David Bowie – The Next Day (2LP)

After a decade away from the studio, the sessions for THE NEXT DAY happened in secret; Visconti says of that time, “We vowed not to tell a soul that David and we were making a new album – and that even included our domestic partners. His two-fold purpose was to write and create without pressure from the outside, plus he wanted its release to be a complete surprise. It all worked out great, except when he was spotted a few times walking to and from The Magic Shop studio in Noho, Manhattan, raising quizzical eyebrows. I was stopped once by a fan who recognised me and asked, “Is David Bowie making a new album?” I said, “Absolutely not!” Later, when we had rough mixes of our efforts, I was walking around Manhattan with a big smile on my face. No one could possibly know that I was listening to new Bowie songs on my earbuds.”