10 Forgotten David Bowie Gems

1. A Better Future (2002)

http://youtu.be/boX8zNyhaL4 2002's Heathen is vastly underrated. In some places it might share the blight of many an early noughties rock album through sounding like the fruits of far too much tinkering with Pro-Tools, but the undeniable strength of the underlying songs cannot be denied. A Better Future lays guitar feedback over an electronic drum loop, allowing the song to be carried by a sprightly acoustic guitar, what sounds like a toy piano motif and Bowie's multi-tracked vocals. Much of the song has a hymnal, chanting quality about it, but once Bowie allows his voice to soar, he takes the song with him. From whom is he demanding a better future? His wife? The government? Society? Humanity as a whole? Who knows? Bowie takes engagingly cryptic lyrics, a creative approach to song structure and modern production values and manages to create something that I for one believe can stand proudly alongside the more beloved titans of his back catalogue.