Released on vinyl 22nd April 2017
A digital release of the No Plan EP took place on the anniversary of Bowie's death on 10th January 2017. But I have always found digital releases not to be the real thing - for that you need a physical medium.The EP was released on CD on 24 February, but for vinyl we had to wait until April.
In retrospect it may have been easier to buy the RSD 2017 release of David Bowie's No Plan 12" EP on eBay, rather than getting up early on Saturday 22nd April to get in a queue at 5am for a shop which didn't open until some four hours later. Easier maybe, but probably less of a sense of achievement.
No Plan brings to vinyl the four bonus tracks on 2016's Lazarus cast album - namely Lazarus and three other tracks which were also written for the musical, No Plan, Killing A Little Time and When I Met You. The RSD release is in a translucent marbled pale blue vinyl and it is quite striking when compared to the standard black issue, also issued on the same day. It is a single-sided 12", with the four tracks on one side and an etching on the other of a star.
For an artiste who always seemed to have a plan, No Plan is a statement of helplessness which is compounded by the fragility of the vocals. It's impossible to know the extent to which these songs were written to fit in with the narrative of Lazarus the play, or whether these were songs about Bowie the man retrofitted into the play. The similarities of Thomas Newton, an alien lost in Manhattan and David Bowie are manifest. Is it reading too much into it to see No Plan as a contemplative pause before death? In Lazarus the song is given to the Girl to sing - a stranded character who appears to be between life and death.
All the things that are my life
My moods
My beliefs
My desires
Me alone
Nothing to regret
This is no place, but here I am
This is not quite yet
If Killing A Little Time continues the theme, the music certainly switches up a gear and shows us a man who is not going to go gently into that good night. It is an angry song with a searing saxophone, a cry of frustration. "This rage in me. Get away from me."
But the rage abates when the singer considers When I Met You. A song directed to the one who changes the singer's life for the better. In Lazarus the song is directed towards Mary Lou; it is tempting to see it as being a tribute to Iman, Bowie's wife.
I was torn inside
When I met you
When I met you
I was too insane
Could not trust a thing
I was off my head
I was filled with truth
It was not God's truth
Before I met you
