| Diamond Dogs | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 24 May 1974 | |||
| Recorded | January–February 1974 | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 38:25 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Producer | David Bowie | |||
| David Bowie chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Diamond Dogs | ||||
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Diamond Dogs is the eighth studio album by the English musicianDavid Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 throughRCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 in London and the Netherlands, following the disbanding of his backing bandthe Spiders from Mars and the departure of the producerKen Scott. Bowie played lead guitar on the record in the absence ofMick Ronson.Diamond Dogs featured the return ofTony Visconti, who had not worked with Bowie for four years; the two would collaborate for the rest of the decade. Musically, it was Bowie's final album in theglam rock genre, though some songs were influenced byfunk andsoul music, which Bowie embraced on his next album,Young Americans (1975).
Conceived during a period of uncertainty over where his career was headed,Diamond Dogs is the result of multiple projects Bowie envisaged at the time: a scrapped musical based onZiggy Stardust (1972); an adaptation ofGeorge Orwell's novelNineteen Eighty-Four (1949); and an urbanapocalyptic scenario based on the writings ofWilliam S. Burroughs. Thetitle track introduces a new persona named Halloween Jack. The Belgian artistGuy Peellaert painted the controversialcover artwork depicting Bowie as a half-man, half-dog hybrid, based on photos taken by the photographerTerry O'Neill.
Preceded by thelead single "Rebel Rebel",Diamond Dogs was a commercial success, peaking at number one in the UK and number five in the US. It has received mixed reviews since its release, many criticising its lack of cohesion; Bowie's biographers consider it one of his best works and, in 2013,NME ranked it one of the greatest albums of all time. Bowie supported the album on theDiamond Dogs Tour, which featured elaborate and expensive set-pieces. Retrospectively,Diamond Dogs has been cited as an influence on thepunk revolution in the years following its release. It has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2016 for theWho Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set.
[Bowie and I] had done four albums together and we'd probably both reached that point where we needed to work with other people to learn.[1]
David Bowie released his seventh studio albumPin Ups in the summer of 1973. At the time, he was unsure of where to take his career.[2] Not wantingZiggy Stardust to define him, he disbanded his backing bandthe Spiders from Mars and parted ways with producerKen Scott. According to biographer David Buckley, Scott's departure marked an end to Bowie's "classic 'pop' period" and brought him to more experimental territory and "arguably greater musical daring".[1]
During thePin Ups sessions, he told reporters that he wanted to create a musical, using various titles such asTragic Moments andRevenge, or The Best Haircut I Ever Had. His guitaristMick Ronson recalled: "[Bowie] had all these little projects... [and] wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do."[2] As Ronson began work on his solo albumSlaughter on 10th Avenue, Bowie and his wifeAngie moved out of Beckenham's Haddon Hall because of harassment by fans. They moved initially into an apartment inMaida Vale, rented to them by the actressDiana Rigg, before moving into a larger house onOakley Street, Chelsea.[2][1] According to Buckley, David Bowie's managerTony Defries prevented this move initially, citing the house as "too extravagant". DespiteRCA Records estimating Bowie's album and single sales in the UK at over two million copies combined, Defries said that sales did not provide Bowie with enough income to afford the house.[1] In spite of Defries, Bowie bought the house and it was here the Bowies spent time withRod Stewart andRonnie Wood of theFaces,Mick Jagger and his then-wifeBianca, and the American singer and modelAva Cherry, with whom Bowie had an affair during this time.[2][1]
Along with recordingPin Ups, Bowie participated in other musical ventures in 1973. He co-produced and played onLulu's recording of "The Man Who Sold the World", which was released as a single in January 1974,[3][4] contributed toSteeleye Span'sNow We Are Six,[2] and formed a trio called the Astronettes, comprising Cherry, Jason Guess andGeoff MacCormack.[5] The group recorded sessions atOlympic Studios in London but the project was ultimately shelved in January; a compilation album titledPeople from Bad Homes (laterThe Astronettes Sessions) was released in 1995. Bowie reworked songs from these sessions in subsequent years.[2][a] Buckley writes that the songs he recorded featured a blend ofglam rock andsoul, which proved to be the direction Bowie took in 1974.[1]
According to the biographer Chris O'Leary,Diamond Dogs is a combination of numerous projects Bowie envisioned at the time.[4] In November 1973, Bowie conducted an interview with the writerWilliam S. Burroughs forRolling Stone. Published in February 1974, the interview gave insight into Bowie's current ambitions. An admirer of Burroughs's working methods and his 1964 novelNova Express, Bowie revealed he had begun using Burroughs's "cut-up" technique as a way for inspiration. He spoke of a musical based onZiggy Stardust, saying: "Forty scenes are in it and it would be nice if the characters and actors learned the scenes and we all shuffled them around in a hat the afternoon of the performance and just performed it as the scenes come out." He also casually mentioned adaptingGeorge Orwell's 1949 novelNineteen Eighty-Four, a Bowie favourite, for television.[2] He had wanted to create a theatrical production of the novel and began writing material after completing sessions forPin Ups.[7] Neither of these projects came to fruition.[4]
TheZiggy Stardust musical fell through, but Bowie salvaged two songs forDiamond Dogs he had written for it—"Rebel Rebel" and "Rock 'n' Roll with Me".[2] At the end of 1973, George Orwell's widow,Sonia Orwell, denied Bowie the rights to use the novel.[7] The rejection annoyed Bowie, who lambasted her for it inCircus magazine a few years later.[8] She refused to allow any adaptation of her late husband's work for the rest of her life. No adaptations were possible until after her death in 1980. Unable to adapt the novel, Bowie decided to create his own apocalyptic scenario inspired by the works of Burroughs. Songs from this scenario included what would become the album'stitle track and "Future Legend".[2][4][9]
Buckley writes that the album was the first time Bowie used arecording studio as an instrument.[1] With Scott's departure, Bowie produced the album himself.Keith Harwood, who had worked previously withthe Rolling Stones, and onLed Zeppelin'sHouses of the Holy, handled engineering duties.[2][1]Nicholas Pegg writes that despite Bowie and Harwood's previous collaborations onMott the Hoople'sAll the Young Dudes and the original version of "John, I'm Only Dancing" (both 1972),Diamond Dogs was Harwood's first credit on a Bowie album. Bowie described being "in awe" of Harwood because of his work with the Stones. With the departure of the Spiders from Mars, Bowie handled lead guitar duties. He recalled in 1997 that he practised every day knowing "the guitar playing had to be more than okay".[2] This surprisedNME criticsRoy Carr andCharles Shaar Murray, producing what they described as a "scratchy, raucous, semi-amateurish sound that gave the album much of its characteristic flavour".[10]
The pianistMike Garson and the drummerAynsley Dunbar returned from thePin Ups sessions,Tony Newman also played drums whileHerbie Flowers, who had played previously onSpace Oddity (1969), was recruited to play bass.Alan Parker ofBlue Mink played guest guitar on "1984" and "augmented" Bowie's riff on "Rebel Rebel", although he was only credited for "1984".[11] Bowie's longtime friend Geoff MacCormack, now known asWarren Peace, sang backing vocals.[1][2]Diamond Dogs reunited Bowie withTony Visconti, who provided string arrangements and helped mix the album at his studio in London. Visconti would go on to co-produce much of Bowie's work for the rest of the decade.[7]
Before theNineteen Eighty-Four project was denied, Bowie worked on "1984", recording it on 19 January 1973 during the sessions forAladdin Sane.[12] Initial work onDiamond Dogs began in late October 1973 atTrident Studios in London, where Bowie and Scott recorded "1984" in a medley with "Dodo", titled "1984/Dodo"; once they had mixed the track, this session marked the final time the two worked together.[2][1] According to O'Leary, this session was also the last time Bowie worked with Ronson and Bolder.[4] The medley had already made its public debut on the American television showThe 1980 Floor Show recorded in London on 18–20 October 1973.[13] A cover ofBruce Springsteen's "Growin' Up", with Ronnie Wood on lead guitar, was also recorded during this time.[14] Recording for the album at Olympic officially began at the start of 1974. Bowie had started to work on "Rebel Rebel" during a solo session at Trident following Christmas 1973.[b][15] On New Year's Day, the group recorded "Candidate" and "Take It In Right",[16] an early version of "Can You Hear Me" fromYoung Americans (1975).[17] Following the final sessions with the Astronettes, recording continued from 14 to 15 January, with the group recording "Rock 'n' Roll with Me", "Candidate", "Big Brother", "Take It In Right" and the title track. The following day, Bowie recorded "We Are the Dead", after which he contacted Visconti for mixing advice.[16] "Rebel Rebel" was finished around this time.[4] Recording was finished at Ludolph Studios in the Netherlands, where the Stones had just finished recordingIt's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974).[18]
Diamond Dogs was Bowie's last album in the glam rock genre.[2] Buckley writes: "In the sort of move which would come to define his career, Bowie jumped the glam-rock ship just in time, before it drifted into a blank parody of itself."[19] The album has often been regarded as an "Englishproto-punk" record, according to the cultural studies academicJon Stratton, who calls it "post-glam".[20] The pop culture scholar Shelton Waldrep describes it as "wonderfully dark proto-punk",[21] while the music journalist C. M. Crockford says it is "the goofy, abrasive place where punk andart-rock meet, dance a little, and depart".[22] In the opinion ofThe Guardian'sAdam Sweeting, while "the music still has one foot in the glam-rock camp", the album marks the point in Bowie's career where he "began exploring a kind ofWeimar soul music with lavish theatrical packaging", featuringBroadway-style ballads such as "Big Brother" and "Sweet Thing".[23]Nicholas Pegg describes the album as having "manic alternations between power-chargedgarage rock and sophisticated, synthesiser-heavy apocalyptic ballads".[2] The biographerChristopher Sandford writes that beyond the overall concept, many of the songs delve intoR&B.[24]Pitchfork's Barry Walters wrote that although the album is still primarily glam rock, it also contains elements of "Blaxploitation funk and soul, rock opera, European art song, and Broadway."[25]
They were all littleJohnny Rottens andSid Viciouses really. And, in my mind, there was no means of transport... So there were these gangs of squeaking, roller-skating, vicious hoods, with Bowie knives and furs on, and they were all skinny because they hadn't eaten enough, and they all had funny-coloured hair. In a way, it was a precursor to the punkthing.[26]
The opening track, "Future Legend", is a spoken word track that depicts a post-apocalyptic urban landscape.[27] The writings of Burroughs, especiallyThe Wild Boys (1971) inspire the visions of decay. The authorPeter Doggett notes that unlike the opening ofZiggy Stardust, which announces the world will end infive years, the apocalypse of "Future Legend" could happen at any time.[4][28][29] Bowie begins the title track by announcing, "This ain't rock'n'roll – this isgenocide". The track introduces Bowie's newest persona, Halloween Jack, described as "a real cool cat" who "lives on top of Manhattan Chase" in the urban wasteland depicted in "Future Legend".[26] He rules the "diamond dogs", who O'Leary describes as "packs of feral kids camped on high-rise roofs, tearing around on roller skates, terrorizing the corpse-strewn streets they live above".[4] Although Jack is commonly identified as one of Bowie's "identities" like Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, Doggett notes that Jack occupies "little more than a cameo role".[29] The riff and saxophone are inspired by the Rolling Stones.[26] The biographerMarc Spitz notes that it is the same "jaded commentator's voice" Bowie had used onAladdin Sane.[18]
Multiple biographers cite the suite of "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)" as the album's highlight.[30][28][4] Pegg describes Bowie's vocal performance, which he believes to be one of his finest,[30] as a croon.[18][31] "Sweet Thing" paints pictures of decay, with sex being a "drug-like commodity" while "Candidate" contains references toCharles Manson andMuhammad Ali, with Bowie being "consumed by the fakery of his own stage creations".[32] "Rebel Rebel", cited by Pegg as Bowie's most covered track, is based around a distinctive guitar riff reminiscent of the Rolling Stones and was his farewell to the glam rock era.[15][33] According to Pegg, Parker "added the three descending notes at the end of each loop of the riff".[15] The song features a character who predates 1970s punk rock and gender-bending lyrics ("You got your mother in a whirl / She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl").[27][28] Some commentators praised the song itself but felt it did not contribute to the overall theme of the album.[27][34] Doggett, however, writes that the song acts as the "musical continuation" of the "Sweet Thing" suite.[31]
Bowie and MacCormack co-wrote "Rock 'n' Roll with Me";[4] it was Bowie's first co-writing credit on one of his own albums.[35] MacCormack said his contribution was minimal—he played the chord sequence on piano.[28] Apower ballad,[27] the song explores the relationship between the audience and an actor. When asked whether fans considered him a leader, Bowie described "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" as his response, saying: "You're doing it to me, stop it!"[4][29] Buckley writes the song foreshadowed the soul direction that Bowie would take onYoung Americans.[28] The lyrics of "We Are the Dead" reflect the characters ofNineteen Eighty-Four,Winston andJulia's, love for each other. They establish a world fraught with danger that mirrors the rest of the album.[36] Buckley describes the lyrics as "gothic" and the music as "creepy".[28] Although it quotesNineteen Eighty-Four directly, O'Leary and James Perone argue the song owes more to the writings of Burroughs.[4][27]
"1984" was the signature number for Bowie's planned adaptation ofNineteen Eighty-Four.[37] It has been interpreted as representing Winston Smith's imprisonment and interrogation byO'Brien.[13] The lyrics also bear some similarities to Bowie's earlier song "All the Madmen" (1970)—"They'll split your pretty cranium and fill it full of air."[37] AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco wrote: "Bowie's recording of "1984" fully realizes the song's cinematic potential with a dramatic arrangement that utilizes skittering strings and a throbbingwah-wah guitar line that effectively mirrors the song's clipped, militaristic rhythms."[38] Originally recorded during theAladdin Sane sessions,[12] the rerecording'swah-wah guitar is reminiscent ofIsaac Hayes's "Theme fromShaft".[28][39] Guarisco and Pegg felt the song'sfunk and soul nature fully predicted the direction Bowie would take onYoung Americans.[37][38]
According to Pegg, the theme of "Big Brother" is "the dangerous charisma of absolute power and the facility with which societies succumb to totalitarianism's final solutions".[40] It was a possible contender to close Bowie's adaptation ofNineteen Eighty-Four.[4] Featuring synthesisers and saxophones,[40] the track builds to a climax that Buckley considers reminiscent ofThe Man Who Sold the World.[28] The track segues into "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family", a variation on "Two Minutes Hate" fromNineteen Eighty-Four.[41][4] It is a chant in 5/4 and 6/4 time, with a distorted guitar loop. On the original LP, the word brother repeats in a "stuck-needle effect", similar to the ending ofthe Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).[42]
[Bowie] tricked me into doing the cover artwork. It was only when we were at the session that he finally asked me if I would do a painting for him. The idea was so interesting I couldn't resist.[43]
The cover artwork depicts Bowie as a striking half-man, half-doggrotesque. He sports his Ziggy Stardust haircut and two "freak-show" dogs surround him shown against a backdrop of New York City.[2][43] The artwork originated from a photo session with the photographerTerry O'Neill. Bowie opted not to use any of his previous cover artwork photographers and instead requested the services of the Belgian artistGuy Peellaert, whose recently publishedRock Dreams catalogue, featuring numerous airbrushed and exploited photographs, was growing in popularity. Bowie invited Peellaert to the photoshoot where he posed as a dog and with aGreat Dane brought to the session.[2][43] Bowie asked Peellaert if he would like to develop a painting for the artwork, based on a storyboard idea where he appeared as a half-man, half-dog, stylistically similar to Peelleart's artwork for the Rolling Stones'It's Only Rock 'n Roll. Peellaert agreed, basing the backdrop on a book he owned aboutConey Island's Pleasure Park. The two dogs behind Bowie were based on the Island's Cavalcade Variety Show performers Alzoria Lewis (known as "the Turtle Girl") and Johanna Dickens (known as "the Bear Girl").[2][43]
The artwork was controversial as the full image on thegatefold sleeve showed the hybrid's genitalia. RCA had the genitaliaairbrushed from the sleeve used for most releases. Some original uncensored copies made their way into circulation at the time of the album's release.[2][43] According to the record-collector publicationGoldmine price guides, these albums have been among the most expensive record collectibles of all time, selling for thousands of US dollars for a single copy.[44] Other changes to the artwork included the substitution of the freak show badge "Alive" with the word "Bowie"; Bowie was credited simply as "Bowie", continuing the convention established withPin Ups.[2][43]Rykodisc/EMI restored Peelaert's original uncensored artwork for the album's re-release in 1990. Subsequent reissues have included a rejected inner gatefold image featuring Bowie in asombrero cordobés holding onto a ravenous dog with a copy of Walter Ross's novelThe Immortal at his feet.[2][43]Rolling Stone ranked the cover the 51st best album cover of all time in 2024.[45]
In the UK, RCA released thelead single, "Rebel Rebel", on 15 February 1974, backed by theHunky Dory track "Queen Bitch".[4] The same day, Bowie recorded alip synced performance of "Rebel Rebel" at Hilversum's Avro Studio 2 for the Dutch television programmeTop Pop. Broadcast two days later, it featured Bowie donning what Pegg calls his short-lived "pirate image"—an eyepatch and a spotted neckerchief. Bowie changed this costume after the performance in favour of the "swept-back parting and double-breasted suits" of the Diamond Dogs Tour.[15] For its US release, Bowie recorded a new mix in April 1974. Dubbed the "Latin dub mix" by Doggett,[31] this mix was released in New York in May 1974, with "Lady Grinning Soul" as the B-side.[46] The single was a commercial success, peaking at number 5 on theUK Singles Chart and number 64 on the USBillboardHot 100.[47][48] It further became a glam anthem, the female equivalent of Bowie's earlier hit forMott the Hoople, "All the Young Dudes".[49]
RCA issuedDiamond Dogs on 24 May 1974 with the catalogue number APLI 0576.[50][c] The album was a commercial success, peaking at number one on theUK Albums Chart and number five on the USBillboard Top LPs & Tape chart.[53][54] A $400,000 advertising campaign featuring billboards inTimes Square andSunset Boulevard, magazine ads, subway posters declaring "The Year of the Diamond Dogs" and a television commercial, one of the first of its kind for a pop album according to Pegg, boosted its sales in the US.[2] In Canada, it repeated its British chart-topping success, hitting number one on theRPM 100 national albums chart in July 1974, remaining there for two weeks.[55] RCA released the second single, "Diamond Dogs", on 14 June 1974, with a rerecorded version of Bowie's 1971 single "Holy Holy" as the B-side.[51][56] It was Bowie's least-successful single in two years, peaking at number 21 on theUK Singles Chart and failing to chart in the US.[4][26] In July, "1984" was released as the third single in the US and Japan, but failed to chart.[37][57] Reviewing the single the following month,Billboard described "1984" as Bowie's "most commercial cut ... in a long time".[58]
Bowie supported the album on the Diamond Dogs Tour, whose first leg lasted from 14 June to 20 July 1974. Co-designed and constructed by Chris Langhart, it featured elaborate set-pieces and cost $250,000.Fritz Lang'sMetropolis (1927) andRobert Wiene'sThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) influenced the tour's design, primarily due to Bowie's interest inGerman expressionism.[59] The tour's second leg, from 2 September to 1 December 1974, has been nicknamed the Soul Tour, because of the influence of the soul music Bowie had begun recording forYoung Americans in August. The shows were altered heavily, and no longer featured elaborate set-pieces, partly because Bowie had tired of the design and wanted to explore the new sound he was creating. Bowie dropped songs from the previous leg, while he added new ones—some fromYoung Americans.[60]
In early September, directorAlan Yentob filmed a documentary that depicts Bowie on the tour in Los Angeles, using a mixture of sequences filmed in limousines, hotels and concert footage, most of which was taken from a show there atUniversal Amphitheatre on 2 September.[61] Broadcast onBBC1 in the UK on 26 January 1975,Cracked Actor is notable as a primary source of footage of the Diamond Dogs Tour, and for showing Bowie's declining mental state during this period because of his growing cocaine addiction.[61] After seeing an advanced screening of the film, the directorNicolas Roeg immediately contacted Bowie to discuss a role inThe Man Who Fell to Earth (1976).[61]
Bowie played all of the album's songs except "We Are the Dead" on the tour,[62] performances of which have been released on three live albums:David Live (1974),Cracked Actor (2017) andI'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74) (2020).[63][64][65] "Rebel Rebel" featured on almost every later Bowie tour,[15] "Diamond Dogs" was performed for theIsolar,Outside andA Reality Tours,[26] and "Big Brother/Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" was resurrected in 1987 for theGlass Spider Tour,[42] which itself was heavily influenced by the Diamond Dogs tour.[66] The Diamond Dogs Tour has had a lasting legacy. Sandford says the tour turned Bowie from a "novelty act" into a "superstar".[67] Spitz writes it was highly influential on future tours with large and elaborate set pieces, includingParliament-Funkadelic's Mothership Connection tour,Elvis Presley's Vegas period, the 1990s tours ofU2 andMadonna, and'N Sync, theBackstreet Boys,Britney Spears andKanye West's 2008Glow in the Dark Tour.[68]
The album received mixed reviews from music critics on release.[24]Disc magazine compared the album to "the greatly underrated"The Man Who Sold the World, believing it to contain some of Bowie's best-written songs and "without doubt the finest [LP] he's made so far", whileRock Magazine found it "a strong and effective album, and certainly the most impressive work Bowie's completed sinceZiggy Stardust".[2]Martin Kirkup ofSounds wrote, "whereAladdin Sane seemed like a series of Instamatic snapshots taken from weird angles,Diamond Dogs has the provoking quality of a thought-out painting that draws on all the deeper colors".[1]Billboard saw a "subtler, more aesthetic Bowie" than his previous records on an album "which should reinforce his musical presence in the 70's".[69] Peter Harvey ofRecord Mirror was disappointed regarding the absence of the Spiders and wished the lyrical themes were more upbeat, but predicted the record would make a good stage production.[70]
Melody Maker'sChris Charlesworth called the album "really good" and compared it toPhil Spector'sWall of Sound method of production and noting the similar level of excitement and praise Bowie's albums were beginning to receive as the Beatles did in the 60s.[71]Robert Christgau was more critical inCreem, suggesting that Bowie performs a pale imitation ofBryan Ferry's "theatrical vocalism". He also dismissed the lyrical content as "escapist pessimism concocted from a pleasure dome: eat, snort and bugger little girls, for tomorrow we shall bepeoploids – but tonight how about $6.98 for this piece of plastic? Say nay."[72] Ken Emerson ofRolling Stone gave the album an extremely negative review, calling it, "Bowie's worst album in six years". He criticised Bowie's choice of direction, the absence of Ronson, describing Bowie's guitar playing as "cheesy" adding "the music exerts so little appeal that it's hard to care what it's about".[73] Despite the album's mixed reception,John Rockwell ofThe New York Times found it inoffensive and "surrealisticnihilistic".[74]
Diamond Dogs' raw guitar style and visions of urban chaos, scavenging children and nihilistic lovers ("We'll buy some drugs and watch a band / Then jump in a river holding hands") have been credited with anticipating thepunk revolution that would take place in the following years.[13] According to theRolling Stone writerMark Kemp, the album's "resigned nihilism inspired interesting gloom and doom from later goth andindustrial acts such asBauhaus andNine Inch Nails".[75] O'Leary writes that Bowie's appearance in the promotional video for "Rebel Rebel" provided inspiration on future punks' styles and attitudes. He continues that initial British punks were former fans of Bowie andRoxy Music, and "Rebel Rebel" stands as both Bowie's goodbye and tribute to them.[4] Crockford further acknowledges the album's influence on punk, stating: "Bowie's violent, amateruishly scraping guitar playing here would be echoed in the late-70'spost-punk bands and Diamond Dogs' concept of street gangs roaming London was echoed in the gleeful nihilism of theSex Pistols."[22] Considering Bowie's direction afterwards through the punk anddisco eras,Stylus Magazine's Derek Miller says, "Diamond Dogs should be remembered not only as one of glam’s last great full-lengths but more importantly as a gap-record that somehow manages to cohesively storyboard Bowie's crude conceptual surrealism while also expanding his sound."[76]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [34] |
| Blender | [77] |
| Chicago Tribune | [78] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C+[79] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [80] |
| The Guardian | [23] |
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10[25] |
| Q | [81] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [82] |
| Select | 5/5[83] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 3/10[84] |
Retrospective appraisals have been mixed. AllMusic'sStephen Thomas Erlewine said that, because Bowie did not completely retire the character of Ziggy Stardust,Diamond Dogs suffers from him being unsure how to move forward. Although he praised "Rebel Rebel", he further criticised the exclusion of Ronson and ultimately concluded "it is the first record sinceSpace Oddity where Bowie's reach exceeds his grasp".[34]Greg Kot of theChicago Tribune gave the album a mixed review, calling it "an overproduced concept album inspired by Orwell's1984".[78] Eduardo Rivadavia was also mixed inUltimate Classic Rock, questioning the presence of Ziggy, whom Bowie supposedly retired the year before. Despite the album's commercial success, Rivadavia concluded: "with decades of hindsight,Diamond Dogs now seems more like the gateway from theZiggy Stardust era to hisThin White Duke blue-eyed soul period, and beyond".[85]
The record has attracted positive reviews.Pitchfork's Barry Walters described the album as "a bummer, a bad trip, 'No Fun' – a sustained work of decadence and dread that transforms corrosion into celebration". He also believed it foreshadowed Bowie's Thin White Duke persona.[25] For punknews.org, C. M. Crockford wrote thatDiamonds Dogs is Bowie's "utterly most distinctive work: melodramatic, raw, challenging, and ambitious even when crammed with catchy songs". Crockford ultimately called it one of Bowie's essential releases and argued that he would "never make an album that was so obviously his own again".[22] In a 2013 readers' poll forRolling Stone,Diamond Dogs was voted Bowie's fifth-greatest album.[86]
In subsequent decades, Bowie biographers have describedDiamond Dogs as one of Bowie's greatest works.[2] Cann writes: "Diamond Dogs is arguably [Bowie's] most significant album, a pivotal work and the most 'solo' album he has ever made."[43] Although Spitz calls it "no fun", he states it was Bowie's "best-sounding, most complex record to date, and it still pulls you into its romantic and doomed world three and a half decades on".[18] Trynka calls it "a beautiful mess",[87] while Buckley says the album proved that Bowie could still produce work of "real quality" without Scott or the Spiders.[88] Doggett writes it anticipated the "sonic audacity" ofLow and"Heroes", while it simultaneously "capsized the vessel of classic rock".[89] Perone argues that "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" predatedTalking Heads' exploration of African rhythms and experimentation in the late 1970s.[27] Pegg writes that with tracks like "We Are the Dead", "Big Brother" and the "Sweet Thing" suite, the album contains "some of the most sublime and remarkable sounds in the annals of rock music". He further states that Bowie's new voice on the record, a "basso profundo", particularly evident on "Sweet Thing" and "Big Brother", was a major influence ongothic rock bands in the 1980s.[2] It ranked number 447 inNME's list of the500 Greatest Albums of All Time[90][91] and number 14 inRolling Stone's list of the 74 Best Albums of 1974.[92]
Diamond Dogs has been reissued several times. Although the original 1974 vinyl releases featured a gatefold cover,[93] some later LP versions such as RCA's 1980 US reissue presented the album in a standard non-gatefold sleeve.[94][95] The album was first released on CD in the mid-1980s by RCA, with censored cover art. The German (for the European market) and Japanese (for the US market) masters, sourced from different tapes, are not identical.[96] Dr. Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital, inSouthborough, Massachusetts,[97] remasteredDiamond Dogs from the original master tapes for Rykodisc in 1990, released with two bonus tracks and the original, uncensored, artwork.[98] It was again remastered in 1999 byPeter Mew atAbbey Road Studios forEMI andVirgin Records, and once more released with no bonus tracks.[99]
In 2004, a 2-disc version was released by EMI/Virgin.[100] The third in a series of30th Anniversary 2CD Editions (along withZiggy Stardust andAladdin Sane), this release included a remastered version of the album on the first disc. The second disc contains eight tracks, five of which had been released previously with theSound + Vision box set in 1989 or as bonus tracks on the 1990–92 Rykodisc/EMI reissues.[2] In 2016, the album was remastered for theWho Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)box set.[101] It was released on CD and vinyl, and in digital formats, both as part of this compilation and separately.[102]
All tracks written byDavid Bowie, except "Rock 'n' Roll with Me", lyrics by Bowie; music by Bowie andGeoff MacCormack.[103]
Side one
Side two
Adapted from theDiamond Dogs liner notes and biographer Nicholas Pegg.[2][103]
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Certifications and sales[edit]
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