David Bowie is one of those musicians that came slightly before my time. I remember seeing "Let's Dance", "Modern Love" and "China Girl" in the 80s, but I didn't really appreciate him until many years later.
I recently got the 30th Anniversary of Diamond Dogs (re-released in 2004, originally 1974), which came with a double CD and a nice retrospective booklet about the album. It tells the story about how originally David Bowie got this great idea of concept album about George Orwell's 1984.
Unfortunately, the Orwell's widow, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, did not grant permissions:
And they said, 'No, she won't let you, you see, she won't give you the rights. She won't sell you the rights for any amount of money in the world. She said she's seen one film of it, and that was such a disaster that she'll never let it out of her grasp ever again.'
- as told by David Bowie
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A few songs, particarly "1984" and "Big Brother", still had some residual from 1984 - The Musical, but it ultimate became what is known as Diamond Dogs.
What's interesting about this album was that it was a departure from Ziggy Stardust and the first album to not use his backing band, Spiders From Mars. This album was supposed to be Bowie's most ambitious album yet.
The most famous song off this album is definitely "Rebel Rebel". It has the most recognizable and distinctive guitar riff, which kind of was a nod to The Rolling Stones and Mick Ronson (who wasn't working with Bowie at this point). It should also be noted that Davie Bowie actually wrote and plays almost all the guitar parts on Diamond Dogs!
I still think the strong song off the album is "1984", but apparently when it was released in the United States as a single - it failed to even chart. If you listen to it, especially with headphones and listening to the violins, it's clearly the best song on the album. I found out later that "1984" was originally a medly of two songs: "1984" and "Dodo", but by the time they had studio time, it was recorded as two separate songs.
Anyway, in the tradition of the awesome "Davie Bowie's Teeth" documentary (yes, a whole five minutes devoted to talking about Bowie's teeth!!!), I thought it would be fun to concentrate on David Bowie's genitalia. So, please note the picture on the left and concentrate on that camel bow-ie.
Now, let's talk about the cover art. It is a painting by Guy Peellaert, featuring half dog and Bowie, displaying its genitalia. Apparently very few copies of the original album had the full artwork (it's one of the most expensive and rare record collectibles of all time).
That offensive area was quickly airbrushed out on the original 1974 album, and in the South American's release of the record, the WHOLE bottom half was blacked out (see picture).
If you have the original LP and was thinking of upgrading to CD, this 30th Anniversary Edition is worth upgrading, simply because of the very nice booklet and the bonus disc. The bonus disc includes alternate versions and demos of the Diamond Dogs. The most interesting version was "Dodo" which was known as "You Didn't Hear it From Me" (recorded during Ziggy Stardust era).
BONUS: In keeping with the Christmas theme (I know you must be getting sick of this!), did you know about Bing Crosby and Davie Bowie's "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" song? The two had met on Crosby's Christmas special in 1975 to perform this song. Shortly after the record was cut in 1977, Crosby died of a heart attack.
The single went on to become an annual holiday hit, even charting to #3 in the UK in 1982.
12/24/2007 02:10:15
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