional album since his dual '70s masterpieces Low and ”Heroes”, and is a breathtaking and relentlessly fascinating piece of work
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9.0
82642
9.0 |
The Quietus
A cohesive collection that contains the same inscrutable attention to detail that a latter Scott Walker album surely would. And rejoice, because David Bowie hasn't sounded this relevant in an age
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9.0
83557
9.0 |
Crack
Sonically, Blackstar ignores form. As we are boisterously schlepped between realms, from free-jazz to industrial to progressive rock, Bowie’s lyrics become a thematic arc
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9.0
82708
9.0 |
Beardfood
Not just an icon, or a legend, but our blackstar
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9.0
82709
9.0 |
Spectrum Culture
Will go down as one of the great Bowie albums, not simply for emerging on his deathbed but for the strength of its focus, the scale of its ambition and the clarity with which he incorporates swooning, sinister jazz with contemporary production and emerges with a quintessential statement
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9.0
82710
9.0 |
Gig Soup
It is an opulent, deep and strange album. Bowie seems to be moving agitatedly forward. Always looking ahead: the point in which he has made his greatest music
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9.0
82661
9.0 |
musicOMH
It’s an album that sums up Bowie as an artist – restless, audacious, constantly looking forward to the next new idea
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9.0
82703
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
As with David Bowie’s entire career, he’s once again given us enough to keep us wanting more, while reminding us of all the inspired gifts that came before
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8.5
82629
8.5 |
Pitchfork
Though this mix of jazz, malice, and historical role-play is intoxicating, Blackstar becomes whole with its two-song denouement, which balances out the bruises and blood with a couple of salty tears
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8.3
82618
8.3 |
Pretty Much Amazing
With Blackstar David Bowie remains an enigma, musically and lyrically. He emerges from isolation here and there to unleash some of the best music of his career
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8.3
82658
8.3 |
Consequence Of Sound
Blackstar is a battle cry against boredom, a wide-eyed drama set in a world just beyond our scopes. It doesn’t get more Bowie than that
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8.3
82698
8.3 |
Earbuddy
Even out of the context of a multi-decade career, David Bowie's latest is... weird
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8.0
82704
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
Hunting for patterns or for humanity on Blackstar is less the point than enjoying the majesty of David Bowie, even on the verge of his death, sounding this incredibly alive
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8.0
82705
8.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
The album may or may not be a masterpiece, but it’s a heartbreaker, a miracle. Most importantly, it’s a lively, smartly constructed, and unsentimental collection of pop songs
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8.0
82663
8.0 |
Under The Radar
A puzzle begging for examination, and a solidly unique work from an artist who is no stranger to breaking boundaries
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8.0
82664
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
It does require quite a few listens as an album in order to get to grips with it, but Bowie has rarely concerned himself with making albums that are simply background music
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8.0
82686
8.0 |
The Observer
You have to assume Bowie is tackling myriad theatrical voices as Blackstar throws up one unsettling scenario after another, with little obvious connection other than unease and the outrageously good soundtrack in which they are set
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8.0
82692
8.0 |
No Ripcord
With Blackstar, Bowie disengages himself once again from popular opinion and scoffs at the idea of taking the righteous path, finding inspiration in what is immoral and contentious
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8.0
82693
8.0 |
The List
With this, a one-off comeback becomes another prime Bowie era to rank alongside those of Ziggy Stardust, the Berlin years and ‘Let’s Dance’
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8.0
82711
8.0 |
The Skinny
A compelling proposition; fluted, meditative, a rejection of pop’s prissy little contours
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8.0
82742
8.0 |
All Music
Bowie's joy in emphasizing the art in art-pop is palpable and its elegant, unhurried march resonates deeply
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8.0
82628
8.0 |
The FT
Blackstar is atmospheric and adventurous
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8.0
82593
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
Bowie's best anti-pop masterpiece since the Seventies
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8.0
82594
8.0 |
The Independent
The most extreme album of his entire career: Blackstar is as far as he's strayed from pop
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8.0
82595
8.0 |
The Music
A fierce, enchanting and honest release
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8.0
82596
8.0 |
Uncut
It does represent yet another marvelous reinvention for Bowie. Print edition only
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8.0
82597
8.0 |
Q
Freshly-rediscovered individualistic path where sonic surprises lurk around every corner. Print edition only
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8.0
82598
8.0 |
Mojo
David Bowie’s genius here has been in jettisoning his regular cohorts. Print edition only
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8.0
82613
8.0 |
NME
One of the few certainties we can take from this restless, relentlessly intriguing album is that David Bowie is positively allergic to the idea of heritage rock
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8.0
82635
8.0 |
NOW
The ballad Dollar Days is the softest, most classically Bowie moment, but even more Bowie is the way his grand sense of alienation comes through so recognizably in new musical terrain
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8.0
82639
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
His lyrics and vocals are oblique and otherworldly, freed from the shackles of indie rock
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8.0
82654
8.0 |
The Guardian
It’s a rich, deep and strange album that feels like Bowie moving restlessly forward, his eyes fixed ahead: the position in which he’s always made his greatest music
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8.0
82657
8.0 |
The Irish Times
This is David Bowie still following the music he hears in his head; what comes after this is anyone’s guess
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8.0
82646
8.0 |
Exclaim
It’s a defining statement from someone who isn’t interested in living in the past, but rather, for the first time in a while, waiting for everyone else to catch up
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8.0
82649
8.0 |
DIY
‘Blackstar’ seems to be him giving everything, allowing all of his creative impulses to flourish
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7.0
82627
7.0 |
Spin
Blackstar finds Bowie and longtime producer Tony Visconti as hungry as they ever were, and with no modern context into which the artist can insert himself (including rock) he’s free to do what he likes
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