Maps of Music

Diamond Dogs (1974)

Where the lyrics of Diamond Dogs take you, and where it was really made.

Bowie made this album from several projects that were never finished, including a scrapped Ziggy Stardust musical and an unapproved Nineteen Eighty-Four adaptation, and the cover shows him as a half-man, half-dog.

Key places

Where the sessions started (1974)

Recording site Trident Studios — Initial work on the album began in late October 1973 at Trident Studios in London, where the sessions first took shape. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Official start of the main sessions (1974)

Recording site Olympic Studios — Recording for the album at Olympic Studios officially began at the start of 1974, marking the main sessions for the record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Final sessions in the Netherlands (1974)

Recording site Ludolph Studios — Recording of the album was finished at Ludolph Studios in the Netherlands, the last studio used for the record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Diamond Dogs: eighth studio album by David Bowie
• Released 24 May 1974 through RCA Records
• Bowie produced the album himself
• Recorded in early 1974 in London and the Netherlands
• Concept built from several projects Bowie planned at the time
• Title track introduces the new persona Halloween Jack
• Cover painted by Guy Peellaert from photos by Terry O'Neill

Background

• Released Pin Ups in summer 1973, then unsure where to take his career
• Disbanded the Spiders from Mars and parted ways with producer Ken Scott
• According to biographer David Buckley, Scott's departure ended the classic pop period
• Planned a musical based on Ziggy Stardust, later scrapped
• Planned an adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, but Orwell's widow Sonia Orwell denied the rights
• Turned to an urban apocalyptic scenario inspired by William S. Burroughs
• Final album in the glam rock genre

Recording

• Bowie played lead guitar after Mick Ronson's absence
• Keith Harwood handled engineering, his first credit on a Bowie album
• Tony Visconti returned after four years and co-produced much of Bowie's work for the rest of the decade
• Initial work began in late October 1973 at Trident Studios in London
• Recording at Olympic Studios officially began at the start of 1974
• Recording was finished at Ludolph Studios in the Netherlands

Cover

• Shows Bowie as a half-man, half-dog hybrid, with his Ziggy Stardust haircut
• Based on a photo session with Terry O'Neill and a painting by Guy Peellaert
• RCA had the genitalia airbrushed from the sleeve used for most releases

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, London.
• Studied art, music and design; took up saxophone in 1961.
• Adopted the stage name David Bowie in 1966 to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Career

• Breakthrough with "Space Oddity" in 1969, reaching the UK top five.
• Glam rock success in 1972 with the Ziggy Stardust persona and album.
• Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes", Lodger) with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti in the late 1970s.
• Greatest commercial success with Let's Dance in 1983.
• Fronted the hard rock band Tin Machine from 1988 to 1992 before resuming a solo career.
• Final studio album Blackstar was released two days before his death in 2016.

Legacy

• Sold over 100 million records worldwide.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
• Widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critics gave the album mixed reviews on release
• Disc compared it to The Man Who Sold the World and called it the finest LP Bowie had made so far
• Rock Magazine called it a strong and effective album, the most impressive Bowie work since Ziggy Stardust
• Martin Kirkup of Sounds praised it as a thought-out painting, unlike the snapshot feel of Aladdin Sane
• Billboard saw a subtler, more aesthetic Bowie
• Robert Christgau in Creem was critical, calling Bowie's vocals a pale imitation of Bryan Ferry
• Ken Emerson of Rolling Stone gave an extremely negative review, calling it Bowie's worst album in six years

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the record suffered from Bowie being unsure how to move forward
• Erlewine concluded it was the first record since Space Oddity where Bowie's reach exceeds his grasp
• Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called it an overproduced concept album inspired by Orwell's 1984
• Pitchfork's Barry Walters called it a sustained work of decadence and dread
• C. M. Crockford of punknews.org called it Bowie's most distinctive work
• Biographer Cann called it arguably Bowie's most significant album

Records

• Peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the US Billboard chart
• Repeated its chart-topping success in Canada, number one on the RPM 100 in July 1974
• Lead single Rebel Rebel peaked at number 5 in the UK and number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100
• Ranked number 447 in NME's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
• Voted Bowie's fifth-greatest album in a 2013 Rolling Stone readers poll
• Voted number 995 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Bowie played every song from the album on the tour except We Are the Dead
• The first leg of the Diamond Dogs Tour ran from 14 June to 20 July 1974 and cost $250,000
• Bowie's 1974 tour was the first to use elaborate set-pieces, a design partly influenced by German expressionist films
• Director Nicolas Roeg contacted Bowie after an advanced screening of the Cracked Actor documentary
• Uncensored copies with the original cover art became some of the most expensive record collectibles of all time
• The Rebel Rebel single was reworked for the US market with a new Latin dub mix

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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