Hours... is a lush, largely serene self-portrait through which David Bowie atones for mistakes and reflects on regrets. Not that this is the chameleon's swan song, but it's a fitting time for him to speak out honestly about his life--a life that's been lionized, criticized, and mythologized by the masses for three decades. Bowie's Hunky Dory muses were once "driving their mamas and papas insane," but here they are aged and faded ("The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell"); yet the man himself could not be more graceful or vibrant. --Beth Massa
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