David Bowie

Hours (Virgin)
by Lex Marburger

Well, I’ve got a problem. Bowie‘s gone back to a Brit-pop sorta thing. That in itself isn’t that bad. After all, he’s been around long enough to do… pretty much whatever the fuck he wants. The thing is, I picked up The London Suede’s Head Music pretty much the same time I got Bowie’s “Hours…”, and the first half of the converted bi’s disc just doesn’t hold up to perpetually bi Brett Anderson & co.’s work. Simply put, the first six songs on “Hours…” just aren’t that good, especially when you listen to how it’s done these days.

Now, I’ve always thought that Bowie’s records have been spotty. Even his classic albums have had at least one bad song (Heroes has “Joe the Lion,” Scary Monsters has “Scream Like Baby,” and Black Tie, White Noise… ahem, the less said about that the better. By the way, what’s up with putting the title of the album in quotes again? That’s the start of a whole ‘nother article). But he seemed to be doing so well, getting back with Eno for Outside (still underrated), and getting all up-to-speed with Earthling. He was relevant again (‘specially after he got wunderkind Reznor to mix a song). Yeah, I heard he wrote the album to cover his “growing olde” period, but that doesn’t give him license to write dull tunes. And even guitarist/coke-fiend Reeves Gabrels can’t save the first half (“side,” if you will) of the album.

But the second half… well, it gets better. The tracks pick up some life, the sonic tricks come out, the distortion is applied a little more… it’s Bowie, as we all know and love him. He’s not freaking out with electronics, it’s (much) more rock influenced. He sounds more relaxed and natural.

Y’know, maybe it’s me, but I’ve found that with most of Bowie’s “sucky” music, he doesn’t pay that much attention to the drum parts. They just sort of keep time, just marking the seconds until the song is over. Then you take a track like “The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell” (just me, or a very thinly veiled Iggy reference?), with funky, off-beat drumming, and the whole track lifts off (don’t get me started on how excited I was when Earthling blew my theory out of the sky). “New Angels of Promise” brings back the majestic pomposity that made boys and girls swoon way back when. He even goes back to the side two Heroes and Low sound (y’know, ambient) for “Brilliant Adventure,” a creepy, wordless drift. By the time he gets to “The Dreamers,” with its eq-tweaked drums and impassioned crooning (with vocal distortion, the first welcome application of that trite effect in about a decade), I’m excited again. But then the CD ends.

In short, Mr. Fell-To-Earth: Keep looking forward. Leave the Brit-pop to the Brits. You sold the world, remember?
(www.virginrecords.com)