BOWIE RESTATED & RESURRECTED : * * * * <i> Great Balls of Fire</i> , * * * <i> Good Vibrations</i> , * * <i> Maybe Baby</i> , * <i> Running on Empty</i>

* * “NEVER LET ME DOWN.” David Bowie. EMI-America.

Has the rock world’s favorite chameleon gone gray? Lack of style is something that Bowie has rarely been accused of, but “Never Let Me Down” eschews color, focus and innovation in favor of a vague potpourri of past elements. It’s a little bit “Let’s Dance,” a little bit “Heroes,” a little bit “Scary Monsters,” a little bit “Diamond Dogs”--and only a little bit interesting.

If the album has any focus at all, its concentration is on the muscular, dance-oriented pop Bowie’s favored in recent years, albeit with an occasional burst of atonal guitar transported directly from the artist’s adventurous late-’70s work. But the album also resurrects phases of Bowie’s career even more distant.

The bizarre fantasy narrative of “Glass Spider” brings back fond memories of the days when Aladdin Sane really did seem a lad insane and not the conservative guy who’s replaced him. And when he lets a hard-rock groove settle in on “Beat of Your Heart” or “Zeros,” you can almost imagine that it’s those glam -orous mid-’70s again and guitarist Mick Ronson is by his side.

The quality ebbs and flows, but none of the songwriting is going to stand with Bowie’s best--least of all “Day-In Day-Out,” the most useless single of Bowie’s career. This is a record that restates, reshapes, resurrects--which isn’t all bad, but which isn’t the Bowie we knew before the movies got a hold of his time and attention.