Happy 69th Birthday, David Bowie

Can this be true? Is our beloved David Bowie really 69-years-old today? Major Tom must be spinning in his tin can.

Leave it to the Thin White Duke to celebrate his birthday by giving us a present. Jan 8, 2016 also marks the official release of Blackstar, the Dame's latest studio album and the first since The Next Day, released on Bowie's birthday in 2013.

Rare is the artist who remains vital in the autumn of his or her career, but David Robert Jones is the rarest of artists. Since first cracking the charts with 1969's "Space Oddity," Bowie has zigzagged his way across musical genres ranging from the straight-up pop "Let's Dance" to the Philly soul of "Young Americans" and the German expressionism of Bertolt Brecht. Listening to his extensive catalog is like a master class in popular music from the last fifty years.

His newest incarnation finds him entrenched in a sort of Scott Walker seclusion, letting the music (and longtime friend and collaborator Tony Visconti) do the talking for him. It's a  rock-solid album, entirely its own yet firmly anchored to the great musical legacy it follows.

David Bowie – 'Space Oddity' (Original Video)