BOWIE, THE KING IS BACK - AND ON FORM AFTER 30 YEARS OF MEDICORITY

HE is, without doubt, the greatest 'pop star' of all time - and my musical hero.
  So it was wonderful to watch as David Bowie stunned us all by releasing a new single today, the day of his 66th birthday.
   Ziggy/the Thin White Duke has always had that ability to take us by surprise. The biggest shock of all, of course, is how - in this world of constant communication and news feed - he managed to keep it quiet for two years that he was even back in the studio working on new material.
   Indeed, only a year ago a friend of mine claimed he had seen Bowie 'at a cancer clinic' in Manhattan - and that he might not be long for this world.
   Yet here he is on my TV screen this morning, singing his new number in a video that left me smiling and shaking my head in wonder.
    The video - of Bowie's head on top of a small puppet - was amusing but also telling: it flicked through images of David's time in Berlin, when he produced the mind-blowing change of direction that was Low and Heroes, plus the rather less distinctive Lodger.
   This is Bowie at his best: Bowie's Johnny Cash moment, whereby the Man in Black glanced back over his life with a mesmerising commentary on just what he had been through, what it all amounted to and the frailty of humanity as
(im)mortality beckons.
    Bowie's new single, Where Are We Now, brought me close to tears. It is a great artist's valedictory statement and one of his best songs since Five Years, from Ziggy. You could probably say it is Five Years now - Bowie's final lament in 2013 as he faces up to the final curtain.
     I can tell you for certain now that he will never tour again. But if this and the imminent album are his final statements, and the album is half as good as the single, we Bowie fanatics can at least be grateful for that. This latest recording was something we did not expect - it is a bonus from a genius.
    The single is also undoubtedly is best piece of work in 30 years - yes, since Let's Dance. I often think it is a tragedy that he never called it a day then, certainly the catalogue of rubbish that followed was never worthy of the man.
    For me, Bowie ruled from 72 to 83 and all after was instantly forgettable.
    But, maybe at the final bend, he has come up with something that is up to the standard of that period.
    Bowie is back, it may not be for long, and it may be his final hurrah, but I for one am just grateful he is back with something worthy of his name.
     The king isn't dead....long may he reign....

FRANK WORRALL