Heathen is, in essence, the first "traditional" Bowie album worthy of kudos in years. Although that assertion is a regrettable slight on 1999's relaxed, self-re-evaluating hours.., Heathen successfully reunites Bowie with producer Tony Visconti (the man at the controls during the Berlin-era as well as Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, an album faintly similar in genetic code to this) and finds rock's greatest chameleon once again remoulding his past, advancing to new vistas by moving up that metaphorical hill backwards.