Questions have been asked as to the relevance of ''mature'' artists such as Bowie in this day and age. There's no doubting the phenomenal amount of interest generated by his love of all things on the internet, but the bottom line is, and must be... is the music any good?
Well yes - and no. 'Hours' is not the return to 'Hunky Dory' that the record company tried to convince us it is, and we shouldn't be surprised about that. Bowie is hardly about to turn the clock back nearly 30 years in a bid to rekindle critical acclaim. He gave up on that a long time ago.
But 'Hours' does include some of his best work in recent years, even if the vocals don't always do them justice - witness the opening few phrases of the single 'Thursday's Child'. The acoustic (ooh it must be 'Hunky Dory') nostalgia of 'Seven' is a case in point - a real song, no nonsense, no metal guitar, and if that's seen as a retro songwriting step for Bowie, then let's have more of it. Even a suitably Bowie-esque alien backing vocal on 'Something In The Air' fails to ruin a great song.
Reeves Gabrel does get the license to ''rawk'' all over the next single, 'The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell', and to fatten up and echo 'Scary Monsters' on 'What's Really Happening?', but that's only to be expected. His recent departure from the camp certainly makes the prospect of Bowie's next album - it'll be his 24th solo effort - an intriguing one. 'New Angels Promise', for one, would benefit without the metal noodling.
'Hours' then is a frustrating mixture for the Bowie fan. There's more than enough here to make it worth investigating, but if you're in the USA and can find a way of just downloading the first six tracks - I'd go for that option.
