I think DIAMOND DOGS is one of the most underrated albums of all time. Because it was surrounded by such brilliance in Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory and Station to Station it seems like critics have disregarded this album. I think that is unfairly dismissive because not only are the songs amazingly creative (plus he played all the guitar parts and produced it himself) but the overall album evokes a conceptual unity that would have been considered genius by any other 70's artist. CANDIDATE perfectly encapsules the album's motif with it's decadant words that just drip with the sense of chaotic hedonism. The song seems to be an almost Day-in-the-Life of a street hustler. There's an air of political corruption laced with sexual depraviation. It's all very apocolyptic (going with the proposed 1984 adaptation) and rem,inds me alot of the work of William S. Burroughs. I think it's also worth noting his without shame mention of the word "Drugs" -- it's almost as if the ineveitability of the situation that he is in has led him to abandon all codewords and metaphors. And the line is utterly suicidal-glam "We'll buy some drugs and watch a band. We'll jump in a river holding hands"
I think DIAMOND DOGS is one of the most underrated albums of all time. Because it was surrounded by such brilliance in Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory and Station to Station it seems like critics have disregarded this album. I think that is unfairly dismissive because not only are the songs amazingly creative (plus he played all the guitar parts and produced it himself) but the overall album evokes a conceptual unity that would have been considered genius by any other 70's artist. CANDIDATE perfectly encapsules the album's motif with it's decadant words that just drip with the sense of chaotic hedonism. The song seems to be an almost Day-in-the-Life of a street hustler. There's an air of political corruption laced with sexual depraviation. It's all very apocolyptic (going with the proposed 1984 adaptation) and rem,inds me alot of the work of William S. Burroughs. I think it's also worth noting his without shame mention of the word "Drugs" -- it's almost as if the ineveitability of the situation that he is in has led him to abandon all codewords and metaphors. And the line is utterly suicidal-glam "We'll buy some drugs and watch a band. We'll jump in a river holding hands"