1999
DAVID BOWIE'S 'hours...'
CRITICAL QUOTES
"First and foremost...hours... is a testament to the serenity that comes with legend status, maturity and endurance... Bowie's eccentric sense of melody twists around the ear like a space oddity, getting under the skin, plucking the heartstrings and stirring up feelings of alienation we never knew we had... settings full of atmosphere, spunk, grit and nuance: hours... is an album that improves with each new hearing."
- ROLLING STONE Greg Tate 10/28/99
"hours... begins strongly by surrendering to weakness. 'Thursday's Child' slinks on an understated trip-hop groove, with one of those classic Bowie vocals that's both intimate and remote. The melody twists into abstraction, leading the singer into a lonely place where he looks back over his young life and tries to wash away regret with forgiveness."
- SPIN Barry Walters 11/99
"Rather than dabbling in the esoterics of pop's outer electronic edge, Bowie surfs it with aplomb. Where others toy awkwardly with studio effects, Bowie marshals them in service of a new batch of winning songs, including standouts like 'Survive' and 'The Pretty Things are Going to Hell,' that will shine among his trove of rock classics."
- PEOPLE Steve Dougherty 10/11/99
"hours... the Duke's 23rd solo album contains his most consistent song writing since 1980's Scary Monsters... hours... classic and classy Bowie."
- PAPER Eric Weilander 10/99
"Here is a man facing the angst of aging but with a realism that comes only after conquering the similar angst of youth. Bowie is in fine form from start to finish, scouring the emotional depths of his generation's current state in ways his contemporaries rarely do. And hey, what better stylistic about-face right now than to get seriously quiet? He continues to work at the height of his powers, and it's simply amazing how he still impresses."
- THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Ben Wener 10/1/99
"It's great to hear this rock chameleon once again finding his true colors."
- ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION Doug Hamilton 10/7/99
"Bowie holds it together by lending the listener a sense of anticipation, of intelligence and of subtle exploration. The best artists continue to challenge themselves and their patrons. Bowie is a prime example."
- THE TENNESSEAN Tom Roland 10/4/99
"...he sings with authority about aging and mortality, deftly trading on his status as an elder statesman and on the audience's knowledge of his history...the best of hours... compares favorably with his best stuff, period...Bowiephiles will be pleased to note that his golden years aren't over, not by a long shot."
- NEWSDAY Jon Young 10/10/99
"In many ways, the disc revisits 1972's introspective Hunky Dory. That link is clearest on a gorgeous 'Survive,' where Bowie ponders mortality as he sings 'who said time is on my side?'"
- MEAN STREET George Paul 10/99
"...such tunes as 'Survive' and 'Seven' rank among the most simply beautiful songs he's written in many years, an much of this album has a warmly familiar feel. Even toward the end, when things get a little more aggressive and dramatic on suck tunes as 'New Angels Of Promise' and 'The Dreamers,' Bowie still pulls back on the sound effects, allowing the melodies to be the real focus."
- NYLON Paul Semel 11/99
"Why get all excited about David Bowie's twenty-third album? Because hours... (Virgin) is his best record in two decades. Because it's a return to the stripped-down melodic structures of Hunky Dory, to the days when he's sit there against a bare acoustic strum, playing nothing but a British accent. Because it's a return, too, to the music of Low and Heroes, their grinding pop and Berlin gloom. Because Jesus, it's a return... once again everything is hunky-dory."
- GQ Jim Nelson 11/99
"Melancholy has never been so upbeat."
- GQ Jim Nelson 12/99 (one of 1999's top albums)
"...if Bowie has startled over the years by being icy, unavailable, and downright creepy, hours... surprises you with its winning emotional directness: The plaintive folk jangle and quavering vocals on the breathtaking 'Survive' make it maybe the warmest, most accessible song he's ever recorded. And when he begs, 'Still my trembling heart,' on the ethereal, synth-thick 'Seven,' the line, rather than sounding hokey, seems delivered by a statue suddenly come to moist, fleshy life."
- DETAILS 11/99
"hours... is a richly textured and emotionally vivid set... Bowie sounds influenced by nobody except himself, and he couldn't have picked a better role model."
- Q Paul Du Noyer 11/99
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