For all of his perceived shortcomings in recent years--perhaps Bowie was unduly derided for the drum & bass bandwagoneering of Earthling but rightly castigated for the Turner Prize art-rock balderdash of Outside--Heathen is, in essence, the first "traditional" Bowie album worthy of kudos in years. Although that assertion is a regrettable slight on 1999's relaxed, self-re-evaluating hours..., Heathen succesfully reunites Bowie with producer Tony Visconti (the man at the controls during the Berlin-era as well as Scary Monsters And Super Creeps, an album faintly similar in genetic code to this) and finds rock's greatest chameleon once again remoulding his past, advancing to new vistas by moving up that metaphorical hill backwards. What's even more gratifying is the universally high quality of the songwriting craftsmanship on offer, where even a ditty as frivolous as "Everyone Says Hi" ("don't stay in a sad place where they don't care how you are") hits the mark. For heavyweights who like their Bowie with furrowed-brow, the monastic aura of opener "Sunday" sounds like a post-rock Enigma covering Nico's interpretation of Tim Hardin's "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce", whilst the strident savagery evidenced on an apt cover of the Pixies' "Cactus" disposes with Frank Black's houndog yelp and reasserts the melody without undermining the original's obsessional score. Tin Machine ought to have sounded like this. Watch out, too, for the Robert Fripp-impersonating flame-throwing of Pete Townsend on "Slow Burn" and the guitar of the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl lending a slacker swagger to a cover of Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You" (again, much better than Tin Machine's live version). Heathen proves that Bowie's still got it. All of it. And in abundance. Awaken all ye non-believers. --Kevin Maidment
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