Diamond Dogs
1974 studio album by David Bowie / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Diamond Dogs is the eighth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 at Olympic and Island Studios in London and Ludolph Studios in the Netherlands, following the disbanding of his backing band the Spiders from Mars and the departure of producer Ken Scott. The absence of Mick Ronson led Bowie to play guitar on the record. The album featured the return of Tony 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 the glam rock genre, though some songs were influenced by funk and soul music, which Bowie embraced on his next album, Young Americans (1975).
| Diamond Dogs | ||||
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| Released | 24 May 1974 | |||
| Recorded | January–February 1974 | |||
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| Length | 38:25 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Producer | David Bowie | |||
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Conceived during a period of uncertainty over where his career was headed, Diamond Dogs is the result of multiple projects Bowie envisioned at the time. One of these was a musical based on Ziggy Stardust (1972), which he ultimately scrapped. Another was an adaptation of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. After being denied the rights by Orwell's widow, Bowie devised an urban apocalyptic scenario based on the writings of William S. Burroughs. Together, the songs from these projects form the theme of Diamond Dogs. Although the title track introduces a new persona named Halloween Jack, Ziggy Stardust is still present throughout the album. Belgian artist Guy Peellaert painted the controversial cover artwork depicting Bowie as a half-man, half-dog hybrid, based on photos taken by photographer Terry O'Neill.
Preceded by the lead single "Rebel Rebel", Diamond Dogs was a commercial success, peaking at number one in the UK and number five in the US. It received mixed reviews and continues to provoke mixed reactions, many criticising its lack of cohesiveness, but Bowie 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 the Diamond Dogs Tour, which featured elaborate, expensive set-pieces. Performances from the tour have seen release on multiple live albums. Retrospectively, Diamond Dogs has been cited as an influence on the punk revolution in the years following its release. It has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2016 for the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set.