By John Samuel Mecum
David Bowie would have turned 70 last year. His final album, “Blackstar,” was released on Bowie’s 69th birthday. Two days later, Bowie unfortunately passed away after losing a longstanding battle with cancer that had been kept hidden from public knowledge. The first posthumous release from Bowie, a four song EP, titled “No Plan,” contains the final three songs recorded by Bowie, along with “Lazarus,” the single from “Blackstar.”
The songs were recorded during the “Blackstar” sessions and reflect a certain acceptance of one’s fate and perhaps a little inspiration from it. Bowie sings, “This is no place, but here I am, this is not quite yet” on the title track for the “No Plan EP,” pondering his soon to be non-existence. On the song, “Killing a Little Time,” Bowie confronts the steadily approaching darkness with the line, “I’m falling, man/I’m choking, man/I’m fading, man/Just killing a little time.” “The No Plan EP” reveals an artist at his most vulnerable, with four very sincere last gasps of breath before crossing over to the other side. This is something all of us must confront at some point, and Bowie, once again, manages to do it with a certain style all his own.
