I love you. I'll survive.: the David Bowie 'hours. . .' poll.

idk, i kinda got more curious about this album bc i finally got to its section in chris o'leary's blog. i don't think i'm necessarily wrong upthread, it does sound bizarrely empty, simultaneously unfinished and overcooked, but i still really like some of these songs even though they're trapped in a weird transparent fog and are only faintly animated by bowie's deliberately disengaged vocals. the original omikron version of "new angels of promise" is pretty awesome (they overdid the song on the album), i love the interaction between the verses and the chorus, and "something in the air" is a really desperate, sad song trying to stir itself to life (i especially like the american psycho remix where mike garson weaves deranged spirals of piano into the texture of trip-hop) and bowie's vocal on it is weirdly both introverted and extremely intense, it could've been the power ballad on earthling. "thursday's child" is ridiculously gorgeous too. "pretty things are going to hell" is still one of the most unnecessary songs ever, a boneheaded gabrels riff that they stapled a "song' around

i really love "seven" too, it's a v sweet song. the album version is maybe the worst version of it but i still think it's pretty great

fantastic post, brad

..."something in the air" is a really desperate, sad song trying to stir itself to life (i especially like the american psycho remix where mike garson weaves deranged spirals of piano into the texture of trip-hop) and bowie's vocal on it is weirdly both introverted and extremely intense...

Bowie was pretty self-deprecatory about aspects of his career. I wonder if he himself would have admitted that Hours is a dog’s breakfast, had he not stopped giving interviews fairly soon after.

I think he felt that the record had honest ambitions, so I don't know if he would have felt confident running it down. I remember him making a bitter comment at the time that he might as well not have made a video for the record because he wasn't receiving any airplay in 1999. Parting with Gabrels at the end of the recording and not doing a full tour shows his diffidence about the final product, but I think he would have felt he invested enough emotion (or the appearance of unguarded feelings) in these songs that he wouldn't have dismissed them.

there was a pretty good VH1 Bowie Storytellers segment that had the two best songs from this LP alongside a nice selection of back catalogue - probably my preferred mode of acknowledging this LP's existence - nice interesting version of the late-era Bowie band with the Dorsey/Cambell rhythm section and Gabrels clearly reigned-in and on the way out... have always liked Holly Palmer's contributions to Thursday's Child, better showcased in the live version. ok.

Here's an album where O'Leary's explaining Bowie's odd chording diminished my interest. Such simple tunes with such contortions.

It would be a shame if listeners couldn't hear how harmonically rich "Thursday's Child" is underneath the uninspiring arrangement. I love how the movement from the III to the II chord gives "Everything's falling into place" such a combined feeling of hope and fear.

...and Bowie's melody is taking advantage of every shift in the chord pattern, it's not just icing.

i like that song but I'm not a fan of the female vocals (Holly Palmer, I guess), they are a cheese too far