DAVID BOWIE
Hours... (Virgin)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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The great thing about being around for so many years is that David Bowie can revisit his past personas as the retro wheel turns. It seldom works as well as the first time around (I put forth the Glass Spider fiasco as evidence A), but cleverly sucks in a new, unsuspecting generation who think it oh so novel. Hours... slips into the cool synth crooner mode first hatched on Low, which confused his legions enough to make that one his first official bomb. The years have been kind to said record as we discovered that yet again, Bowie was way ahead of his time. That makes Hours... , a breath of fresh song oriented affair after several mixed up records stabbing desperately at embracing technology, just right for 1999. The kids will dig it and the old fans will nod along. Bowie constructs a great ballad album, with his best songwriting in years, but loses his maverick edge. Musically anyway, for there is a new side of Bowie unearthed here. A cyber additive to the CD introduces the world to the Bowie merchandise table. T-shirts, posters, CDs and paintings at inflated prices can now be had from the secretive confines of your Bowie dungeon. Yes Bowie is becoming the Robert Bateman of rock'n'roll. You've done it again you rebel!

© 1999 - John Sekerka