Diamond Dogs

Ignoring PIN-UPS, which we always regarded as a bit of a detour in the Bowie story, DIAMOND DOGS was Bowie's first post-Ronson LP. For those of us who saw Bowie perform 'Starman' etc on 'Top of the Pops' and the 'Whistle Test', Mick Ronson appeared to be an integral part of Bowie's life -- not quite Lennon and McCartney, but something close. Without Ronson to duet with on many a chorus, Bowie's stage act (if nothing else) seemed vulnerable. There were Ronson fans at school who almost willed Bowie to fail without Ronson.

So on DIAMOND DOGS, it is left to Bowie to play nearly all the guitar parts. And he does a great job.

The only problem with this album -- and the reason I regard it as a slight decline from the magnificent ALADDIN SANE -- is that it is too varied. 'Rebel Rebel' is a great single, but its Stones-like theme jars with the rest of the album. '1984' takes its orchestral cue from The Temptations' 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' -- a theme not reprised again until 1977's I ROBOT by the Alan Parsons Project. 'Rock N Roll With Me' is Bowie trying to sound like Dylan and the Band.

Bowie has always been a genius of style, with a keen eye to fashions not yet on the horizon. Back in 1973, the 1984 of George Orwell seemed an aeon away, particularly for his many teenage fans. To us, '1984' was just an English set text and therefore automatically very, very dull. Bowie's added slant of an urban future plagued by marauding mutant dogs was ... well, interesting ... but it didn't seem to spawn many imitators, in terms of clothes, make-up etc in the same way as ALADDIN SANE had. I suspect the drug abuse that led to the Thin White Duke appearance in DAVID LIVE gave many fans cause for second thoughts about unthinking imitation of their hero. That this particular vision was a vaguely depressing one didn't help its uptake.

My personal feeling is that Bowie barely put a foot wrong in the 1970s. Following albums such as STATION TO STATION, LOW and HEROES are also classics, and well worth buying. What amazes me is that Bowie is still a cult figure in 2005, despite the fact that in the quarter-century since 1980, his CDs have been a very mixed bag. Most have been, at best, mediocre.

Get this one, and enjoy it for its variety.

One of the interesting things about this music is the band - or lack of it! This album was recorded in 1974 just after the spiders had disbanded. Bowie therefore had a far greater input into this album than any previous, one would imagine. Evidence of this is the number of instruments he plays - accompanied by a drummer and occasional pianist and guitarist.

Get this it will grow on you with time and stay with you for ever.