David Bowie wrote a musical. Who knew? I didn’t. Anyways, this past week marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of legendary rock and roll artist David Bowie. It also marked what would have been Bowie’s 70th birthday. And the label has chosen to commemorate David Bowie’s birthday, with the release of this new EP, titled “No Plan”. This EP with the exception of “Lazarus” consists of songs that didn’t quite make it on to “Blackstar.” This is essential “Blackstar” B-sides. But they are very good B-sides. Going into it I knew I would like it, because David Bowie is a tremendous artist. This being a four song EP there isn’t much of an arc as far as themes go. Not like we saw on “Blackstar” at least. However, there is still a consistent theme and sound throughout the EP. It essentially echoes what we heard on “Blackstar” regarding death and the afterlife. However, where “Blackstar” was more of a coming to terms with death, and setting his affairs all in order, this EP looks more into what comes after. Heaven, and the afterlife is a recurring theme in all four of these songs. “Lazarus” is obviously about his arrival into Heaven, and the title track of this EP is about what he does in Heaven, which is nothing. According to this song, David Bowie just doesn’t have anything to do in Heaven. He can’t make music anymore; he can’t do anything accept walk around without any plans. Which at first I thought was a very pessimistic outlook on the afterlife, but the more I think about it, the more I feel it’s about his inability to let go of his worldly self and let himself pass on from this world.
Then when we get to the next track “Killing a Little Time” it’s more of him just trying to find something to do in the afterlife. This maybe my favorite track on the EP because it’s so punchy and in your face, it’s got a hard metal under tone to it that really breathes some life into this EP. It’s still a very dark, and eerie track, but the up tempo grind of the guitar really gives the EP a lot of energy and makes it a much more enjoyable listen. If there was one song on here besides “Lazarus” that I wish had made it on to “Blackstar” it’s this one. Finally, on this EP we have “When I Met You” and while musically and lyrically this track is a little redundant, I like how it closes the EP. I also like the idea of this song, I think this one would have fit in the best in the arc of “Blackstar.” It’s about Bowie meeting someone, in the Twilight of his life. Clearly this person met a lot to him, but when they met, too late for them to really spend any meaningful time together. But the time they did have together maybe made Bowie’s end of his life more worthwhile than perhaps it would have been. And sub textually now he’s looking down on this person from the afterlife in longing. Instead of living out the rest of his life this in pain and sadness, this person gave him a little more life so to speak. I also like the melody in the guitar that drives this song forward. It too is relatively upbeat, and gives a nice breath of fresh air to end the record. Even though again it did get a little repetitive by the end of it.
Overall this is a pretty solid project. I was worried when I first heard of this EP that it was just a cash grab for the label to make more profit off of Bowie’s death. But it’s not, I think this release was very respectful to David Bowie’s memory and was done tastefully. I was also worried that this would be a project of basically unfinished recordings that were never meant to be released to the public. But they’re not, these are all finished, and cohesive songs that come together to complete a pretty well thought out EP. If you liked “Blackstar” this is pretty much more of that just with a different perspective. There are definitely good reasons these songs didn’t get put on that album, but they don’t really have anything to do with quality. I’m going to give it a light 8/10 and a strong recommendation that you check this project out. Thank you if you read this far, if you have an opinion of this record, agreeing or not, please comment and let me know. And as always, have a great day.
