Album review: Original New York Cast, Lazarus

Released to coincide with the West End premiere of the successful Broadway musical Lazarus (which opened in NY just before Bowie’s death), this double CD set includes interpretations of classics from the Bowie canon, along with three new Bowie tracks (recorded with Tony Visconti during the Blackstar sessions).

The original cast recordings are certainly comprehensive and more or less cover the singer’s career. More “orchestrated” and melodramatic than the originals, the songs probably make more sense in the context of the stage show, co-written by Bowie and Enda Walsh, and based on the main character from The Man Who Fell To Earth.

It opens with the title track performed by Michael C Hall,in a version close to the original. In contrast, a haunting, ethereal ‘This Is Not America’, sung by Sophia Anne Caruso, sounds nothing like Bowie’s (though her ‘Life On Mars?’ sticks close to the original). Meanwhile, ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ is recast as a chilled-out techno tune; a slower-paced almost classical ‘Changes’ works well; and the rocking ‘All The Young Dudes’ – sung by Nicholas Christopher – is on a par with Bowie’s early live versions. Elsewhere, ‘Absolute Beginners’ shadows Bowie’s hit version, while the closing ‘Heroes’ (the show’s grand finale?) favours a pared-down operatic take over the driving rhythms of the original.

The second disc will be of most interest to fans. The Blackstar version of ‘Lazarus’ is included, presumably for context, but the new tunes demonstrate his creative powers were fully intact right to the end. ‘No Plan’ faintly recalls the Station To Station-era ‘Wild Is The Wind’, with a beautifully haunting vocal and chiming guitars. ‘Killing A Little Time’ is all busy prog-rock guitars and Bowie’s frantically intense singing: “I’ve got a handful of songs to sing, to sting your soul, to fuck you over.”

His final parting gift to the world is a love song. ‘When I Met You’ combines electro textures with jangly indie guitars. Sounding like an instant Bowie classic, he sings in desperation: “When I met you I was too insane/ I was off my head, I was filled with truth...”

Poignant and heartbreaking.