Diamond Dogs - DAVID BOWIE*****

Future Legend/Diamond Dogs/Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)/Rebel Rebel/Rock & Roll With Me/ We Are The Dead/1984/Big Brother/Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family

David Bowie’s excellent Diamond Dogs was loosely based on George Orwell’s 1984, although he was not allowed to use that title due to objections from the Orwell estate. Features the UK No.5 hit Rebel Rebel. (US:5 UK:1)

“The concept of the album, largely influenced by George Orwell's novel 1984, is standard concept album fare, but is elevated by blending it to a certain extent, with his earlier Ziggy Stardust character.”

“The opening and closing tracks are a bit strange to say the least, but are short and serves as bookends to the excellent tracks the make up the album and rank amongst some of the best music produced across the whole of the 70s.”

“Diamond Dogs presents a glam vision of a post-apocalyptic future inhabited by gangs of starving youths, in which a horrifying totalitarian society arises. With Bowie proving adept at lead guitar and a couple of misleadingly trashy glam rock songs (Diamond Dogs and Rebel Rebel), the album lures you in before hitting you with some of Bowie's most progressive works, in particular, the sweeping and majestic triptych of Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing Reprise and the dirge of We Are The Dead.”

“On Diamond Dogs Bowie proves himself more than just a song-writer by arranging and producing, as well as playing guitars, saxophones and some keyboards, on this brilliant album, which is as much progressive rock as glam rock.”

“This is not simply a rock album; nor is it merely a clever pop star selling futuristic tunes. Diamond Dogs is pure genius. The music, arrangements and lyrics, brimming with intelligence, are fresh and daringly original; the apocalyptic mood of the album is perfectly set with a chorus of almost ghoulish voices, chanting and supporting Bowie's strong and melodic voice. The lead guitar, horns and synthesizer dangle ominously in the background, assisting in the creation of a dark and cannibalistic world. Two of the songs in particular, Big Brother and Sweet Thing, are successful in conveying the mood of dark despair. The lyrics in both songs are inspired; the melodies are strong, lingering and haunting.”