David Bowie's return to the golden years?

The legendary David Bowie is back after a break of a decade. Ed Power looks back at his brilliant and baffling career — and gives his verdict on Bowie’s new album

DAVID Bowie has always been good at surprises. In the 1970s, each new album seemed to bring a new Bowie. He was a glam alien one moment, a bequiffed soul-boy and channeller of Teutonic angst the next. Scarcely had his fanbase caught up with his latest direction than he was off again, literally and figuratively, trying new clothes on for size. In an industry where being true to yourself is regarded as the ultimate virtue, Bowie turned unpredictability into a performance art.

He’s at it again with his first album since 2003, The Next Day. News of the record truly did appear to drop from the clear blue sky. The first anyone outside a very tight circle of associates knew of the project was at 5am on January 8, when Sony Music sent out digital copies of the lead single ‘Where Are We Now?’ It was a slow, brooding song, a dirge really — a strange taster for an album which, we would subsequently learn, harked back to the busy guitar rock Bowie dipped in and out of in his pomp.