Bowie’s ninth studio album and an album that sees the departure of Mick Ronson and the launch of a loosely directive concept addressing the Orwellian prediction of an oppressive, authoritarian society controlled by the Ministry of Truth. In fact Bowie had sought permission to rehearse a full-blown ‘1984’ project some time before in 1973 but has been refused permission by the late author’s widow.
Although bridging the gap between the ‘plastic soul’ direction of ‘Young Americans’, ‘Diamond Dogs’ is still fairly indebted to the Ziggy/Alladin period at a visual and lyrical level, but yet it has to be seen as one of the last ‘Glam’ albums Bowie was to produce. And though by no means one of the best of the mad, bad, sexually ambiguous peopleoid records by any stretch of Bowie’s absurdly theatrical imagination, it does contain a couple of gems, ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘We Are The Dead’, ‘Diamond Dogs’ and ‘Sweet Thing’.
Recorded in Amsterdam and London, much of the album sees Bowie adopting the more street-cred, street-wise persona of Halloween Jack and playing nearly all of the instruments himself (although Ronson can be heard on the ‘Shaft’ inspired epic funk-rock work-out ‘1984’). Lyrically, it’s an oddball affair, occasionally lapsing into embarrassingly post-modernist gobbledegook and rarely rising to the standards set in motion by ‘Man Who Sold The World’ and ‘Life On Mars’ (Bowie was to adopt his hero William Burrough’s ‘cut-up’ approach to writing for much of the album, a process whereby the writer scribbles down thoughts line by line and then mixes them all up and arranges them unsystematically into some kind of order)
As with all of the EMI Anniversary releases all the bonus tracks are to be found on a separate disc, which, with the exception of a scruffier alternative mix of ‘Candidate’ and an unreleased version of 1973’s ‘Dodo’, fails to offer anything truly new. In fact, the bonus disc closes with Bowie’s 2003 version of ‘Rebel Rebel’ featured on the soundtrack to the Charlie’s Angels sequel.
A well-intentioned musical exploration of cyperpunk without eyebrows. Worth buying if you don’t have the original. Approach with caution if you have a copy already and are salivating over the promise of bonus material, as it sadly ain’t there.