Holly Palmer, Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie, Everett Bradley
Format
CD
Release Year
1999
Style
Art Rock
Release Title
Hours
Genre
Rock
Additional Product Features
Additional information
Includes five bonus tracks. Personnel: David Bowie (vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming); Mark Plati (acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, Mellotron, bass, programming); Reeves Gabrels (acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, programming); Chris Haskett (guitar); Mike Leveque, Sterling Campbell (drums); Everett Bradley (percussion); Holly Palmer (background vocals). Principally recorded at Chung King Studios, New York, New York. "Thursday's Child" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. After releasing the techno industrial, Trent Reznor-influenced EARTHLING in 1997, David Bowie came back down to Earth on HOURS. And although this album has an ambient feel and contains its share of loops and programming, it is organic overall. HOURS manages to be cutting edge and personal at the same time. "Thursday's Child," a commercial-sounding single, uses strings and synthesizers to create an atmospheric feel. Credible solo performer Holly Palmer lends her strong voice to the track. "Something in the Air" features the restrained yet effective guitar talents of Reeves Gabrels, who has previously worked with Bowie on his solo material and in Tin Machine. "Survive" is a beautiful tune that features both Mellotron and an acoustic intro and ending. "If I'm Dreaming My Life" features the formidable rhythm guitar of Chris Haskett, who has given the Rollins band its metallic crunch. The dark rocker "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" is also another standout track. The subdued feel of HOURS shows a classic rocker who is at ease and introspective. Not one to rest on his laurels, David Bowie continues to put out vital material.
Reviews
Rolling Stone (10/28/99, p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...as nakedly emotive a collection as anything in his iconic catalog; it's a summary statement from the man who invented postmodern rock & roll....HOURS is a testament to the serenity that comes with legend status, maturity and endurance..." Spin (11/99, p.181) - 6 out of 10 - "...His latest stab at relevance works best when it most resembles those simple anguished moments ['The Man Who Sold The World' and 'Andy Warhol']....[HOURS] attempts to reclaim the eternally hip early-'70s Bowie..." Entertainment Weekly (10/15/99, pp.77-8) - "...a concept album about what a drag it is getting old....the 52-year-old [Bowie] dares to feel tired, or maybe just really wistful, in this regret-filled song cycle....Given that the theme is maturity's flickering light, the pacing is probably deliberate..." - Rating: B- Q (1/00, p.83) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1999." Q (11/99, p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...the Dame's latest LP is...just as good as they used to be....Bowie sounds influenced by nobody except himself, and he couldn't have picked a better role model." Uncut (p.143) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[S]teeped in Low-like melancholia." Alternative Press (12/99, p.88) - 4 out of 5 - "...a masterpiece....Solidly built around songs...and aware that songs need some depth as well....HOURS finds Bowie returning to basics he never should have left behind....it could be his second childhood." CMJ (10/18/99, p.22) - "...his most straight-forward rock album in nearly two decades. Giving the post-glam wankers who've cribbed his classic sound a run for their money....he continues to pull off fresh, unexpected things as only a chameleon of his caliber could." Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.30) - Ranked #30 in Mojo Magazine's "Best of 1999" Mojo (Publisher) (11/99, pp.98-9) - "...crowns a trilogy [1.OUTSIDE & 2.EARTHLING] that represents sigificantly more than a mere coda to a once-unimpeachable career....[HOURS] possesses a melancholy that runs deeper than mere pre-Millennium tension and one or two rueful meditations on his life..."