User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 209 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 13 out of 209
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  1. Mar 19, 2013
    3
    I've been a Bowie fan for almost exactly 30 years now. The Next Day just leaves me flat. Compared to his works such as Scary Monsters, Low, Hours etc this album just seems plain dull. It jumps around all over the place, almost like Bowie is riffing on his entire catalogue in an effort to "round things up". Bowie has sure had his highs (Scary Monsters, Low) and his lows (Tin Machine,I've been a Bowie fan for almost exactly 30 years now. The Next Day just leaves me flat. Compared to his works such as Scary Monsters, Low, Hours etc this album just seems plain dull. It jumps around all over the place, almost like Bowie is riffing on his entire catalogue in an effort to "round things up". Bowie has sure had his highs (Scary Monsters, Low) and his lows (Tin Machine, anything in the mid to late 80s) but sadly The Next Day isn't the Bowie I've come to know and love. The album's only saving grace is a single track, Valentine's Day. And the album cover.. sorry.. not clever at all. Expand
  2. Mar 28, 2013
    1
    I liked David Bowie's older material but this album I just did not enjoy in the slightest. The song tempos are too slow, the lyrics are forgettable and the pacing was bad. Was just not my cup of tea.
  3. Apr 4, 2013
    3
    This album is not the brilliant return to form it's cracked up to be. In fact, for me, it's a sad, disappointing end to a 10 year wait. I'm a well-worn Bowie fan and have been since the 70's but this is not the product of the creative genius he once was. The arrangements are all similar....there are no decent melodies, the lyrics are just plain weird. It sounds like all the instrumentalThis album is not the brilliant return to form it's cracked up to be. In fact, for me, it's a sad, disappointing end to a 10 year wait. I'm a well-worn Bowie fan and have been since the 70's but this is not the product of the creative genius he once was. The arrangements are all similar....there are no decent melodies, the lyrics are just plain weird. It sounds like all the instrumental tracks were recorded in about 3 days....they're all virtually the same. Then...Bowie just improvises a tune over the top....and I use the word 'tune' loosely. Even the packaging has almost illegible writing just to prolong the agony. Bowie's stuff is treated like The Emperor's New Clothes. None of the media want to say it like it is. For me, this album is simply light-years away from his best material....they're not really songs at all. So much repetition, no soaring choruses or clever chord changes. And to think this has all been kept under wraps until January making us all think this is a masterpiece. Very wide of the mark. He once made an album called 'Never Let Me Down.' Well I paid £13 for the album so I've done my bit.....a shame it wasn't reciprocated. Expand
  4. Jun 1, 2013
    0
    I'm a Bowie fan from before Ziggy Stardust. But "The Next Day" is pure crap. It's one of the most tuneless, soulless, robotic and boring pieces of rubbish to ever pollute the airwaves. It's even worse than that; it's excrutiatingly painful and puke-inducing to listen to. Even the most non-musically-talented garage band can do better than this.

    Bowie is the third most brilliant
    I'm a Bowie fan from before Ziggy Stardust. But "The Next Day" is pure crap. It's one of the most tuneless, soulless, robotic and boring pieces of rubbish to ever pollute the airwaves. It's even worse than that; it's excrutiatingly painful and puke-inducing to listen to. Even the most non-musically-talented garage band can do better than this.

    Bowie is the third most brilliant musician to have ever lived (after Pink Floyd and Vangelis). What on earth went wrong?

    And why do so many people appear to like this album (or are all the reviewers just paid record company shills)?
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  5. Jan 21, 2016
    2
    Like Blackstar, I just don't get it...the remixes like the James Murphy one have a glimmer of what it could be, but this is fairly sad and tuneless - more rocky than what Where Are They Now? would suggest, a single I didn't like hence leaving til now, I'm going through his later works after his sad death...I was glad I didn't rush to listen 3 years ago. Leaves me totally cold - and I'mLike Blackstar, I just don't get it...the remixes like the James Murphy one have a glimmer of what it could be, but this is fairly sad and tuneless - more rocky than what Where Are They Now? would suggest, a single I didn't like hence leaving til now, I'm going through his later works after his sad death...I was glad I didn't rush to listen 3 years ago. Leaves me totally cold - and I'm someone who loves his work from Space Oddity onward, mostly singles but also Low and Hunky Dory, and more recently Earthling and Black Tie, and loved his soundtrack stuff. It just seems strange that as with Blackstar people raved about this? It's not indie rock, it's not avant garde, it's not experimental but like Tin Machine or Heathen there's a lack of memorable tunes. Which are needed even for a rock song! Expand
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 44 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 44
  2. Negative: 0 out of 44
  1. Classic Rock Magazine
    Jun 6, 2013
    80
    A vintage Bowie album for vintage Bowie people, of whom there are many; a reflection on his own journey and also on ours. [Apr 2013, p.92]
  2. Jun 4, 2013
    80
    The Next Day is certainly his most engaging and intriguing since Outside. For now, that’s more than enough.
  3. May 2, 2013
    67
    His innovative days may be long behind him, but Bowie's melodic gifts remain undiminished and his lyrics appropriately ambiguous.