David Bowie

Yep, this is what I’d call a successful comeback album: The Thin White Duke as a grown-up Damien Thorn, hooking up with old crony Tony Visconti for some Frankie-style “September of My Years” hijinks. It’s been at least two decades since Bowie’s made an album this good; not since Lodger or Scary Monsters has he pulled together a collection of songs this cohesive, one that underscores just why he was ever considered to be a major artist in the first place. From overblown theatrical pop to textural explorations that alternate between dreamy and sonically edgy, sometimes in the same song, Bowie’s remake/remodel of his classic sound is akin to what BMW just did to Sir Alec Issigonis’ classic Mini Cooper. Bowie’s even got good taste in covers—the Pixies’ “Cactus” and Neil Young’s “I’ve Been Waiting for You.” But it’s his originals—“Slow Burn,” “I Would Be Your Slave” and more—that carry this topnotch set.