Album of the Day

On this day in 1974, David Bowie scored his his third U.K. No.1 album with DIAMOND DOGS. If George Orwell's estate had been more amenable, the set would have been a concept album based on 1984, and that book's dystopian outlook runs through many of these songs (most directly in “1984” and “Big Brother”). But the real unifier here is the swaggering glam rock of hit single “Rebel Rebel” and the title track; having recently left his Spiders on Mars, the collection would be the last Bowie would make in his signature glam style. The 30th Anniversary Edition of DIAMOND DOGS adds eight bonus cuts to the original, including rare versions of album tracks, the non-LP song “Dodo” and a surprisingly effective Bruce Springsteen cover (“Growin' Up”).