Bowie seems to still be getting a lot of flak for his eighties slump; most rockers his age can rehash and regurgitate and get rewarded by most critics just for showing up. Bowie, on the other hand, has started to really take some chances again with his music, and only a few critics seem to have noticed. While "Hours..." is (consciously or unconsciously)reminiscient of "Hunky Dory" and then "The Man who Sold the World," he has inserted the lyrics of a fifty-something musician who admittedly feels a bit left behind. Well, this is stuff we (adults) can sink our teeth into! I especially love how the album starts out slow and builds up steam; with each listen this approach seems to make more sense. Those who have listened to him for a long time don't always want the sustained energy of "Earthling." (We can't always take it! Sometimes we just want a nice ride!) And we know this is the real thing; Bowie's been giving us the real thing since "Outside" or even before. I think he knows it; too bad it's taken rock critics a while to be convinced.

Some of the times an album gets drowned out by an artist's former successes. If an album, from such a performer, does not break new ground it somehow gains less attention than the upstart's albums. This, my fellow legion of Bowie fans, is simply a spectacular album. This is David Bowie easing on the cutting edge for a moment to settle into sound song craftsmanship. How many artists out there can lay claim to so many incredible and unique albums. In my opinion, Bowie has had ten albums I would call incredible, and this fits into that groove. Subtlety rules on this album. A deft hand by both Bowie and Reeves Gabrels has been used on this album to at times fill the empty spaces, and at other times let it flow. To say that I am impressed by this album would be a grand understatement. This is a probably not a great starting point for those not initiated into the Bowie craftsmanship, but to those who love him as much as I do...it's great punctuation to the progressive brilliance.

Bowie's problem these days is he can't get used to getting on in life. Still siring children, squiring super models, becoming the internet and, all the while, purporting to retaining footing on the leading edge of the artistic world (mates with Moby, you know), all this in his fifties ... it isn't a modus operandi I'd follow to retain my dignity if I were him.

But, with a pleasing showing at Glastonbury last year, and now this record and (to an extent) the more recent Heathen, maybe the signs are there that Bowie's finally preparing to reach for the pipe and slippers.

Not before time.

Finally, a record with no complicated double-album length concept art murders to tax your credulity (per 1. Outside); no drum machines played back at 78 rpm to have you groping for the Tylenol (per Earthling); no peroxided quiffs, china girls, red shoes, glass spiders, screaming lord Byrons, hobgoblin kings, pet shop boys remixes - nothing like that. Just updated middle rock, contemporarily produced nice tunes and lyrics of a nostalgic bent. The nearest thing I can put it to is the more straightforward (and hence less interesting) parts of The Buddha of Suburbia.

And that's exactly the problem. It just isn't all that interesting. Despite what the papers said, it is not Hunky Dory (nothing like it, in fact) and, unless you lock yourself in, it'll be over before you realise it and you'll have wandered off to do something round the house, or started reading the paper, it's that engaging.

Basically, it's cafe music. That's quite an indictment, so I qualify it by saying it would be a *nice* cafe, one sophisticated enough to deliberately not own the Gypsy Kings or Simply Red, but still cafe music all the same.

Sorry, David.

Expecting a good follow up for the previous "Outside" & "Earthling" albums? You won't find it here! Here is Bowie once again trying to revamp the past with numerous tries. Beginning with the dull "Thursday's Child" (an attempt of the soulful "Young Americans"), "Hours" illustrates some of Bowie's worse work in years and makes even "Black Tie, White Noise" sound like a masterpiece. About the strongest Bowie gets here is during "All the Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" a post-Tin Machine sound which is more Gabrels than Bowie. "What's Really Happening" and "New Angels of Promise" are a little bit more listenable, reminiscent to some of the tunes found on the bizarre but great "Lodger" album. Nothing new or striking really becomes of "Hours" it's a post-post Bowie "wanna go back to the past." For late Bowie fans -- beware! But for the ultimate Bowie fans -- there's some fun in comparison here, gotta have it to complete the collection. Come on, we lived through the "Let's Dance" era, we can do it again!

'hours...' is a solid album from one of popular music's few true greats. The musicians are on top form and it is David Bowie's major return, to traditional, melodic songwriting since 'The Buddha of Suburbia'. The vocals throughout are a real treat and betray a real involvement on the part of the artist. However, the major gripe of this Bowie fan is that this album does not herald the return of his personal lyricism. The structure of the songs do not give the insight into Bowie that fans have been denied since 'Black Tie White Noise' and before that 'Scary Monsters'. Bowie's lyrics are distant in this album and this gives the impression of too much calculation, and manipulation of the listener who does not feel close to the artist. The middle-aged depressions described in 'Thursday's Child' and 'If I'm Dreaming all my Life' are too contrived to linger on. Bowie seems to be angling for 'Hunky Dory' twenty-eight years on and while this is a welcome idea, it seems false and half-hearted. However, as a whole this is one of Bowie's best releases of the decade. That said, it is no better than 'Black Tie White Noise' and nowhere near as good as the best parts of 'Outside', though it is a huge improvement on 'Earthling'. Overall then, an album worth buying but if you are a Bowie fan, then do not expect too much. Highlights are 'Something in the Air', 'What's Really Happening?' and 'New Angels of Promise'.