"Blackstar" has finally grown on me good and proper. After his death I was preoccupied with revisiting other parts of his catalogue - especially 1969-1980 - and feeling how it was all irreversibly encased in memories of chapters of my own life. For me it didn't really seem the right moment to try to digest new material. But repeated listens to "Blackstar" have now had their way with me. It is a musically substantial and lyrically intriguing work for him to bow out with.
Here is a radio documentary (podcast) that is thoughtful and well-informed and a cut above many of the hastily cobbled together slightly tabloid and well-trodden talking-points tributes that marked his passing.
"By stripping away much of the original instrumentation to just leave Roy Young's plaintive piano, Mary Hopkin's backing vocal and the lead vocal, the song takes on a new reflective resonance.