Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Album Review: David Bowie, 'hours...'

(Virgin)

David Bowie, probably one of the greatest influences on modern rock as we know it today, has released another album, that does not, sadly, deliver anything more than the idealistic memoirs of yet another aging rocker.

David Bowie's latest release, 'hours...' falls short of delivering any refreshing music and follows the current trend of former rock-gods attempting to re-capture a slice of the modern rock financial pie. While some pull this off successfully, (Iggy Pop's Avenue B), others fall short, and instead they leave the musical world with an unimpressive, boring album.

From the start, Bowie croons about his past, as if his growing older has opened his eyes to the events of his youth. "I've got seven ways to live my life or seven ways to die," Bowie sings on the song "Seven." On "Something in the Air," Bowie says "Lived with the best times/ Left with the worst/ I've danced with you too long/ Nothing left to say."

A few tracks, however, ("The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell," "New Angels of Promise") resemble more ambitious and pleasing albums, such as 1995's Outside, and provide a little more entertainment than the rest of the stale album.

The synth-pop that characterizes the majority of the album is somewhat unsettling, as it could probably pass for the soundtrack to an '80s program such as "Out of this World." Unfortunately, most of us do not possess the powers to freeze time with our fingers to stop the mundane sounds of 'hours...'

- Barry McGuire