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David BowieDiamond Dogs (30th Anniversary Edition) EMI You know, I really like this David Bowie two-CD Special Edition reissue lark that EMI first embarked upon with '...Ziggy Stardust...' a couple of years back. After all, Bowie's back catalogue stands up better than most, and 'Diamond Dogs' was the album that really confirmed his position as an iconoclastic musical genius. It was also the album that broke him in the US, thanks in no small part to the enormously theatrical tour (and, of course, Rebel Rebel). First up, the album among Bowie's best. The title track is one of his most storming rockers ("this ain't rock'n'roll - this is genocide!"), 1984 is replete with Barry White-esque strings, We Are The Dead is an underrated classic that showcases that soon-to-be ubiquitous Bowie croon and the Sweet Thing/Candidate segue is still one of his neatest musical moments. Sure, the campily theatrical Rock'n'Roll With Me breaks the narrative flow somewhat, but by the closing Chant Of The Ever-Circling Skeletal Family I can forgive anything. The second disc of rarities ranges from the absolutely necessary (the 1984/Dodo medley and utterly different version of Candidate that stemmed from the album's original concept as a musical version of '1984' before George Orwell's widow refused permission, the re-recorded US single version of Rebel Rebel) to the nice-to-have (an unreleased version of Springsteen's Growin' Up) and the pointless (the 2003 version of Rebel Rebel). The booklet, written by Bowie biographer and Mojo contributor David Buckley, is also a heck of a good read. Basically, like all the 30th Anniversary editions thus far, you need this. Now: what about 'Young Americans,' 'Low,' '"Heroes",' 'Lodger,' 'Scary Monsters'...?  |
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