Bowie, David "Diamond Dogs" [50th Anniversary Half Speed Master]

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s landmark single ‘REBEL REBEL’, which appeared in a remixed form on Bowie's eighth and most musically adventurous album of the early 1970s, DIAMOND DOGS.

To mark its Golden Jubilee, DIAMOND DOGS will be issued as a limited edition 50th anniversary half-speed mastered LP and a picture disc LP pressed from the same master. The first single from the album, the aforementioned ‘REBEL REBEL’, reached number 5 in the UK and the album would also reach similar heights on both sides of the Atlantic reaching number 1 in the UK and number 5 in the USA.

The writing of the album was influenced by Bowie not being able to secure the rights for a theatrical production of George Orwell’s 1984 and the work of William S. Burroughs, whom Bowie had interviewed for Rolling Stone in November 1973. The songs on the album created an urban apocalyptic scenario with Bowie appearing on the cover as a controversial half-man, half-dog hybrid painted by the Belgian artist Guy Peellaert from photos by the world-renowned photographer Terry O’Neill. Since its release, tracks from DIAMOND DOGS have been covered by artists such as Beck, Tina Turner, Duran Duran, Def Leppard, Joan As Police Woman, Dead Or Alive and The Struts.

To promote the album Bowie undertook his most theatrical and elaborate tour to date, which was captured on film for the infamous BBC programme Cracked Actor and the classic DAVID LIVE album. Despite written promises to fans that the tour would reach the UK, it never did. For the second leg of the US tour, Bowie stripped back the show and started taking his material in a more soulful direction, which would be fully realised with the release of his next album, YOUNG AMERICANS.

This new pressing of DIAMOND DOGS was cut on a customised late Neumann VMS80 lathe with fully recapped electronics from 192kHz restored masters of the original master tapes, with no additional processing on transfer. The half-speed was cut by John Webber at AIR Studios.