“Diamonds Dogs” by David Bowie

“Diamonds Dogs” by David Bowie

Taking stock of Bowie’s most paranoid studio album ahead of its 50th anniversary.

I don’t mean this in a wholeheartedly pessimistic sense, but David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs is, without a doubt, the feel-bad album from his peak 70s period. Wedged in between 1973’s commercial flop Pin Ups and his 1975 pivot to what he referred to as “plastic soul” on Young Americans, it’s a pastiche of glam rock, R&B, and the sonic experimentation that colored his much-adored Berlin trilogy to close out the decade. Bowie produced the album himself, shouldered the lead guitar duties, and, except for “Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me,” all songwriting duties. The LP slowly becomes a brooding, unsettling character study that dials the theatricality up to an 11. Imagine if Travis Bickle found himself at the center of a rock opera that incorporated elements of funk, punk, and leftfield synth arrangements. Lest we forget, Bowie opens the title track by proclaiming: “This ain’t rock’n’roll – this is genocide.”

The apocalyptic overtones aren’t an accident. In addition to a couple of tracks salvaged from a scraped Ziggy Stardust musical (one of which was standout “Rebel Rebel”), Bowie had apparently tinkered with material for an adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, another project that became doomed when the author’s widow denied the rock star rights to the novel. Instead of a cohesive narrative befitting a proper concept album, the twisted, operatic arrangements become characters in their own right. Consider the three-part tour de force that is “Sweet Thing,” “Candidate,” and “Sweet Thing (Reprise).” The fuzzed-out guitar foreshadows the aural traditions of shoegaze and grunge, while Bowie’s voice, vacillating between growl and falsetto, is also processed ever so subtly as to sound just a bit off. On first listen, you can’t necessarily put your finger on it, but it sticks with you like dirt under your fingernails.

While I wouldn’t call this a pleasant listen all the way through (think Pink Floyd’s The Wall), it’s a necessary spin for lovers of FM classic rock and, more importantly, Bowie’s contribution to emerging musical styles. From art-rock to goth and emo rock, they wouldn’t be what they are today without Diamond Dogs.