“It’s safe in the city, to love in a doorway”
Ahead of the release of the David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set, we’re running a weekly album focus. Today is the last day of Diamond Dogs before we look at David Live tomorrow, the record of the tour that took Diamond Dogs on the road.
Despite the Diamond Dogs cover still depicting Bowie with the Ziggy look he was about to shed, one of the things that was striking about the album at the time was its incredibly fresh and new sound, unlike anything else around in 1974.
This intention is borne out by Tony Visconti’s Diamond Dogs liner notes in the new box set, from where, this excerpt:
“‘Diamond Dogs’ was probably David’s most radical album to date. It was very different from anything he’d done, it was the first self-produced album too. He played almost all the guitar on the album except for the ‘Rebel Rebel’ riff. Between us we conjured up sounds no one had ever heard or used before. It was the beginning of many new recording adventures I shared with my old friend, lasting until the present day.” – Tony Visconti (May 2016)
If you need reminding of some of those sounds Tony’s referring to, check out Future Legend, Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise), Big Brother and Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family, via the Who Can I Be Now? playlist here.
Another thing about the release of Diamond Dogs, was the creation of the Bowie logo. Probably the best known of all Bowie logos and one that endures today.
Pre-order Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) here.
FOOTNOTE: As you no doubt know, the picture of David and Tony in Trident Studio is from May 1971. Three years ahead of the release of Diamond Dogs.
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