The man who fooled the world - RTE.ie

The Next Day will be released in March and it was trailblazed by Where are We Now? Bowie's first single in a decade last Tuesday. The father of reinvention managed it all while keeping it away from the prying eyes of the press and the constant babble of social media.

According to a source quoted in The Guardian, Bowie currently has no official manager and no A&R man and keeps a small business operation which means he can react to things very quickly. "You couldn't do if it was one of those situations where there are 20 different managers involved. He's very good at being low-key."

Bowie's long-term guitarist Earl Slick worked on The Next Day with Bowie and producer Tony Visconti and he says that the only person he told was his manager while Visconti, who has produced 13 of Bowie's albums, says he only finished work on the album last week and wasn't expecting it to be announced on Tuesday.

"People would ask 'what are you working on at the moment?'" Visconti told The Guardian. "About a year ago, I started saying well, I'm working on a very big project but I can't tell you what it is. That satisfied most people, but then a few people would say 'it's Bowie, isn't it?'. And I'd go, I can't tell you who it is, even if you said the person's name I can't say yes or no. And they'd go 'it's Bowie'. And I'd go 'no, really it isn't'. I was a little uncomfortable with that, but it was the only way to do it."

Bowie with his wife Iman. They live in Manhattan with their 12-year-old daughter Alexandria

Visconti describes the new album as "eclectic" adding that Where are We Now? isn't representative of the rest of the songs. "It's got five really blistering rock tracks. The rest is really mid-tempo, mysterious and evocative. He's been obsessed with medieval English history, which, believe it or not, makes great material for a rock song. And contemporary Russian history, which makes a great rock song.

Bowie had to movie studios during the recording after the owners allegedly leaked information about who was working there. The line up on the album also includes Irish guitarist Gerry Leonard, ex-member of atmospheric Irish act Hinterland, and Visconti says that he sees The Next Day as a new beginning for Bowie.

The sessions for the album yielded 29 songs, 17 of which will appear on the deluxe edition. "We have tracks left over that are really great, that just didn't fit with this batch, so I know we have the makings of another album. And I know he wants to keep recording. I'm not sure when, but I think he'll be back in the studio later this year."