David Bowie‘s upcoming album, The Next Day, is now streaming for free on iTunes! The album, a diverse mix of a collage of archetypical Bowie sounds with a foot firmly planted in his expected eclectic personality types, will be released on March 12, 2013. (The streaming version of the album can be accessed through the iTunes app; details are below.)

Back on January 8, we gave a birthday tribute to Bowie and then came the most extraordinary and rather unexpected news: that he had gone back into the recording studio to record his first new album of all original material in over ten years.

The Next Day, being released through Iso/Columbia Records, has already released singles and videos for the tracks “Where Are We Now” and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight).” The video for “Where are we Now” can be viewed here below; the single can be purchased exclusively through iTunes (album, single).

This marks Bowie’s 30th album, and it comes like a bat out of hell, totally from left field, and how touching and piquant that the news was dropped to the public on the man’s birthday.

Now you can hear the entire record via streaming on iTunes. Simply go to the main page of your iTunes Store and click on the banner on the top of the page. Then simply hit the “listen now” button and sample tracks like the straight forward rocker “The Next Day,” the dirge like, almost Zydeco styled with cutting guitars and sax lines strains of “Dirty Boys,” the filthy guitars laden “Valentine’s Day,” the shuffle beat and jangly guitar filled “I’d Rather Be High” with it’s rich chorus, and the 80s style Bowie retread in a contemporary setting of “(You Will) Set the World on Fire.” The record as a whole sounds like Bowie is dipping into his bag of past tricks, and mixing it with a kind of go ahead into the future approach and exploring new territories that has always been his musical paradigm. The album, produced by Tony Visconti, sounds fresh and vital in an ocean of music today that almost didn’t realize what it was missing before this album came to full fruition.

Here’s an excerpt about the new album and first single, via Bowie’s official website.

Having Tony Visconti adds just the right touch and although Bowie is in his autumn years (golden years?), he’s still in his element wholeheartedly. The first single released (“Where Are We Now”) has just the right mixture of the ambience, spacey vibes, and aural shadows and light. A pained piano passage plays over drum notes that land like heavy feathers and Bowie sings in a voice filled with fragility and candor, yet with his usual strong pitch and sly attitude. He presses all the right buttons and hits all the right targets, and the video is the kind of surreal, freaky, artsy visual stamp of approval that has followed the Bowie legend, the man and the artist for decades now. So it’s a double celebration today, to the man, who recently turned a youthful 66 years old and for the buoyancy of the release of a brand new Bowie product. Rejoice and have a listen!

- Open up the iTunes application on your computer or iPad and go to the Music Store.

- There will be a rotating banner at the top; look for the David Bowie banner and click on it:

- If you don’t see the David Bowie upon entry, hover over any banner and left & right arrows will show up; just click the right arrow until you see the black & white David Bowie banner. Click on the David Bowie banner.

- After you click on the banner, you’ll see the album cover at bottom left; click on the play icon next to where it says “Listen Now,” and listen away.

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