Listening to "...hours" and Heathen back-to-back, I find an interesting contrast: the former finds a batch of promising songs ruined by lackluster arrangements and claustrophobic production, while the latter find a batch of mostly-decent-but-generally-forgettable songs rescued by lush, gorgeous production and "classic Bowie" arrangements. Between the two, I'd pick Heathen since the songs on "...hours" just aren't good enough to overcome the indifferent presentation, whereas the sheer sound of Heathen is enough to win me over, even if the material is kind of uneven.

You'll notice I didn't mention Reality. That's because it sucks.