A Winner!

This album combines the pathos and operatic qualities of Ziggy stardust and the edginess and roughness of Alladdin sane, while maintaining the strong melodies of both albums; it really has the best of both worlds. Bowie plays almost all of the guitars himself wich works great because his sound and style is deliciously dirty. Diamond dogs has a great atmosphere and a fluent song sequence. Bowie's singing is downright amazing, especially on Sweet thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise). And the way those songs melt into Rebel Rebel just leaves me gasping for air. Diamond Dogs successfully incorporates a lot of the styles Bowie has explored over the years, and does so while never sounding fragmented. It's a winner!

Bleak Science Fiction Rock Opera

I've been re-examining the Bowie album "Diamond Dogs".

In a lot of ways it can be seen as the completion of the narrative begun in "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".

If "Ziggy" is the synoptic gospels, then "Aladdin Sane" is the Gospel of St.Thomas, "Pin ups" the Dead Sea Scrolls and "Diamond Dogs" is the book of revelations.



"Diamond Dogs" picks up a lot of the themes from Ziggy but is much darker.



"Ziggy" tells the story of a cross dressing bisexual alien rock star messiah who warns the human race they have five years until some great catastrophe if they don't follow him, but who ends up being killed by his fans/disciples, and the remaining band members have to break up without their leper messiah lead singer.



The narrative of "Diamond Dogs" could be seen as taking up after the great catastrophe predicted in the "Ziggy" album track "Five Years", and its principle character "Halloween Jack" - a crossdressing bisexual rock star anti-hero and possibly sometime politician could be seen as the second coming of "Ziggy".



But whereas "Ziggy" was killed by his fans at the conclusian of that album, the conclusion of "Diamond Dogs" sees two possible very bleak endings, one of which "Halloween Jack" and his band "Diamond Dogs" surrender to "Big Brother" and the emerging fascist dictatorship, the other possible ending is that "Halloween Jack" becomes "Big Brother" and becomes the totalitarian dictator (this is my preferred and much bleaker interpretation - and fits with where Bowie was at at the time - this was shortly before the famous newspaper interview where he said he would make a good dictator of Britain, and the infamous Hitler salute farewelling his fans during a stopover from LA, before departing Britain for Germany).



Essentially what I can piece together as the narrative based on the songs on the album is that "Diamond Dogs" is set some time after the cataclysmic event predicted in "Five Years". It's possibly set in 1984 - but that depends on a literal interpretation of the track "1984" which I think is meant to be an allegorical Orwellian reference.



There's been some sort of apocalyptic event ("Future Legend"), the remaining human communities are scattered across the world ("Future Legend"), and live side by side with red eyed mutants ("Future Legend") and Lizard men aliens ("We are the Dead"). Giant mutated fleas feed on giant mutated rats ("Future Legend"). The world is a lot like Mad Max or Judge Dread.



Our story takes place in New York ("Diamond Dogs"), now re named Hunger City ("Future Legend").



This is a world in which murderous and rapacious criminal gangs roam the streets at night ("Diamond Dogs") looking for victims, and a presently democratically elected but corrupt government ("Candidate") is creeping towards Authoritarianism, Oppression and Fascism ("We are the Dead", "1984", "Big Brother"). It is also a world where cheaply available sex and drugs permeate society ("Diamond Dogs","Sweet Thing", "Candidate","We are the Dead", "1984").



The main form of public entertainment is a bleak, and gritty form of rock music played by a number of bands that 'play it hard'. ("Rebel, Rebel", "Rock n Roll with me").

One of these bands is the "Diamond Dogs" with their lead singer "Halloween Jack". The Dogs become popular playing gritty bleak songs about their life and experiences in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic world they live in ("The whole album"), and to give themselves a bad image they style themselves after the criminal street gangs ("Diamond Dogs").



In the medley / sequence of songs that begins with "Sweet Thing" and continues on to "Candidate" and the "Sweet Thing" reprise, another character introduces himself. He is a cross dressing male prostitute/stripper. In "Sweet Thing" he introduces himself and shows us his gritty life, his song continues into "Candidate" where he's picked up by a politician (who is definitely the same person who becomes "Big Brother" at the end of the album and might be an alter ego of "Halloween Jack").



In "Rebel, Rebel", this character has become romantically involved with "Halloween Jack" and the "Diamond Dogs" perform two songs about him - "Rebel, Rebel" and "Rock n Roll with me". This character and "Halloween Jack" go to rock gigs together ("Rebel, Rebel", "Rock n Roll with me") and become embroiled in an underground resistance movement that leads them to being persecuted by the government ("We are the Dead").



On the track "1984", "Halloween Jack" warns the society he lives in and himself not to go down the path of totalitarianism/dictatorship. There's references to seeing the future in tea leaves and stuff like that and the chorus "beware the savage lure of 1984" is a warning to himself and the world he lives in to beware of the appeal of heading down the path of Orwell's 1984. [And not a literal setting of the story in the chronoligical year of '84].



This is followed up by "Big Brother" an anthem of praise to the new dictator who styles himself after the character from Orwell's novel. He also clearly sees himself, encourages his followers to see him as a god figure. The lyrics of the song and the way its performed implies that its "Halloween Jack" whose succumbed to evil and has become "Big Brother", but its still poignant if its just the case that the band has surrendered to the newly emerged dictatorship.



The final track "Chant of the ever lasting skeleton family" ends with a sound replicating the sound of a record needle skipping repetitively over a scratch - sounding as if its an old scratched record from the past - symbolic that there is no more music, no more rock - the world that the Diamond Dogs inhabited has surrendered to "Big Brother", perhaps even ceased to exist.

I highly reccomend this timeless classic and would love to see it performed as a staged rock opera.

Brilliant, dark, desolate - an essential purchase

Not exactly welcomed with open arms by critics when it was released in 1974, 'Diamond Dogs' was Bowie's most coherent attempt at a 'concept album' (boy, is that an ugly term). Perhaps some of this negativity was caused by the over-ambitious live tour that accompanied the album's release. However, judged purely on its musical merits, it's an album that holds up surprisingly well today.

The highlight of the album is the sequence that runs seamlessly from 'Sweet Thing' to 'Rebel Rebel'. One of Bowie finest vocal performances, it conjures up visions of sex, death and longing in the wasted urban landscape of Bowie's Future Legend. The transition from the churning guitars of 'Sweet Thing (Reprise)' to the classic riff of 'Rebel Rebel' is excellent (agreed, 'Rebel' itself doesn't fit very well thematically). 'Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family' is unearthly - pure genius that foreshadowed Bowie's more experimental work in the late 70's. It sounds like nothing you've heard, or are likely to hear again. 'We Are the Dead' is another favourite, but here Bowie comes dangerously close to overreaching in the lyrics (the same applies to 'Diamond Dogs'.)

It's amazing that the album that followed this was the bland blue-eyed soul/disco album 'Young Americans' - a Bowie volte-face that rivalled 'Let's Dance' following 'Scary Monsters.' But that's Bowie for you - an artist who, for much of career, simply refused to stand still - often for better, sometimes for worse. This time, it was for the better. In my opinion, 'Diamond Dogs' makes the shortlist for the title of best Bowie album of all time. Highly recommended.

Dress yourself my urchin one, for I hear them on the stairs

Alright, I was going through reading some of the these reviews, and even some of the ones that ranked it very highly bothered me, because I partially take issue with anything bad you could say about this album. Naive and probably silly to some, I realize, but this is probably the most meaningful of Bowie's albums to me (and I've heard them all.) A lot of that has to do with personal significance, but a lot of it has to do with what I personally liked best about 1984. See, my favorite part of the book was actually the love story. But after listening to Diamond Dogs and then rereading the book, I came to realize that what I loved about the love story in 1984 is really captured BETTER in Diamond Dogs. Sure, the 1984 concept isn't blatant, but I think there is a level of cohesiveness to this album that many people seem to flat out deny. The song "Diamond Dogs," together with the opening track of "Future Legends" sets a tone of forboding that I think is very appropriate to the book. "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing" flow together seamlessly and offer a respite from the menace of the first two tracks, just as Book Two in 1984 offers a sweet respite from the harsh totalitarianism of the first book (and of course the third.) These three songs together are EPIC and will blow your mind if you have any mind to blow. Then!!! as if those songs don't make your heart sore enough, "Rebel Rebel" follows, and if you are able to listen to "Rebel Rebel" without feeling your soul lifted up at least a couple feet, then you have no soul to begin with. "Rebel Rebel" is then followed by the sweet "Rock 'N' Roll With Me," a simple expression of finding safety and joy in the love of another, a sentiment that goes right along with the love of Winston and Julia. Following that are three tracks that are a bit more obvious. "We Are the Dead" takes it's title from a line in the book and has some of the most heartbreaking lines that Bowie has quite possible ever written (or at least some of the most heartbreaking lines I've ever heard.) "1984" is a really COOL song, almost disco in nature, and " Big Brother" is another great song, flowing into "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" an appopriately eery ending to the album.



See, the album didn't come out as a direct retelling of 1984, but in many ways it is a translation. And the MOOD of the album follows an almost identical arc. Also, aside from the concept, every song on this album is thoroughly ENJOYABLE. Musically these songs are incredibly well constructed. I have had every single song stuck in my head numerous times, even "Future Legends" and "Chant..."! And the arc of the storytelling and mood leaves me with a thorough feeling of emotional fulfillment. This is a brilliant, beautiful album - perfect if your ideal conception of love sounds something like this: "I guess we could cruise down one more time/With you by my side it should be fine/We'll buy some drugs and watch a band/Then jump in a river holding hands."

Fascinating

"Diamond Dogs" is often cited as the low point of David Bowie's glam period, but it's always fascinated me the most. It's definetly the most 'out there', somewhat conceptual and weird in nature.



Other than the upbeat rock goodness of "Rebel Rebel" (which is basically one long hook), and to a lesser extent, the carefree blues/rock fun of the title track, there's no hits on here.



The highlight, of course, is the "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)" song cycle. The first half has a sort of smokey cellar soul feel to it..or, claustrophobic gospel? My bad descriptions don't do the song justice. Great singing (very deep, lower register stuff in there), great piano, souring chorus. It gets a little blusey and more rockin' in the middle, then closes with a reprise of the first part. A glorious little package, for sure.



The rest of the album is great too. "We Are the Dead" is eerie..yet majestic, and breathtaking. "1984" has a sweeping, disco feel..it's cool. "Big Brother" is also killer, and it closes with the delightfully silly/bizarre "Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family". The latter is a total throwaway piece to cap off "Big Brother", but it rules..



Don't believe some of the reviews you may see (AllMusic's review, for example). This is just as good (albeit much less accessible) as "Ziggy" and "Aladdin"..



Or maybe I'm just insane.

Incredible Album

The first time i heard this album i found it too heavy, and dark to enjoy. Now i must say i am glad i was patient with it. It has some of Bowies best songs on it, Sweet Thing Candidate Reprise is probably the only song that comes close to Station To Station as the greatest song he has written. The lyrics are filled with hope despair ecstasy and darkness, the music goes straight past all your defenses and irradiates your soul. Rebel Rebel is a real scorcher! You will be literally reaching for something to wet your lips after this little fireball. 1984 is a classic Bowie number, handsome little tune but not a personal favourite.
We Are The Dead is a dark cascading epic filled with brilliant lyrical tidal waves that never relent, just build up the pace and up and up to impossible levels just like Sweet Thing Candidate Reprise. Rock And Roll With Me is a wonderful romantic ballad. Big Brother is a masterpiece, the haunting banshee sounds in the background contrasting with Bowies hopeful damned haunting singing of praise for the voices of oppression.
This album is regarded by many of his fans as his best album of all time. It certainly would be a Candidate in my opinions.