01	Future Legend						01:01
	02	Diamond Dogs						06:04
	03	Sweet Thing						03:38
	04	Candidate						02:40
	05	Sweet Thing (reprise)						02:32
	06	Rebel Rebel						04:32
	07	Rock 'N Roll With Me						04:01
	08	We Are the Dead						04:58
	09	1984						03:26
	10	Big Brother						03:20
	11	Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family						02:07
	12	Dodo			Bonus Track Previously unreleased track recorded in 1973			02:55
	13	Candidate (demo)			Bonus Track Demo version recorded in 1973			05:07

Recorded at Olympic & Island Studios, London &
Studio L , Ludolf Machineweg 8-12, Hilversum, Holland
Incl. 2 unreleased Bonus Tracks


Diamond Dogs
Date of Release 1974

David Bowie fired the Spiders from Mars shortly after the release of Pin-Ups, but he didn't completely leave the Ziggy Stardust persona behind. Diamond Dogs suffers precisely because of this - he doesn't know how to move forward. Originally conceived as a concept album based on George Orwell's 1984, Diamond Dogs evolved into another one of Bowie's paranoid future nightmares. Throughout the album, there are hints that he's tired with the Ziggy formula, particularly in the disco underpinning of "Candidate" and his cut-and-paste lyrics. However, it's not enough to make Diamond Dogs a step forward, and without Mick Ronson to lead the band, the rockers are too stiff to make an impact. Ironically, the one exception is one of Bowie's very best songs - the tight, sexy "Rebel Rebel." The song doesn't have much to do with the theme, and the ones he does throw to further the story usually fall flat. Diamond Dogs isn't a total waste, with "1984," "Candidate" and "Diamond Dogs" all offering some sort of pleasure, but it is the first record since Space Oddity where Bowie's reach exceeds his grasp. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

1. Future Legend (Bowie) - 1:07
2. Diamond Dogs (Bowie) - 5:56
3. Sweet Thing (Bowie) - 3:38
4. Candidate (Bowie) - 2:40
5. Sweet Thing (Reprise) (Bowie) - 2:32
6. Rebel Rebel (Bowie) - 4:30
7. Rock & Roll With Me (Bowie/Peace) - 4:02
8. We Are the Dead (Bowie) - 4:54
9. 1984 (Bowie) - 3:27
10. Big Brother (Bowie) - 3:20
11. Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family (Bowie) - 2:04
12. Dodo [#] (Bowie) - 2:55
13. Candidate [demo version] (Bowie) - 5:05

David Bowie - Guitar, Arranger, Composer, Saxophone, Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor), Vocals, Moog Synthesizer, Producer, Mellotron, Mixing
Mike Garson - Piano, Keyboards
Herbie Flowers - Bass
Aynsley Dunbar - Drums
Keith Harwood - Engineer, Mixing
Peter Mew - Remastering
Dr. Toby Mountain - Remixing, Mastering
Tony Newman - Drums
Alan Parker - Guitar
Tony Visconti - Strings, Arranger, Mixing
Jonathan Wyner - Remixing
Lee Black Childers - Photography
Ken Regan - Photography
Nigel Reeve - Remastering

1999 CD Virgin 21904
CD Rykodisc RCD-10137
1981 LP RCA 13889
1991 LP Rykodisc 137
1991 CS Rykodisc 137
1998 CD Capitol 95211
LP Rykodisc RALP-2-10137
1974 CS Rykodisc RACS-10137





Diamond Dogs

AMG REVIEW: The searing, vicious title track to the album of the same name, "Diamond Dogs" finds David Bowie creating a rip into vacuous party/celebrity lifestyles that takes Aladdin Sane's "The Cracked Actor" to an even higher, smarter level. The introduction alone isn't merely one of Bowie's best but one of rock's best moments ever. Over a fake audience cheer, he shouts by way of announcement, "This ain't rock and roll...this is...GENOCIDE!" It's a shocking, effective start, a perfect lead-in to the glammy, Stonesy riff of the track. Bowie performs the guitars himself and does so just fine in the then-recent absence of Mick Ronson, a good sign. Meanwhile, the beginning of the lyric is even more bitterly hilarious - "As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent/You asked for the latest party." His singing is sassy, less high-pitched than his Ziggy days, and meets the steady rocking groove of the song head-on and fits it perfectly. Tony Visconti's co-production with Bowie unsurprisingly nails it, as so much of their work together did, at once upfront and oddly distanced. Check out the hollow percussion hits leading up to the chorus or the heavily flanged guitar kept low but audible in the mix, not to mention the equally distorted vocals here and there. - Ned Raggett



Sweet Thing

AMG REVIEW: Split into two parts on the Diamond Dogs album, framing the wonderful "Candidate," "Sweet Thing" is a beautiful, moody number that more than anything else from that record shows how David Bowie had a perfect knack at infusing older crooning approaches into rock and roll. It was all the more evident with the dramatic opening, as heavily produced piano leads into an ominous but still romantic full arrangement. With the piano still predominating, Bowie is able to both quietly emote and suddenly deliver in a full center stage performance as needed, his lyric about the sleazier edges of the city shot through with a feeling worthy of a mid-century black and white film. The reprise adds a queasier edge via Bowie's sax playing, coming as it does after the driving, fractured "Candidate," but builds into one last dramatic spotlight moment that Sinatra himself could be proud of. But to top it all off, the sparkling piano and searing guitar then shift into a weird conclusion straight out of Can's Tago Mago! - Ned Raggett



Candidate

AMG REVIEW: Buried as this song is on the Diamond Dogs album between the two parts of "Sweet Thing," "Candidate" remains one of David Bowie's lesser-known highlights, more appreciated by the hardcore fan base rather than the general rock listener. But a highlight it is, so striking and unique a song that it's inspired everything from fanzine names to a fine cover of it 11 years later on Dramarama's debut album, Cinema Verite. Beginning with a low piano line from Mike Garson and slightly rolling, martial drums, not to mention an OK if not great sax part from Bowie, it starts fully coming to life with Bowie's strong, snarling guitar line and his slightly flanged crooning. The images that he calls up invoke corruption, destruction, "rumors and lies and stories they made up," acting as something like the flip side to Alice Cooper's similarly Watergate-inspired romp "Elected." The energy and pace of the track slowly but surely increase, while Bowie sings through the thick, busy mix about finally hooking up with someone and going to "buy some drugs and watch a band, and jump in the river, holding hands." Nervous and fractured, it's Bowie at a creative peak. - Ned Raggett



Rebel Rebel

AMG REVIEW: One of David Bowie's most playful numbers, the guitar-riffing "Rebel Rebel" was contrarily lifted from one of his darkest albums, 1974's Diamond Dogs. The song was originally composed for Bowie's projected Ziggy Stardust musical in late 1973, although it can also be seen as a farewell of sorts to the entire glam movement which Bowie (and Ziggy) created - a fitting warning, indeed, of the career convolutions he was about to embark upon.
Two versions of the song were recorded for release as an album-trailing single - the familiar take which also made it onto the LP, and a powerful revamp, heavily phased and featuring Bowie playing all of the instruments (he handled lead guitar alone on the other). This latter version, which many fans consider superior, ultimately appeared only as a rare U.S. promo single (it was later included on the Sound and Vision box set), yet it provided the template for the live rendition performed throughout Bowie's 1974 American tour. The song remained a regular in Bowie's live set until the 1990 tour; it resurfaced in his 1999 repertoire. - Dave Thompson




We Are the Dead

AMG REVIEW: Towards the end of 1973, among numerous other projects, David Bowie began work on a musical version of George Orwell's 1984. The scheme was eventually scuppered by Orwell's widow Sonia, famously with the words "why would anybody want to set that to music?" but not before Bowie had completed at least three songs: "1984," "Big Brother," and "We Are the Dead."
Titled for one of the most haunting, and recurrent, phrases in the original novel, the darkness swirling through the lyric is oftentimes stygian, an intensity which is only enhanced by the sparse musical accompaniment, and multi-tracked vocals. Vastly underrated, "We Are the Dead" nevertheless ranks among Bowie's most accomplished compositions and, when selected as the B-side to 1976's "TVC 15" single, certainly provided an interesting contrast to the apparent jollity of the hit. - Dave Thompson




1984

AMG REVIEW: This highlight from David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album draws its inspiration from the George Orwell book of the same name: Bowie wanted to do a full-scale musical version of the book but wasn't able to get the rights so he created his own nightmare-future concept album in Diamond Dogs. The lyrics of "1984" paint a vividly nightmarish portrait of a totalitarian government through imagery-rich lines like "They'll split your pretty cranium and fill it full of air" and "You'll be shooting up on anything, tomorrow's never there." The music pushes this creepy imagery forward at a fast pace, alternating fast-paced verses that rise to match the lyrical tension with an operatically despairing chorus built on descending notes. Bowie's recording of "1984" fully realizes the song's cinematic potential with a dramatic arrangement that utilizes skittering strings and a throbbing wah-wah guitar line that effectively mirrors the song's clipped, militaristic rhythms. Interestingly, this arrangement also reveals the soul-inspired sound that would inform Bowie's next album, Young Americans: the swooping strings sound reminiscent of the similar string arrangement of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and the wah-wah guitar riff sounds like a glammier variation of the riff from "Theme From Shaft." The arrangement might have overwhelmed a lesser singer, but Bowie cuts through the backing with a forceful vocal full of passion and emotion (especially on the despairing chorus). This mixture of diverse musical styles and theatrical lyricism made "1984" a powerful track that became a highlight of the Diamond Dogs tour and a recurring stage favorite for Bowie throughout the years. It was also covered by Tina Turner on her Private Dancer album, proving that the song's funky edge made it just as suitable for soul stars as it was for glam-rockers. - Donald A. Guarisco



Big Brother

AMG REVIEW: David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album grew out of an aborted attempt to bring George Orwell's dystopian vision 1984 to the stage - whether or not it would have worked is up for debate, but based on the marvelous "Big Brother," there was at least one bona fide classic it would have produced. Fading in on a moaning synth fanfare that captures the air of looming futuristic paranoia perfectly, "Big Brother" lets Bowie frame the titular character - in the book, the Stalin/Hitler equivalent who dominates the society via mass media manipulation - from the point of view of one of his followers. It's an unsettling vision through and through, Bowie noting almost how easy it would be to let someone else makes one's own decisions and then celebrate them for it. Musically the great moments are legion - the midsong breakdown to only vocals and acoustic guitar, the use of Mellotron to add a queasy, unsettled backing choir, the fine overall band performance as they pump up the drama, Bowie's own on-the-money singing (keep an ear out for the way he sings the final "some brave Apollo" line) and more. - Ned Raggett