1984 - David Bowie (1984 Album Recreation)

Side 1:

1. Future Legend
2. 1984/Dodo
3. Sweet Thing
4. Candidate
5. Sweet Thing (Reprise)
6. Bellyfeel (Candidate Demo)

Side 2:

7. Tragic Moments (Zion/A Lad In Vein)
8. Growin’ Up
9. We Are the Dead
10. Big Brother
11. Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family

Fresh off the heals of his Aladdin Sane tour and a double success of that album and the covers record ‘Pinups’, David Bowie was the biggest rock star in the world. And where to go from the top but higher? Spurred on by his history in theatre, David conceived of a theatre production of George Orwell’s dystopian classic ‘1984’. Despite writing several songs for the play, the plan fell apart after he was denied rights to stage the book from Orwell’s widow. Not wanting to let good music go to waste, David crafted just own dystopian story, set in the rotted Hunger City and focusing on the one eyed glam vagrant Halloween Jack. With the product now renamed Diamond Dogs and with a few new songs written to further the new concept, his next album was realised. With the Spiders from Mars broken up, David took up guitar duties himself and crafted a rougher sound, touched up with dashes of funk and soul. The record’s singles ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘1984’ and ‘Diamond Dogs’ were released to varying degrees of success and the album was released to fairly middling reviews (which have improved greatly over time). But what if the 1984 product never fell through and David got to realise the product as he intended? This is my reconstruction of that album

We start off with the spoken word track ‘Future Legend’. While this song does tie directly into the Diamond Dogs plot, I’ve kept it as it works very well as an album opener and still sets up the album’s story very well. The lyrics are vague and cryptic enough to fit the 1984 concept and serve well as a sort of prelude to the actual story. Let’s just pretend that this was the world before Ingsoc and Big Brother took control. We then fade into the funky ‘1984’, presented here in a medley with the quirky ‘Dodo’ as originally intended. We then shift into the epic ‘Sweet Thing’ suite, consisting of said track and the operatic ‘Candidate’ before leading back into a frantic reprise of ‘Sweet Thing’. Side 1 closes with the first major addition to the record, the demo version of ‘Candidate’. This version bares very little similarities to the finished product, so much so that they could be considered two separate songs. As such I have given the track a new name, ‘Bellyfeel’, a term from the novel meaning to accept something blindly and without questioning. This was to tie it closer with the record and to fit it with the song’s lyrics, telling of a political candidate who promises safety and redemption.

Side 2 begins with the infamous ‘Tragic Moments’, better known in bootlegger circles as ‘Zion’ or ‘A Lad in Vain’ (and several variations on that), a strange avant garde jazz piece with rock overtones. This was one of the last tracks recorded with the Spiders and while often confused as an outtake from the Aladdin Sane sessions, was actually taped as a very early demo for the Diamond Dogs sessions, evident by the musical similarities to Sweet Thing. Next up is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Growin’ Up’. Again, this song is often confused as an outtake from the ‘Pinups’ sessions, while it was actually recorded in the DD sessions instead (featuring Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood on lead guitar). This track is here as lyrically, its themes of rebellion and conformity tie in greatly with the 1984 story. After that is the strutting and haunting ‘We Are the Dead’, one of the few tracks on the original Diamond Dogs album that survived the change from 1984 to DD. Then, is the grandiose ‘Big Brother’ which trails directly into the rough and chaotic ‘Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family’ ending the album on a bizarre and dark note.

So, would 1984 have been a good album had it released as planned? I’m unsure really. Diamond Dogs is a strong but flawed album, suffering a loose and messy concept but 1984 is much more difficult and lacks any of the hit singles from DD (disregarding the 1984 song). However it stands, 1984 is still a solid and enjoyable listen. Enjoy!