Hours (stylised as 'hours...' ) is the twenty-second studio album by the English musician David Bowie. It was originally released on 21 September 1999 through the Internet on the artist's website BowieNet, followed by a physical CD release on 4 October through Virgin Records. It was one of the first albums by a major artist available to download over the Internet. Originating as a soundtrack to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul (1999), Hours was the final collaboration between Bowie and guitarist Reeves Gabrels, with whom he had worked since 1988. The album was recorded in mid-1999 at studios in Bermuda and New York City. A song contest conducted on BowieNet in late 1998 resulted in a fan contributing lyrics and backing vocals to one of the tracks.
In contrast to the experimental nature of Bowie's other works throughout the decade, Hours presents a pop rock and art pop style reminiscent of Hunky Dory (1971), further evoking styles and ideals previously explored on Bowie's past works. The lyrics are introspective, detailing topics such as the collapse of relationships and subjects of angst. Also present are overtly Christian themes, which is reflected in the cover artwork. Inspired by the Pietà, it depicts the short-haired Bowie persona from the Earthling era, resting in the arms of a long-haired, more youthful version of Bowie. The title, originally The Dreamers, is a play on "ours".
Accompanied by multiple UK top 40 singles, Hours peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart but was Bowie's first album to miss the US Billboard 200 top 40 since 1972. It also received mixed reviews from music critics, many of whom praised individual tracks but criticised the album as a whole, sentiments echoed by later reviewers. Bowie promoted the album through the Hours Tour and various television appearances. Retrospective lists ranking all of Bowie's studio albums have placed Hours among Bowie's weaker efforts. The album was reissued with bonus tracks in 2004 and remastered in 2021 for inclusion on the box set Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001).
Background and writing
After maintaining a relatively large media profile throughout 1997, David Bowie retreated from the limelight in 1998, primarily devoting his time to ventures outside of music, such as establishing his website BowieNet, but nevertheless continued making film appearances. He mixed a potential live album from the Earthling Tour, later released in 1999 as LiveAndWell.com, but was mostly inactive in the studio throughout 1998; his sole recording from the year was a cover of George and Ira Gershwin's "A Foggy Day in London Town", which appeared on the Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove compilation. He also reconciled with his former collaborator and producer Tony Visconti.
In late 1998, Bowie composed the soundtrack for the upcoming video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, developed by Quantic Dream and published by Eidos Interactive. The writer and director David Cage chose him over a list of applicants including Björk, Massive Attack and Archive. The biographer Nicholas Pegg contends that Bowie was drawn to the game due to its Buddhist overtones, noting that when a character died, he or she was reincarnated. Along with composing the music, Bowie appeared in the game, along with the guitarist Reeves Gabrels and the bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, as the singer of an in-game band performing gigs in the bars of Omikron City.
The Omikron project was the springboard for Bowie's next studio album. Between late 1998 and early 1999, he and Gabrels amassed a large number of songs, some of which were written for Omikron and others for a Gabrels solo album, including "Survive", "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" and the B-side "We All Go Through". Unlike the experimental cut-up nature of Bowie's other 1990s recordings, the tracks were written in a more conventional style reminiscent of his mid-1980s works. He explained: "There was very little experimentation in the studio. A lot of it was just straightforward songwriting." As a result, the demos were primarily written on guitar, while "Thursday's Child" and "The Dreamers" were written on keyboards. Gabrels stated that Omikron provided the musical direction for the songs, elaborating:
At an E3 press conference in 1999, Bowie said that his main priority was to imbue Omikron with "emotional subtext" and regarded this as a success. In the end, the game featured variants of most Hours tracks except "If I'm Dreaming My Life", "Brilliant Adventure" and "What's Really Happening?", along with "We All Go Through". Various instrumentals also appeared in the game, some of which were further developed for release as B-sides.
Recording After Bowie completed collaborations with the band Placebo in February and March 1999, he and Gabrels entered Seaview Studios in Bermuda—his new residence after he sold his home in Switzerland—the following month to commence recording. Bowie and Gabrels completed most of the work by themselves, although the musician Mark Plati and the drummer Sterling Campbell, who played on Earthling (1997) and Outside (1995), respectively, returned to contribute. Other musicians Bowie hired included Mike Levesque on drums and percussion, Everett Bradley on percussion ("Seven"), Chris Haskett on rhythm guitar ("If I'm Dreaming My Life") and Marcus Salisbury on electric bass ("New Angels of Promise"). Bowie initially wanted the R&B trio TLC to perform backing vocals for "Thursday's Child", but the idea was vetoed by Gabrels, who instead hired his friend Holly Palmer; she later joined Bowie's touring band.
In late 1998, Bowie launched a songwriting competition on BowieNet where the winner earned a chance to complete the lyrics for "What's Really Happening?". He or she would also earn the chance to be flown to New York to observe the recording session. Ohio native Alex Grant was revealed as the winner in January 1999 and was flown to New York for the vocal and overdub session on 24May, which was broadcast live on BowieNet. Grant also contributed backing vocals. On the experience, Bowie stated: "The most gratifying part of the evening for me was being able to encourage Alex and his pal Larry to sing on the song that he had written." Plati later commended the idea to the biographer Marc Spitz, saying that "it was a new way to reach out to his fans".
Unlike the quick rush of the Earthling sessions, the sessions for Hours were more relaxed and Bowie himself was calmer. When speaking with the biographer David Buckley, Plati described having leisurely conversations with Bowie and Gabrels about the Internet and contemporary topics of the time. Disagreements arose between Bowie and Gabrels regarding the musical direction. The latter wanted to do an Earthling follow-up in a manner similar to Ziggy Stardust (1972) and Aladdin Sane (1973). Later on, he revealed that Hours initially sounded like Diamond Dogs (1974). He was also frustrated at the hiring of Plati and the demotion of "We All Go Through" and "1917" to B-side status. According to O'Leary, Hours was mixed and mastered by June.
Music and lyrics
Hours marks a major departure from the experimental nature of its two predecessors. Deduced by Plati as "the anti-Earthling", it represents a style more akin to the acoustic and conventional textures of 1971's Hunky Dory. The author James E. Perone writes that the record evokes folk rock, 1960s soul and rock, while retrospective commentators have categorised it as pop rock and art pop.
Several themes pervade Hours. Surmised by Perone as "Bowie's angels album", Hours encompasses overtly Christian themes last seen on the Station to Station track "Word on a Wing" (1976); it contains paraphrases from the Bible and the poetry of John Donne, along with numerous references to life and death, heaven and hell, "gods", "hymns" and "angels". Some analysed the tracks as Bowie looking at his own mortality. Additionally, the use of the number seven on "Thursday's Child" and "Seven" led Perone to deduce: "The number that governs the passing of days into words appears in several guises. The listener is left with the feeling that not only is the passage of time controlled by some indefinable supreme power, but possibly are the events of one's life."
With an overall ideal of introspection, "Something in the Air" and "Survive" examine the downfall of relationships, "If I'm Dreaming My Life" and "Seven" question the reliability of memory, while "What's Really Happening?", "The Dreamers" and "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" reflect the helplessness of age felt when meditating on life. Bowie explained that "I wanted to capture a kind of universal angst felt by many people of my age. You could say that I am attempting to write some songs for my generation. Due to the retrospection of the material, some commentators wondered if Hours was autobiographical, to which Bowie refuted, telling Uncut:
Songs The album opener, "Thursday's Child", establishes the introspective mood of the album, reflecting a theme of optimism. Its title comes from Eartha Kitt's autobiography. Using an R&B style, the song follows a "born out of [his] time" character who sees hope for the future. "Something in the Air" contains numerous musical and lyrical references to Bowie's past work, from "All the Young Dudes" (1972) to "Seven Years in Tibet" (1997). It dissects the collapse of a relationship and was examined by Bowie as "probably the most tragic song on the album".
"Survive" was reportedly Bowie's favourite song on the album. Musically, it is highly reminiscent of Hunky Dory while lyrically, it is, in Spitz's words, "haunted by regret". The female character is abstract; in O'Leary's words, "a place-filler used by a sad man to stand for his loss of potential." Pegg deems the longest track on the album, "If I'm Dreaming My Life", as a "turgid interlude" between "Survive" and "Seven". Similar to other tracks, the lyrics concern a relationship. Containing a "sprawling" musical structure, Spitz finds it "musically indecisive" but thematically fits the overall album.
Described by Bowie as "a song of nowness", "Seven" uses the days of the week as "an index of time", similar to "Thursday's Child". On the appearance of a mother, father and brother in the lyrics, Bowie denied allegations that the track was autobiographical, telling Q magazine's David Quantick: "They're not necessarily my mother, father and brother, it was the nuclear unit thing." "What's Really Happening?" is the first of two harder rocking songs on the album compared to the sombre quality of the previous tracks. The title asserts the theme of "mistrust of reality and memory", while Grant's lyrics fit the overall "chronometric" concept. According to O'Leary, it was originally planned as a BowieNet-exclusive track before being placed on Hours.
"The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" is "the rockiest piece" on Hours. Buckley and Dave Thompson believe that it harkens back to Bowie's glam rock period of the early 1970s. Incidentally, the title recalls material from that era, particularly Hunky Dory, Pin Ups and the Stooges' Raw Power, which Bowie mixed. The lyrics recall themes previously showcased in "Changes" (1971) and the Scary Monsters tracks "Teenage Wildlife" and "Fashion" (1980). Perone finds that it presents a counterbalance to the positivism of "Thursday's Child". The song was first released in remixed form in the film Stigmata (1999) and its accompanying soundtrack; this version also appeared in Omikron.