The Music of 1999
The last year of the Twentieth Century was a particularly great one for me in regards to music. Some of my favorite veteran acts released new music: Sting's Brand New Day is only a week older than Hours. Tom Jones presented Reload to the world. Santana's Supernatural was everywhere as was Moby's Play. I discovered new-to-me artists like Bruce Cockburn. Chicago released a live album with some new songs. And I was still spinning 1998's Psycho Circus by KISS and Painted by Memory by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach.
But the album that I looked forward to the most was the new one by David Bowie. I was (and still am) a huge fan of Bowie's music in the 1990s. After the experimentation of 1995's Outside and 1997's Earthling, it was exciting to ponder what kind of music we'd get on the new album. Little did we know we'd get an introspective album many critics compared to 1971's Hunky Dory.
The Album
Hours landed square in the middle of a life and cultural turning point for me. I was newly married and rediscovering my hometown of Houston after moving back home after graduate school. I was finally (!) out of school for the first time since I started in kindergarten. I had my first job. I was a grown up who finally (!) didn't have homework to do. I had time to soak in life and listen to music.
And I listened to Hours for...hours. Hey. It was right there. I have no conscious memory of where I bought the album, but I know it was twenty years ago today. I have always be a day-released purchaser of albums by favorite musicians. Back then, it was likely Best Buy, and it was likely on my lunch hour. However, I got the CD, I spun it as soon as I could, which was in my Ford F-150's player.
Again, I have no memory of how I felt or what I thought when those first notes of "Thursday's Child" washed over me, but it has remained a favorite song ever since. Not Top 25, but certainly Top 50. (That's an interesting exercise. I might have to compile my Top 50 favorite Bowie songs.)
Thursday's Child is the song a middle-aged man speaks about his life. It's a crooner's song, full of croonery music. Holly Palmer is fantastic as the lead background singer, but Bowie's third rendition of "Seeing my past to let it go" is heartbreakingly nuanced.
Something in the Air has a decent back beat over which Bowie can sing through a device that distorts his voice. This is a tune I've always enjoyed mainly for the fraying edges of Bowie's voice. He still had it at the time, but there are moments in this song where you realize he is a middle-aged man with a lifetime's worth of singing. It takes a toll after awhile and in this song, that age pays off well.
Survive is likely the song that echoes the vibe of Hunky Dory. It's an acoustic guitar-drive tune layered over with orchestral strings interspersed with tasteful electric guitars by Reeves Gabrels and saxphones. This song made it into the 1999 tour setlist. Again, a younger man probably doesn't write this song.
I'm Dreaming My Life is highlighted by the tempo changes, speeding and slowing the beat. While I like the tune, it is one that doesn't make it onto my MP3 CD compilations. The latter half of the song, with its plodding section punctuated by "ooohs" is...just okay.
Seven is yet another 1999 outtake of Hunky Dory. Even more than Survive, Seven's acoustic jangling guitar chugs along quite nicely. This one builds and builds, adding in different instruments along the way, until it reaches its wonderful ending. A highlight of the album.
What's Really Happening would have opened side 2 of the album if it was pressed in vinyl back in 1999. The guitar of Gabrels is more upfront here, and I get the impression its more his song than Bowie's.
The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell reminded folks in 1999 that Bowie remained a rock star quite capable of punching out a crunchy rock song. Think Hallo Spaceboy for another example. Always enjoyed this one, especially the tambourine during the chorus. The guitars are great, and really added to that Fin de siècle vibe that permeated most of 1999.
New Angels of Promise chugs out of the speakers using various of-the-era electronics before quickly morphing into a more straightforward pop tune. Lots of studio trickery on this one, mostly with Bowie backing himself, a practice I don't normally like, but don't mind too much here.
Brilliant Disguise is a short instrumental piece with a distictive Asian influence. In mood and vibe, it would have worked well on side two of "Heroes", but here just serves as a nice little piece.
The Dreamers rounds out the ten tracks of Hours. It showcases Bowie's crooner singing, but often it's distorted by oddball sound effects. But when the song hits the chorus, it is beautiful. And Bowie's sustained notes are gorgeous.
The Remixes
There were so many remixes of the various songs on this album that in 2004, there was a double CD boxed set with the second disc only containing the remixes. Some were marked improvements on the originals and my preferred versions: Thursday's Child (Rock Mix), Something in the Air (American Psycho Remix), and Seven (Marius De Vries Mix). There are something like four versions of The Pretty Things are Going to Hell, but I still prefer the original, just like the original version of Survive.
In the twenty years since the album's debut, certain songs float to the top, giving me continual listens. I ended up making my own version of Hours with those mixes I mentioned filling in for the actual album versions. But these five songs are my favorites from this album and among my favorites of the entire 1993-2004 era. I have an MP3 CD player in my car and I am able to cram up to 130 songs on each. Not only do I have a dedicated "Bowie 1993-2004" disc, but I have a "Bowie Retrospective" in which I select songs from his entire catalog, up to and including Blackstar. These five songs make the cut every time, although I use the version of Survive from the 2000 Bowie at the Beeb concert.
Hours Live
Ironically, just this year, at a record store here in Houston, I discovered a CD copy of the 1999 "Small Club Broadcast" show. Bowie only toured in Europe in 1999 so I never got to hear any of these tunes live. Which makes this discovery such a joy. All the Hours songs (Thursday's Child, Something in the Air, Survive, Seven, and The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell) sound great live, especially with Mike Garson playing piano. Huh. Isn't that something, those list of songs Bowie himself performed.
By the way, of all the live albums Bowie released officially, the 2000 concert is my favorite. He and the band sound so good, and some of the songs on this track list (Ashes to Ashes, Absolute Beginners, Survive, Always Crashing in the Same Car) are my preferred versions.
The Verdict
It's been a great twenty years with this album. I have so many memories in which these songs are intertwined. It was an awesome time for music in 1999 and while Hours my not be the best Bowie album from the 1990s, it holds a special place. It was the perfect album for those last three months of the Twentieth Century, especially when combined with Sting's Brand New Day and the other fantastic albums of 1999. It was of its time. It was by an artist whose age nearly matches mine now assessing his own career and music and doing something different. I also enjoy it along with Heathen and Reality, the last great trilogy of albums Bowie produced.
If you haven't spun Hours in a long time, give it a listen today to commemorate the album's anniversary.
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