Album of the Day

For his last album of the 20th century (and last for Virgin Records), David Bowie dialed back the compulsive experimentation to focus on songcraft. Undoubtedly, ‘HOURS…’ broke new ground - it was the first full album by a major artist to debut on the Internet, and one of the tracks incorporated fan-solicited lyrics – but its considerable appeal owes more to the richly emotional territory Bowie explores. Where its predecessor, EARTHLING, raced with nervous energy, this 1999 collection is more relaxed and melodic; from the moving opener “Thursday's Child” to the closing “The Dreamers,” this is a good album to keep a friend serene. Like much of the performer's best work, it features a talented guitarist (Reeves Gabrels) as creative counterweight, but make no mistake: only David Bowie could make maturity sound as cool as it does on ‘HOURS…’