Customer Reviews

Diamond Dogs [ECD]

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You know, I've had this album since it was released back in 1974 and thought, "cool album, man".

But since trying to rebuild an album collection into a cd collection of the same size (currently about 400 cd's vs 900 albums) I am always hesitant about replacing some of the albums I've had with the cd format, whether its due to money or the cd formatting (straight transfer, record company ripoffs vs. digital remastering, the only way to go).

And so it came to be with this version of 'Diamond Dogs' by the master of paranoia induced futuristic tales David Bowie.

Last week I bought the 1999 remastered edition and was taken aback by scope of this particular work. Forget what you may read by Rolling Stone or AMG, this is one Bowie's deepest works. The fact that he was rebuked by Orwell's widow is a moot point. Here Bowie is bridging the gap between the glam era of "Man who sold the World"-"Aladdin Sane" to the 'Plastic Soul' period of "Young Americans" and "Station to Station" without missing a beat. The only missed beat was with the music critics, as it always is.

Listen to the often cited song cycle of 'Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing-reprise' if you don't believe, he was already there. Not the transition album some expert critics would have you believe, the real transition album would have been "Aladdin Sane". Sure you get some bleed through of moments past but this collection isn't built upon the past but pushing forward. I fail to find any music during the 'Thin White Duke' period that has as much soul or energy put into it as the aforementioned songs set of ST/C/ST-R or "We are the Dead", any of which would have been quite at home on either "Young Americans" or "Station to Station".

There are sure fire rockers included within this set as well, with "Rebel Rebel", "Diamond Dogs" and "1984", but personaaly the most overlooked gem on this entire set would have to be the track "Big Brother". The second line of the song even tells the listeners and critics "Don't think of last years capers, give me steel...," but I think the best passage of the song is the acoustic bridge in the middle of the song wherein its almost as if David were talking to his critics and especially his fans, face to face and says:

'I know you think you're awfully square
But you've made everyone and you've been everywhere
Lord I'd think you'd overdose if you knew what's going down'

And then the song slams back into the chorus with the bass and guitar to finish the song and end the collection with the "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family". An incredible tour through the mind of a truly under appreciated artist in his own time, but isn't that always the s.o.s, Shake it up, move it up, brother!

I listened to this album (my older brothers) during the 70's, ad nausea. For me it is must own Bowie. I like this album so much that I'm even into Chant of the ever circling skeletal family! I actually think that song's very cool but I may be alone on that one. For me this is Bowie's best. I followed him through the 70's (I remember seeing him on Soul Train doing Golden Years), the pop 80's from Ashes to Ashes to China Girl, even followed him a bit in Tin Machine and later hating Americans or something, lol. This is my all time favorite Bowie, I'm ordering it today so we can get reacquainted. Highly recommended, definitely a top 100 rock album of all time.

Bowie's voice distorted electronically sets the apocalyptic scene, of a civilization destroyed in the spoken "Future Legend" of mutants in Hunger City called who are waiting for the diamond dogs

After the heralding "This ain't rock and roll... this is genocide!", the title track comes on, sporting a snappy glam riff like T-Rex with some vocals sung as if done underwater, the story continues of the lavish rich having parties, but under prey of the diamond dogs.

The trio of "Sweet Thing", "Candidate", and the reprise of the former, all which segue into one another for a total 8:50, is the longest track (if taken collectively) Bowie's done since "Width Of A Circle." With an out-of-tune guitar and soft piano, a sense of loneliness and isolation permeates throughout the lyrics. Things go a bit more upbeat in "Candidate", with the and more nihilistic: "We'll buy some drugs and watch a band, then jump in the river holding hands." From "hope is a sweet thing", we get "love is a get-it-here thing." This part of the song deals with how one gets power with sex.

By far, the best song here is "Rebel Rebel", a tune with a hard-edged guitar done by Alan Parker and not by Bowie as has been formerly thought, and a Stones-like crunch. The 70's gender-ambiguity is shown in "not sure if you're a boy or a girl." This criminally flopped in the US, but reached #5 on the UK charts. Joan Jett covered this and it shows up on her Flashback compilation.

A soulful and gospel-like feel, with a piano and guitar melody features in the laid back "Rock N Roll With Me," a change from the previous theatrics.

The last three songs is all that's left of the concept album Bowie was trying to model after 1984, only to have George Orwell's widow deny him permission. There seems to be no justice, as Yes's Rick Wakeman released an album in 1981 titled 1984 with no repercussions. Anyway, "We Are The Dead" are the words Winston Smith utters to his lover Julia before they are captured by the Thought Police in Orwell's novel. Bowie's crooning over a slow melodic keyboard. Bowie half-speaks/sings the lyrics while in the background, he croons the title words.

"1984" has a bit of a funky disco beat like the Shaft song. Elements of brainwashing from the novel can be seen: "they'll split your pretty cranium and fill it full of air/and tell that you're eighty but rather you won't care." The song was later covered by Tina Turner on Private Dancer.

In "Big Brother and the Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" Bowie seems to be praising some ubermensch-type person: "someone to blame us/someone to follow/someone to shame us/some great Apollo/someone to fool us/someone like you/we want you Big Brother." The chant part begins with a fuzzy guitar and chants of "brother" and "shake it up" before ending with a repeated tape loop.

With the dissolution of Ziggy and the Spiders, an interesting concept and a new sound, while still continuing the nihilistic apocalyptic themes of the Ziggy era.

Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs and Aladdin Sane are probably the best, and at least my favorite Bowie albums, Diamond Dogs shining the brightest. Originally intended as a rock opera based on the novel '1984', Diamond Dogs is the leftovers of those sessions after the rights couldn't be purchased. You simply have to listen to this front to back, for at least the first time. Personally, I never listen to just one tune, I just put it on and let it play. 'Diamond Dogs', 'Rebel Rebel', '1984', 'Big Brother' and 'Sweet Thing' are favorites, but I should really just list Diamond Dogs as my favorite album, as every song is enjoyable. Diamond Dogs was released during David's most experimental and outrageously lavish period in his career, and it's a solid effort. This one should be right between Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane in your CD rack.

This is David Bowie's interpretation/homage to George Orwell's masterpiece, "1984". Regardless of whether or not you have read Orwell's novel, you'll surely love, or at least like, or at the very least, appreciate, Bowie's venture into the realm of the frightening and apocalyptic vision of the reign of the "Diamond Dogs." The only radio-friendly singles to be found on this album are the title track, and "Rebel Rebel," which are both magnificent songs. The best tracks on the album? Hardly. But I guess that all depends on the criteria by which you judge. If you are a die-hard Bowie fan, then you will very likely have more appreciation for the other lesser- known songs on the album, some of which are somewhat difficult to ingest, but even if you are not one of those insatiable Bowie fans (to which group I myself pertain), then you might at least acknowledge the mystery and intensity of Bowie's approach. . . Nobody in the rock business quite expresses themself in the way that Bowie does, and this album provides substantial proof for such a claim. Some of his best lyrics are to be found on this album. "Candidate" for example: "I'll make you a deal, like any other candidate/ we'll pretend we're walking home because your future's at stake/ my set was amazing and even smells like the street/ there's a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend". . . Revolutionary, yes, this album is ever so much so. . . Bowie would have been hounded by the Mc Carthy era agents were this album to have been produced during that time! Even so, this album might be problematic for some people who do not (or are afraid to acknowledge) that the threat of "Big Brother" is always looming before us, eager to deprive us of our liberties as free-thinking individuals. This is the closest that Bowie has ever come to reflecting upon politics in an album (well, he kind of did so on "Scary Monsters", but not in such a straightforward way). . . "Because hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing" he sings. This is not a light-hearted album, and certainly not for the faint-of-heart or the close-minded. Bowie as politico: it may seem strange, but on this album, it is true. He has made allusions to figures such as Che Guevara (in "Alladin Sane") in the past, and even poked a certain amount of fun at Richard Nixon (on "Young Americans"), but this is the closest that Bowie comes to approaching the realm of politics. There is an isolated "love song" (although it is one of the cautious and jaded sort), "Rock and Roll with Me," but the rest of the oeuvre on "Diamond Dogs" is of a very different nature. . . "We are the Dead" is perhaps the counterpoint to "Rock and Roll with Me": the imminent threat of "Big Brother" overwhelms the romantic notions between lovers which would otherwise remain free and intact. . . "We're tomorrow's scrambled creatures/locked into tomorrow's double feature/ Heaven's on the pillow/ as silence competes with hell. . . Because of all we've seen/ because of all we've said/ we are the dead". . . Major Tom, Alladin Sane, and Ziggy Stardust seem to have been replaced by a very frightened (and, of course, still wonderfully androgynous; this is Bowie, after all!) and prophetic character who senses a sort of apocalypse in all of our human actions/deeds/misdeeds. This album was made in 1974, and it remains more than pertinent today, in which we are all terrified of the threat of war and destruction. . . In fact, I was listening to this album while driving around one day, and finding both pro-war and anti-war demonstrators on a street corner, and it could not have been any more appropriate. . . "The Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" was playing as I drove by the manifestors/protestors, and that moment in time seemed almost frozen. . . I do not know how Bowie feels about what is occuring in our country in regard to the Middle East, but I do find that this album manifests many of the conflicting emotions that we are all feeling at the moment. . . The demo version of "Candidate" on this album strikes me as especially poignant, however. . . shall we "pretend that we are walking home", then?
"Diamond Dogs" is a timeless album. An outstanding album. . . an ineffable one, perhaps? Well, if it were ineffable, should I have said so much on its behalf? Why yes, for it is the creation of David Bowie, and we should at least attempt to put its beauty and power into words. . . Yet no words seem to give it true justice. Give a listen, you'll see what I mean. . . Orwell would/should certainly be proud of Bowie for having transformed his words and his ideology into such magnificent music.
And Bowie should be proud of himself for having transposed a tremendous work of literature into a tremendous work of music.
Do get this album. No words can really do it justice, but, as this is a review in language, I can only employ laudatory adjectives:
It is spectacular.
Superb.
Sublime,
Stupendous.
Splendid.
Do give it a listen.

Every Bowie album has a certain theme, a certain style that's kind of different from all the others. Space Oddity was his breakthrough, there was the Aiggy Stardust era, the Brian Eno period, Scary Monsters and Hours he uses to reminisce about old times, and so on. But what is Diamond Dogs? Inspired by George Orwells 1984, starring the dark hero Halloween Jack, and including the odd hit "Rebel Rebel", there are so many themes you can draw on for this album.
This album was Bowie's first after retiring Ziggy Stardust, but he still retained the famous red hair for the album, probably to help sales along..? Originally meant to be an opera to "1984" Bowie was denied the rights to the novel, and so reworked it to avoid copyright infringement. Still, this album is very operetic in style, the tracks often times flowing together. And it still retains the incredibly dark feel of the classic novel. This is definately one of Bowie's darker, if not darkest, album.
Opening with a startling Narrative, the album hurls you along a ride and doesn't really let up until "Rebel Rebel". Don't get me wrong, I love the song and it is a major hit, but it just seems so incredibly out of place with the rest of the album. "Rock and Roll with me" starts leaning back towards the feel of the album, and by "We are the Dead" you are back again. Hmm, maybe it was meant to keep you from getting to bogged down in it all. Ah well, whatever the intention, the album is just great. I listen to all my Bowie albums straight through, and this is no exception. A classic from start to finish, and not to be missed. Many claim this is a great introduction to Bowie, but I'm not sure. Here's the thing to do with any Bowie album. No matter how much of a fan I am of Bowie, the first time I hear a new album, I don't like it. Knowing this, I listen to it a second time and love it, in fact, the new album is ususally my new favorite. No matter how much you hate any Bowie album at first, listen to it again. And love it.

This is one of the best of Bowie's works ever. It's the leftovers of what was to be his musical version of 1984, and as a result is one of the coolest concept albums ever recorded. (Does anyone else think the beginning of Rock and Roll With Me sounds a bit like Let it Be?) Anyway, the highlights of this album are the title track ("you'll catch your death in the fog/young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs"), Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing reprise (a three-in-one sort of song, very singable), and the most stick-in-your-head memorable song of all time, Rebel Rebel ("got your mother in a whirl/she's not sure if you're a boy or a girl"). Definitely a good album to get especially if you're a newbie fan of his work, as this highlights some of his highest points of the 70's after Ziggy.

A laboratory of experiments inspired by the paranoia of George Orwell's 1984 and William Burroughs' collage writing style. Bowie blows a maniacal saxophone and runs his vocal tracks through synthesizers that distort and bend it beyond recognition. It comes off like a post-nuclear holocaust, Anthony Newley musical. One of the most bold and original rock recordings ever. "If you want it, boyz, get it here then."

David Bowie thinks that Diamond Dogs is his worst album, but I must disagree. As a musician, I'm sure he has different expectations of himself and how the album fits together. The album doesn't really fit together that good at all. It was supposed to be a rock opera based on my personal favorite book, 1984 by George Orwell, but he was denied the rights and so we're left with Diamond Dogs... "Future Legend" is a one minute narration done by Bowie and it sets the atmosphere for this album, but what exactly is the atmosphere in this album? "Diamond Dogs" is a great song, but it sounds a little like a sloppy, slowed-down version of "Watch That Man" from Aladdin Sane. "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)" is without a doubt the best part of this cd. The songs are very coherent and dramatic which makes them the most uniquely Bowie part of the album. Really great songs here. "Rebel Rebel" is the most well known and the biggest hit on here. This is the song that made Diamond Dogs the first David Bowie album to break the top 10 in America. A simple, yet great guitar part.. "Rock n Roll With Me" is a simple yet corny ballad, but I still like it despite its hokey-ness. Besides the "Sweet Thing, Candidate" stuff, my other favorite song on here is "We Are The Dead". It's the first song on the cd to be influenced by the great 1984 novel and what a song it is...The keyboards really shine through here along with the great lyrics and David's weak, yet moving vocals. "1984" is a catchy, fun little song (inspired by the book, of course). "Big Brother" is another incredible and catchy song. This one will really get stuck in your head. It has a great trumpet solo and it leads right into... "Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family" is probably the WEIRDEST songs Bowie has ever released, but it's a fun and short song with good guitars. Diamond Dogs is a cd that may not stay in your cd player for very long, but it will keep coming back in there and you'll realize what a great cd it is.

I think using the term "slobbering fan" is a bit harsh and cruel Mr. Horace Mann. Obviously you must be arrogant enough to think of yourself as the ultimate "Bowie Fan" and that your opinion is more valuable than everybody elses. And seeing that 0 of 3 people found your review helpful, it really shows me how much your opinion is worth. I thought Diamond Dogs was probably Bowie's creepiest album to date (just the cover alone is enough to give you nightmares). Despite not being able to secure the rights to George Orwell's 1984, his depiction of urban decay and human degeneration into nothing more than a pack of "mutated dogs" is done quite masterfully. I think Bowie is showing much more creativity in this album than he did in "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust". As much as you would like to think this is Ziggy Stardust on the cover, Bowie had shed the skins of the Alien Rockstar the previous year giving birth to an entirely different creature. I think this album is a must for any "slobbering fan" out there.