Those four words lead off the album that scared the tar outta me as a 14 year old. Even more than my well worn Black Sabbath albums. Sabbath was scary, but a lot of that came from the fact that they were so darn heavy and demonic. But on "Diamond Dogs," David Bowie just made everything musically bone rattling, insane and unsettling. Visualizing Hunger City and the hordes of jeweled and fur clad "peoploids" on the prowl was akin to something out of a George Romero movie. I was too young to understand what a rock and roll musical would sound like, all I knew was "We Are The Dead" and "Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family" captured my attention like no other save for Alice Cooper.

No other album or artist has done that for me since. Marylyn Manson? Megadeth? Slayer? Mindless poseurs all after the theatrics of "Sweet Thing/Candidate." Of course I couldn't know it at the time, but Bowie was beginning to bridge the gap between the Ziggy character (in retrospect, it seems like this was the album where Ziggy is at last buried forever) and the soon to emerge Philly Soul monger of "Young Americans." The croon Bowie lays into "When You Rock and Roll With Me" and the "Shaft/Superfly" licks in "1984" are the most obvious forays in that direction.

But still, is this really 30 years old? Jeepers, it sounds like it was recorded last week. "Diamond Dogs" is now enriched by the excellent packaging, including Bowie's comments about his state of mind during the creation of the "1984" stage musical concept to several of the contributing players' thoughts, and a host of pictures and other graphics from the period. The bonus disc is a treat as well. I'd actually forgotten the single mix of "Rebel Rebel," and my ensuing disappointment when I bought the album and the background vocals were gone! But why quarrel with what has to be one of the ten best guitar riffs ever composed?

Additional kudos must be given to the fact that this is a two CD set. While a single disc with bonus tracks could have easily been released (and has), "Diamond Dogs'" original 40 minutes stands at its best without additional clutter tacked on the end like some hideous footnote from an obsessive Bowie acolyte insisting that a masterpiece has to be amended. MORE artists/albums need to be treated with this kind of respect - Thanks EMI!

Bowie's voice distorted electronically sets the apocalyptic scene, of a civilization destroyed in the spoken "Future Legend" of mutants in Hunger City called who are waiting for the diamond dogs

After the heralding "This ain't rock and roll... this is genocide!", the title track comes on, sporting a snappy glam riff like T-Rex with some vocals sung as if done underwater, the story continues of the lavish rich having parties, but under prey of the diamond dogs.

The trio of "Sweet Thing", "Candidate", and the reprise of the former, all which segue into one another for a total 8:50, is the longest track (if taken collectively) Bowie's done since "Width Of A Circle." With an out-of-tune guitar and soft piano, a sense of loneliness and isolation permeates throughout the lyrics. Things go a bit more upbeat in "Candidate", with the and more nihilistic: "We'll buy some drugs and watch a band, then jump in the river holding hands." From "hope is a sweet thing", we get "love is a get-it-here thing." This part of the song deals with how one gets power with sex.

By far, the best song here is "Rebel Rebel", a tune with a hard-edged guitar done by Alan Parker and not by Bowie as has been formerly thought, and a Stones-like crunch. The 70's gender-ambiguity is shown in "not sure if you're a boy or a girl." This criminally flopped in the US, but reached #5 on the UK charts. Joan Jett covered this and it shows up on her Flashback compilation.

A soulful and gospel-like feel, with a piano and guitar melody features in the laid back "Rock N Roll With Me," a change from the previous theatrics.

The last three songs is all that's left of the concept album Bowie was trying to model after 1984, only to have George Orwell's widow deny him permission. There seems to be no justice, as Yes's Rick Wakeman released an album in 1981 titled 1984 with no repercussions. Anyway, "We Are The Dead" are the words Winston Smith utters to his lover Julia before they are captured by the Thought Police in Orwell's novel. Bowie's crooning over a slow melodic keyboard. Bowie half-speaks/sings the lyrics while in the background, he croons the title words.

"1984" has a bit of a funky disco beat like the Shaft song. Elements of brainwashing from the novel can be seen: "they'll split your pretty cranium and fill it full of air/and tell that you're eighty but rather you won't care." The song was later covered by Tina Turner on Private Dancer.

In "Big Brother and the Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" Bowie seems to be praising some ubermensch-type person: "someone to blame us/someone to follow/someone to shame us/some great Apollo/someone to fool us/someone like you/we want you Big Brother." The chant part begins with a fuzzy guitar and chants of "brother" and "shake it up" before ending with a repeated tape loop.

With the dissolution of Ziggy and the Spiders, an interesting concept and a new sound, while still continuing the nihilistic apocalyptic themes of the Ziggy era.

After the excesses of his glam era, David Bowie turned his attention to creating a musical based on George Orwell's "1984", but unable to secure the rights to the work, he decided to restructure the material into what ended up being "Diamond Dogs". Still, the pedigree of the material brings it to a significantly different sound then any of Bowie's previous work-- a very much theatrical sound is present throughout the music, and it ends up coaxing some fine performances out of Bowie.

The medley of "Sweet Thing" and "Candidate" is probably the best example of this-- "Sweet Thing" features a romantic piano line that would not be out of place in a stage production and an absolutely stunning lead vocal from Bowie who takes full advantage of his range. His performance is just absolutely staggering, but it has a very theatrical, almost over the top sound to it that reminds you of Freddie Mercury. Likewise, the sing-speak vocal of "We Are the Dead" has the sound of something right out of a stage piece. Mixed in with all this is just some great rock songs-- "Diamond Dogs", "Rebel Rebel" and "Rock & Roll With Me"-- and one piece that traipses at dance music ("1984") to make a pretty well balanced collection.

This edition includes a bonus disc of alternate mixes, unreleased recordings of tracks leftover from the musical, and the superb '03 remake of "Rebel Rebel" as well as a detailed booklet with an extended essay about the recording sessions. It's a worthwhile investment for fans.

I've gone back and forth on how I should rate this one-- it's not quite as powerful as some of his other work, but it has a unique and powerful identity. Call it 4 1/2 stars, highly recommended.

Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs and Aladdin Sane are probably the best, and at least my favorite Bowie albums, Diamond Dogs shining the brightest. Originally intended as a rock opera based on the novel '1984', Diamond Dogs is the leftovers of those sessions after the rights couldn't be purchased. You simply have to listen to this front to back, for at least the first time. Personally, I never listen to just one tune, I just put it on and let it play. 'Diamond Dogs', 'Rebel Rebel', '1984', 'Big Brother' and 'Sweet Thing' are favorites, but I should really just list Diamond Dogs as my favorite album, as every song is enjoyable. Diamond Dogs was released during David's most experimental and outrageously lavish period in his career, and it's a solid effort. This one should be right between Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane in your CD rack.

This is David Bowie's interpretation/homage to George Orwell's masterpiece, "1984". Regardless of whether or not you have read Orwell's novel, you'll surely love, or at least like, or at the very least, appreciate, Bowie's venture into the realm of the frightening and apocalyptic vision of the reign of the "Diamond Dogs." The only radio-friendly singles to be found on this album are the title track, and "Rebel Rebel," which are both magnificent songs. The best tracks on the album? Hardly. But I guess that all depends on the criteria by which you judge. If you are a die-hard Bowie fan, then you will very likely have more appreciation for the other lesser- known songs on the album, some of which are somewhat difficult to ingest, but even if you are not one of those insatiable Bowie fans (to which group I myself pertain), then you might at least acknowledge the mystery and intensity of Bowie's approach. . . Nobody in the rock business quite expresses themself in the way that Bowie does, and this album provides substantial proof for such a claim. Some of his best lyrics are to be found on this album. "Candidate" for example: "I'll make you a deal, like any other candidate/ we'll pretend we're walking home because your future's at stake/ my set was amazing and even smells like the street/ there's a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend". . . Revolutionary, yes, this album is ever so much so. . . Bowie would have been hounded by the Mc Carthy era agents were this album to have been produced during that time! Even so, this album might be problematic for some people who do not (or are afraid to acknowledge) that the threat of "Big Brother" is always looming before us, eager to deprive us of our liberties as free-thinking individuals. This is the closest that Bowie has ever come to reflecting upon politics in an album (well, he kind of did so on "Scary Monsters", but not in such a straightforward way). . . "Because hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing" he sings. This is not a light-hearted album, and certainly not for the faint-of-heart or the close-minded. Bowie as politico: it may seem strange, but on this album, it is true. He has made allusions to figures such as Che Guevara (in "Alladin Sane") in the past, and even poked a certain amount of fun at Richard Nixon (on "Young Americans"), but this is the closest that Bowie comes to approaching the realm of politics. There is an isolated "love song" (although it is one of the cautious and jaded sort), "Rock and Roll with Me," but the rest of the oeuvre on "Diamond Dogs" is of a very different nature. . . "We are the Dead" is perhaps the counterpoint to "Rock and Roll with Me": the imminent threat of "Big Brother" overwhelms the romantic notions between lovers which would otherwise remain free and intact. . . "We're tomorrow's scrambled creatures/locked into tomorrow's double feature/ Heaven's on the pillow/ as silence competes with hell. . . Because of all we've seen/ because of all we've said/ we are the dead". . . Major Tom, Alladin Sane, and Ziggy Stardust seem to have been replaced by a very frightened (and, of course, still wonderfully androgynous; this is Bowie, after all!) and prophetic character who senses a sort of apocalypse in all of our human actions/deeds/misdeeds. This album was made in 1974, and it remains more than pertinent today, in which we are all terrified of the threat of war and destruction. . . In fact, I was listening to this album while driving around one day, and finding both pro-war and anti-war demonstrators on a street corner, and it could not have been any more appropriate. . . "The Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" was playing as I drove by the manifestors/protestors, and that moment in time seemed almost frozen. . . I do not know how Bowie feels about what is occuring in our country in regard to the Middle East, but I do find that this album manifests many of the conflicting emotions that we are all feeling at the moment. . . The demo version of "Candidate" on this album strikes me as especially poignant, however. . . shall we "pretend that we are walking home", then?

"Diamond Dogs" is a timeless album. An outstanding album. . . an ineffable one, perhaps? Well, if it were ineffable, should I have said so much on its behalf? Why yes, for it is the creation of David Bowie, and we should at least attempt to put its beauty and power into words. . . Yet no words seem to give it true justice. Give a listen, you'll see what I mean. . . Orwell would/should certainly be proud of Bowie for having transformed his words and his ideology into such magnificent music.

And Bowie should be proud of himself for having transposed a tremendous work of literature into a tremendous work of music.

Do get this album. No words can really do it justice, but, as this is a review in language, I can only employ laudatory adjectives:

It is spectacular.

Superb.

Sublime,

Stupendous.

Splendid.

Do give it a listen.