David Bowie - Toy (The Leaked Version)

I have been listening to the leaked David Bowie album called Toy which is supposed to be his long awaited new (but old) album. The one thing present from the first track is that this is way more interesting than what we've been getting from him for pretty much two decades. Sure he hits one now and again for a double or triple but always lacking when it comes to an album.

Here we finally have an album that plays as albums are meant to in their long form LP version front to back. This is probably the best album of Bowie material in thirty years. Some of that is because the material is re-recorded obscure or unknown music from years before but this album has some new magic as well as re-imagined stuff that all comes together in a way we haven't heard in a very long time. I believe this is going to become one of my all-time favorite David Bowie albums and sit along side Ziggy, Diamond Dogs and the forgotten/unknown self titled 1967 masterpiece.

The music's production level is one part of what makes this album glow. The over-processed sound which has become synonymous with him has been stripped greatly to allow the song to have an ebb and flow that hasn't been present for many years. That is ever so true on the gem "Baby Loves That Way" where his vocals sound so organic you almost feel guilty not to have paid for each note. Now there is still a modern day Bowie here but he has allowed himself to connect with the past finally. One of his best songs to date is "Hole In The Ground" I haven't heard anything this good and immediate from him since he wrote Blue Jean (a personal favorite).

As Toy unfolds I as a Bowie fan have been taken on a glorious ride that I'd be happy to go on again and again and again. This album, when released properly has earned my money and it will be the first David Bowie album I've bought since Never Let Me Down in 1987. I recommend Toy to anyone who is a fan or fanatic of David Bowie's genius. This is one Toy I won't be getting bored of any time soon. This Toy is out of the box and it's not going back for a very, very long time.