Search - David Bowie :: Hours

No more comparisons please

Sharon Good | 07/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First things first there is no point in comparing this to any of Bowie's other works. As every good Bowie fan Knows there are at least six different periods of Bowie's music. '60s folk, pre-Ziggy, Ziggy, post-Ziggy, 80's dance music, and of course his current incarnation which is quite simply one experiment after another. 'hours is quite frankly one of the crowning achievements of this era. With it's soft melodies as well as it's very personal lyrics the album is not nearly as harsh as either 1.Outside or Earthling nor as tripy as Heathen however every bit as much a cornerstone of his current body of work. Bottom line this is an absolutley wonderful album in it's own light and comparing to any other period of Bowie will only degrade the meaning of both pieces as they both were made with an entirely different result in mind. This is simply the music Bowie wants to make. It's an experiment and quite frankly a very sucessful one."

'hours...' -Underappreciated Brilliance

Rich Latta | Albuquerque, NM - Land of Entitlement | 12/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The year this came out, I probably would've given HOURS three stars. I was ready for Bowie to rock hard, but this isn't exactly that kind of album. But taking the time to really sit down with it, I find it subdued yet very powerful - it rocks hard in its own way. I just wasn't able to fully appreciate it at the time. It's beautifully sung and the musicians are (as could be expected from Bowie) top-notch. Reeves Gabrels delivers a restrained performance on guitar that still manages to be extremely creative and heavy when needed.



As I've gotten older, I've learned that you have to accept albums on their own terms. Ever since I revisited HOURS a year or two ago, I rate it much higher than I used to. I can really appreciate its rather lethargic mood today and it can create a perfectly lush and chilled-out atmosphere if I feel like submerging myself into its world.



Breakdown:



"Thursday's Child" - I was initially a bit put off by the "days of the week" thing here as I tend to be with these kinds of songs ("Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday born I was/ Thursday's child."). Yet this one's something different, a dreamy beauty with a fantastic melody featuring sensuous background vocals from Holly Palmer. "Throw me tomorrow . . ." *****



"Something In The Air" - slinky and sexy, full of feeling and guitar squalls from Gabrels. Bowie's occasionally distorted vocals convey a strangely cutting anguish. ****1/2



"Survive" - a sad, sweet song, Bowie laments a love that never worked out - "You're the great mistake I never made." He'll "survive," but damn, it hurts. ****1/2



"If I'm Dreaming My Life" - a simply gorgeous stunner, this multi-faceted song is at times strident, at times drawn-out and swimming in doubt, questioning the reality of life as it slips into the past. Love the classic guitar-style hook at the middle eight and the melancholy way the song washes out and winds down to the end. *****



"Seven" - gorgeously sung (like every song here) with cool acoustic guitar. A heartfelt beauty seemingly about someone who knows he has been given only seven more days to live. ****1/2



"What's Really Happening" - I love the familiar vocal melody - in fact, it stuck in my craw so much that I went online and figured out it was copied from an old Supremes song ("You Keep Me Hanging On"). An obvious rip-off from a master of rip-offs and someone who doesn't quibble too much over the legions of musicians who have lifted from him, so I won't crucify him for it. The song sounds really great and spacey, but I've still gotta take points off for plagiarism, be it subliminal or intentional. This is the song he "wrote" with one of his fans. **3/4



"The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell" - Hardly Bowie's hardiest rocker, it's still the most pumped-up thing on the album and it's got some groovy guitar hooks. Recalls his classic glam-rock stuff with a more modern production. "The pretty things are going to hell/ They wore it out but they wore it well." ****1/2



"New Angels of Promise" - one of the best cuts, an ominous, hovering tune. Swimmingly intense! *****



"Brilliant Adventure" - A contemplative, Asian-tinged instrumental. ***1/2



"The Dreamers" - a very good song that Bowie's singing makes great. He really is one of the best singers ever IMHO. This is a fitting album closer that sums up its themes of futility and despair in the quest for meaning in life and delusional dreams. ****



Highly recommended, and if you didn't like it before, go back and give it another listen.

"

(3.5 stars) When a great overall suond can make up for a lac

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 07/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"An artistic comeback for Dave, who at the time hadn't made an honestly good album since the early '80s. With this album, Bowie both came to terms with being old and scored his best-produced album since Scary Monsters or so. The synthesizers here sound great! And the production stuff does, too! In fact, the production and arrangements are so good on several of these tracks that their lack of any hooks doesn't matter. For instance, "Something in the Air" doesn't have much by way of an interesting melody, but it has a lot by way of interesting "stuff." Same deal with "Survive," which hits a captivating climax and has a really pretty piano part. "Thursday's Child" actually has a good melody in addition to interesting production, though. The arrangement on "If I'm Dreaming My Life," a rare example of a good epic synth-rocker, is ace as well. The lyrics also much be mentioned, as most of them are quite introspective. It's Bowie taking a good, hard look at his life from the perspective of a weary old man, and discovering he doesn't like it. It's odd to think of an old David Bowie. After all, his most famous character died young, and after years of cocaine-fueled debauchery, it probably looked to many like David himself was going to follow the same path. But this rather morbid fixation especially comes into play on the excellent "trip-folk" of "Seven" - as in "I've got seven days to live my life and seven days to die." I'd say it's easily the best song on this album, since once more it weds arranging and melodic skills in a way most of these other songs don't. The more "heavenly" material is fine - the grungy rockers, not so much. Be it the chugging "The Pretty Things are Going to Hell" or the overbearing "What's Really Happening," they don't work. "New Angels of Promise" is a bit better than those, once more because of the trippy production, which also carries the transitional instrumental "Brilliant Adventure." Since the songs themselves aren't Bowie's best, this is an example of an album I like because of the sound, the vibe, or whatever. It's good. And it was also his best album in several years at the time."