Does it Rock? David Bowie, "Where Are We Now?"

Of course it rocks. It's David Bowie, you piece of...

Okay, maybe it's not quite right to take the quality of a David Bowie recording for granted like that. A couple of days ago when this clip was released, I played through the Best of Bowie, and while there's surely a lot not included on that disc, I've never quite heard a song from him as gorgeous, as forthright-sounding and uncloaked in identities and styles as this. It definitely sounds like the work of a 66-year-old artist and it demonstrates why that's not a bad thing. The way it swells toward the end and grows in intensity are not quite notes a younger man could hope to hit so genuinely. His voice lilts tenderly, vulnerably, the music swells, and we wonder if after all these years we're finally getting a real look at this often distant, disguised figure. Not a full picture, but at least a scrap.