It’s a great year to be a diehard David Bowie fan. Bowie has reunited with legendary producer Tony Visconti to release Heathen, his 25th studio album. It’s already been called a Bowie classic, a return to his roots. After all, Visconti produced such classic Bowie albums as Low, Heroes, and Scary Monsters. This time around, Visconti and Bowie have created a stirring and emotional sound.

The lyrics are those of an older and wiser Bowie, expressing fear about the world that he has brought his young daughter into. Heathen opens with the ominous "Sunday" and ends with the foreboding "Heathen (The Rays)".

Though written before September 11, the last track’s forewarning lyrics of “Steel on the skyline, sky made of glass" on the backdrop of its haunting composition gives you goosebumps. The first single, "Slow Burn" features a riveting guitar line from Pete Townsend.

The lyrics to "I Would Be Your Slave" and "I Demand a Better Future" are Bowie’s conversations with God in which it’s easy to relate.

Covers of the Pixies "Cactus" and Neil Young’s "I’ve Been Waiting for You" are great, straightforward, no-nonsense rock songs intermingled among Heathen’s innovative tracks. "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship", another cover, is a tip of the hat to the Legendary Stardust Cowboy from whom Bowie borrowed the name "Stardust" 30 years ago.

The remaining tracks on Heathen are sung with a poignant effect of despair. It is Bowie’s openness with this fear and anxiety, without the cloaks of Ziggy Stardust or The Thin White Duke, which will absorb any listener, Bowie fan or not.

Amy Muedin