Record Rebound: A new reissue for David Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’ on its 50th anniversary
On May 24th, 1974, David Bowie released his eighth studio album, Diamond Dogs. The Starman had enjoyed a gradual breakthrough to worldwide acclaim following a shaky start in the late 1960s and a period of unbound prosperity in the early 1970s. In Diamond Dogs, Bowie began to emerge from his successful glam-rock phase, as signposted by his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane personas.
Although less prominent than his previous characters, Bowie created the eye-patch-sporting Halloween Jack for his Diamond Dogs tours. Like Aladdin Sane, this character was kooky and unhinged but had much stronger affections for soul music. If 1975’s Young Americans soaked itself in soul, Diamond Dogs was the temperature-testing toe, bridging Bowie’s early 1970s sound towards a complete makeover.
Notably, Diamond Dogs was the first album Bowie produced without help from a co-producer. His previous four had been co-produced by Ken Scott, who reflected in David Bowie: The Definitive Story that he and Bowie had “probably both reached that point where we needed to work with other people to learn.” Under his new soulful guise, Bowie proved that he could piece together a solid album without external expertise.
For many, the album was highlighted by the first two singles, ‘Rebel Rebel’ and ‘Diamond Dogs’. These tracks and the closer ‘Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family’ marked the most rock-adjacent moments on the album, with punchy guitar work and boisterous lyrical delivery. The album was also home to some avant-garde alchemy, especially in the dramatic spoken-word introduction, ‘Future Legend’, reminiscent of The Velvet Underground’s ‘The Gift’.
Elsewhere in the album, the instrumentation takes a kaleidoscopic turn toward Bowie’s funk and soul inclinations. The third single, ‘1984,’ bounces on a funky groove, while the ‘Sweet Thing’ suite (‘Sweet Thing’/ ‘Candidate’ / ‘Sweet Thing (Reprise)) is a more brooding, soulful excursion and one of the record’s oft-overlooked highlights.
Conceptually, Diamond Dogs was inspired immensely by the authors George Orwell and William S. Burroughs. The former wrote of ‘Big Brother’ in his 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which accounts for two titular references on Side Two. Bowie intended to include these songs in a theatrical reproduction of Orwell’s novel. Sadly, he failed to obtain the rights for adaptation.
In November 1973, Bowie interviewed Burroughs for Rolling Stone. With the Beat Generation writer still fresh in his mind while writing material for Diamond Dogs, Bowie employed Burroughs’ famous “cut-up” technique to form some of his lyrics. Burroughs’ bizarre narrative approach is particularly palpable in the post-apocalyptic ‘Future Legend’.
This week, on its 50th anniversary, Diamond Dogs receives a special limited edition vinyl reissue. The unique Parlophone keepsake was cut with high-fidelity half-speed masters onto a picture disc vinyl depicting the Bowie-dog hybrid cover image on one side and a monochrome image from the same photoshoot on the other. The package also includes a copy of the original poster. You can view purchase options here.
