David Bowie - Diamond Dogs [ECD]

George Orwell's classic tale of totalitarianism, 1984, was the inspiration for a project that David Bowie hoped would further solidify his standing as a rock visionary. Bowie was a natural artist to helm a musical companion to Orwell's allegory, since his own music exhibits an innate alienation. The concept ultimately broke down, but the music didn't. "Rebel Rebel" has become a rock staple, while "Sweet Thing," "Candidate," and the forthright yet experimental title track (Bowie as puppet master) offer additional highlights. Still, despite such benchmarks and its conceptual flaws, Diamond Dogs is best listened to as a thematic collection. --Rob O'Connor Amazon.com

Haunting Interpretation of a Classic

I bought this album on a whim after reading that Bowie recorded it in the spirit of _1984_, the classic by George Orwell. Once I started listening to "Future Legands" I was immediately sucked back into Orwell's futuristic world.

All the songs on this album have that darker tone to them, but it's also crucial that you don't miss the other aspects of the songs. "We Are The Dead" is not only as it first appears to the average listener. Yes, it has that dark message, but there's also the sexual play going on between the singer and some unknown person. "But I love you in your f*ck me pumps and your nimble dress ..." it took me a few times of listening to the song for those two lines to actually click and merge into the rest.

Even the last song "Chant Of The Ever Circling Skelelal Family" leaves you with the same jarring finality as the novel does. It's not how you WANT it to end, but it's satisfying anyway ... at least, until you get to the last thirty seconds of the song where you wonder if your copy is scratched. It's not. March 18, 2008

Got your mother in a whirl...

"Rebel Rebel" was probably the first Bowie song I ever heard and it has aways been one of my favorites. The guitar sound is still one of the best I've ever heard and most of the research and interviews I've read said it was David himself who played all the guitars on the record except for "1984". If that was indeed the case then I think he out Ronnoed, Mick Ronson! It's brilliant! The rest of 'Diamond Dogs', released in the spring of 1974 is pretty good as well with other standouts including the title track and the aforementioned "1984". Supposedly this was intended to be a concept album based on Orwell's celebrated work but David couldn't get the rights. However much of Bowie's own dystopian themes fit in within the rest of the record so that it remains consistent. I like the "Sweet Thing/Candidate" suite in its avant gardeness (a foreshadowing of his future work) and the creepy "Future Legend" intro is quite effective. "Big Brother" works as a solid closer along with the truly bizarre "Chant" which ends fairly abruptly. The Ziggy era was over and although David didn't discard it totally with 'Diamond Dogs', his glam persona, which made him a star, was in full transition mode. February 21, 2008

Diamond Dogs

David Bowie-Diamond Dogs ****



The only thing that stops this album from being David Bowies all time best is the fact that the whole thing is over the top! No usually OTT (over the top) is okay, and for someone like Bowie who strives on that it is essential but some how Bowie managed to make it too much on Diamond Dogs. But that is not to say that this is not one of his better albums even still.

A half rocking soul glam album and half concept album. In that order. Side A is really just a straight up rock n' roll album with poetic lyrics sung in that white plastic Soul voice he would coin in the following years. As mentioned the lyrics are pure poetry, and truly some of the mans all time best. Some of his more honest and heartfelt lines can be heard in such songs as 'Sweet Thing' and 'Candidate.' But some of the lyrics are overtly dramatic and it was clear that Bowie was going for that effect, which is fine but his vocalazation of many of the lyrics are...almost operetic which is nothing new for him as he would do it his whole career but at times it can be beautiful and wonderful and other times too much. While on the albums title track, 'Diamond Dogs' it is nothing more then a killer rocker, and one of the best he ever recorded as well.

The album's stand out track, and instant rock classic 'Rebel Rebel' sepperates the two halfs of the album and does so perfectly. This classic among classic's made this one of Bowies biggest selling albums of all time and at this point in his career it was his biggest. The incendiary guitar riff is one of the all time greats and the amazing thing is it is not Mick Ronson because at this point he had left Bowie to go solo and The Spiders From Mars had broken up, no that is Bowie playing that killer riff showing off his amazing musical ability instrumentaly that is often over looked. Many don't realize he plays almost all of the saxophone on his albums, as well as helps to produce them. 'Rebel Rebel' seagues perfectly in to the lovley ballad 'Rock N Roll With Me.' a song full of Dylan's Blonde On Blonde style organ which does seem slightly out of place on the track but some how manages to find a niche. Also the lead guitar work once again is phenomonal.

As 'Rock N Roll With Me' ends the second half of the album begins, the concept that was before mentioned. It is no secret that Bowie is an amazing intelectual and is very well read. Nineteen Eighty Four is not only one of the most important and best novels of all time but a personal favorite for Bowie inspiring the remander of the album, 'We Are The Dead' '1984' 'Big Brother' and 'Chant...' While many feel that Bowie was reaching with this concept, quite the contrarer is the case because this is some of Bowies most inspired tracks on the record, not to mention they gave a hint as to what was to come on one of his best albums, Low a few years later. A lawsuit was issued about the subject matter of the songs which was ludicris because he as just paying tribute to a legand. Diamond Dogs was released in 1974, ten years before 1984, so it was clearly a tribute. It is a shame that bowie was sued but not the people who made the dreadful fill years later. the track 1984 really gave us a climpse into what would come on the album Young Americans, as well as disco before it was disco. Thats just like Bowie to be on the front line of future.

The album ends leaving you not knowing just how you felt about it. And thats what a good album should do, make you want to revisit it and dissect it. January 9, 2008

George Orwell, Lou Reed, and the Rolling Stones all walk into a bar...

No, that title's not a joke, I actually have a reason for it. Those, it seems, are the chief influences on this record - my favorite Bowie album, by the way. It's got elements of Reed's drugged-out, hedonistic VU material (the S&M themed "Sweet Thing"), mixed with the Stones' brand of sleazy rock (the title track, a failed single that's one of my favorite Bowie songs; "Rebel Rebel"). And since this stemmed from a failed attempt to make a rock version of 1984, "We Are the Dead", "1984" and "Big Brother" have overt Orwellian references.
So how are the songs themselves? Well, they rule! As I said before, the title track bombed as a single (by Bowie's standards at the time anyway), but it really shouldn't have - sure, it's long and nihilistic, but it's brimming with energy, but it has some of David's finest lyrics; great guitar-horn interplay (sounds more than a bit like "Honky Tonk Woman"); and a danceable beat. The most glammy song is easily the power ballad "Rock and Roll with Me", with a screaming, watery guitar part - it's a big high point, as is the sleazy gender-blender "Rebel, Rebel", a major hit. I already brought up the "Sweet Thing" suite in passing, and I love that, too - a near nine-minute tale of S&M, drug abuse, and general debauchary, it's also loaded with hooks and compelling vocals.
As for the Orwell tracks, they're very different from the non-Orwell ones, often with a theatrical atmosphere (the slow "We Are the Dead", with lots of electric piano and more awesome lyrics; the well-orchestrated, Isaac Hayes-esque "1984"; the aptly paranoid, jazzy "Big Brother"). "1984" is one of the best on the record, in fact - to me, the only better track is "Diamond Dogs" (and maybe "Rebel, Rebel").
This kind of gets a bad rap, but I never understood why. To me, every Bowie album of original material up till Station to Station is worth having for any rock fan, but this stands out even amongst them. And I almost forgot my favorite part of the whole album - the part where, at the end of "Future Legend", Bowie shouts out, "THIS AIN'T ROCK 'N' ROLL, IT'S GENOCIIIIIIIIIDE!". Classic, man. Classic. October 27, 2007

Diamond Dogs

This CD holds sentimental memories of a slice in time of carefree teenage dreams threatened by an ominous and foreboding future.
"We Are the Dead" becomes the expression of the culmination of these thoughts and anxious feelings perfectly executed by Bowie haunting lyrics. October 7, 2007

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