Today is David Bowie's 66th birthday, and while most 66-year-olds would likely prefer that nobody make a big fuss—maybe take in a matinee of The Guilt Trip and follow with an early dinner at Applebee's—David Bowie is obviously not most 66-year-olds. So he's using his special day to announce The Next Day, his first new album in nearly a decade. Bowie has been more or less retired since 2003's Reality, his only "new" material consisting of one-off appearances and that time he wrote "Little Fat Man" for Ricky Gervais.
He'll end all that in March, with a new record produced by longtime collaborator Tony Visconti. Judging by the first single, "Where Are We Now?", it's a wistful affair, with the accompanying creepy video shot in and around the auto shop underneath the German apartment where Bowie lived during his celebrated Living Over An Auto Shop Berlin period. (Another cause for sad reflection on how time's trick is you and me, boy: The Guardian reports that Bowie still has no plans to tour.) You can pre-order Bowie's birthday gift to you here. Now, what did you get him?