NASHVILLE |DATE: SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
FROM:
TRESA REDBURN/MSO 818 380 0400 x 242
MITCH SCHNEIDER/MSO 818 380 0400 x 235
SUZANNE MacNARY/VIRGIN 212 253 3045
YON ELVIRA/VIRGIN 310 288 2419
DAVID BOWIE
TO RELEASE NEW STUDIO ALBUM,
TITLED `hours…'
OCTOBER 5 ON VIRGIN RECORDS,
WITH "THURSDAY'S CHILD" SET AS FIRST SINGLE/VIDEO;
BOWIE'S "STORYTELLERS" WILL AIR ON VH1 IN OCTOBER,
THE SAME MONTH HE'S BEEN NAMED VH1'S "ARTIST OF THE MONTH"
"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," says DAVID BOWIE.
hours…, due out October 5 on Virgin Records, marks DAVID's 23rd solo album. Produced by BOWIE and long-time collaborator/guitarist Reeves Gabrels, it's a next generation of BOWIE songs, successor to the Hunky Dory days. Written solely with guitar foil Reeves Gabrels over the last year, hours… could be described as one of DAVID's most seemingly autobiographical records to date.
The first single from hours… will be "Thursday's Child," a subtle and expansive song with themes of loss and regret built into the harmonies as well as the lyrics. The music to "Thursday's Child" builds slowly up to a classic BOWIEBOWIE pianist Mike Garson. chorus, which is definitely one of the album's many highlights. Another notable inclusion is "The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell" from the forthcoming film Stigmata. The score for the film has been supplied by Smashing Pumpkin mainman Billy Corgan along with veteran
On the visual front, DAVID has shot two videos in New York City: the Walter Stern-directed "Thursday's Child" and "The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell," lensed by Dom & Nick (who did the same honors for BOWIE's acclaimed "I'm Afraid Of Americans" video with Trent Reznor). He will also be VH1's October "Artist Of The Month," with his recently taped "Storytellers" special to air in the same month (exact dates tba).
In recent years the musical frontierland ethos that created Heroes and Low has turned its gaze on the marriage of music and technology. As a result of BOWIE's latest fascinations, eight of the 10 songs featured on hours… are included in the forthcoming Eidos PC format game "Omikron: The Nomad Soul." DAVID, Reeves and the rest of the band also appear in scenes performing the songs.
In other interactive news, BOWIE fans have had the opportunity of sneaking a private listening of hours… before its release. DAVID has been exclusively previewing 45 second chunks of hours… as well as revealing the album sleeve over his ground-breaking and award-winning web-site and ISP, "BowieNet" (www.davidbowie.com). He also offered fans the opportunity to vote on specific mixes of the album's lead track "Thursday's Child."
One fan has had more interaction than most. hours… includes the song that was co-written by Alex Grant, winner of the BowieNet cyber-song contest. Wisconsin-born Alex Grant was chosen from literally tens of thousands of applicants in one of the biggest music competitions ever run. In talking about this unique songwriting experience Grant described BowieNet as "a mecca for songwriters and BOWIE fans alike." Their joint venture, "What's Really Happening," will see writing credits and royalties split between them.
Musicians performing on the album include DAVID on keyboards and 12-string acoustic guitar, long time co-collaborator Reeves Gabrels on guitars and programming, mixer Mark Plati (who worked extensively on David's Earthling album) on bass, Mike Levesque (from Dave Navarro's band) and Sterling Campbell (who played on David's album Outside) on drums, and Chris Haskett (ex-Rollins Band) performing on guest guitar.
The full track listing for hours… is as follows:
- Thursday's Child (Bowie/Gabrels)
- Something In The Air(Bowie/Gabrels)
- Survive (Bowie/Gabrels)
- If I'm Dreaming My Life (Bowie/Gabrels/Grant)
- Seven (Bowie/Gabrels)
- What's Really Happening (Bowie/Gabrels)
- The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell (Bowie/Gabrels)
- New Angels Of Promise (Bowie/Gabrels)
- Brilliant Adventure (Bowie/Gabrels)
- The Dreamers (Bowie/Gabrels)
The album was produced by BOWIE and Gabrels and mixed by Plati.
Additional Production, Engineering & Mixing by Mark Plati Engineer: Kevin Paul
Assistant Engineers: Jay Nicholas and Ryoji Hata
Recorded at Seaview, Bermuda. Overdubs and Mix: Looking Glass and Chung King Studios, New York
Musicians: DAVID BOWIE: Vocals, keyboards & 12-string acoustic guitar, Roland 707 drum programming
Reeves Gabrels: Lead & rhythm, electric, 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars, drum loops, synth and drum programming
Mark Plati: Bass, acoustic & electric 12-string guitar, synth and drum programming and mellotron on "Survive"
Mike Levesque: Drums
Sterling Campbell: Drums on "Seven," "New Angels of Promise" and "The Dreamers"
Chris Haskett: Rhythm guitar on "If I'm Dreaming My Life"
Everett Bradley: Percussion on "Seven"
Holly Palmer: Backing vocals on "Thursday's Child"
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DAVID BOWIE TO RELEASE NEW STUDIO ALBUM, TITLED `hours…' OCTOBER 5 ON VIRGIN RECORDS, WITH "THURSDAY'S CHILD" SET AS FIRST SINGLE/VIDEO
