After laying waste to his Ziggy Stardust persona (as well as the Spiders from Mars) Bowie tried his hand at another concept album.  Diamond Dogs is based on George Orwell's 1984, and having read the book I can say that Bowie succeeded in relaying the emotions of the book through his music.  The atmosphere of the album is desperate and dark, with a few fun rockers thrown in to provide respite.  Unfortunately, while there are some classic moments here, a lot of the album is bogged down by awkward song structures and instrumental delivery.  The production (or the remastering) is shoddy, and on the first few listens this flaw is almost startling.  Once you become accustomed to the sound, the album really begins to reward you with some excellent songs.  Diamond Dogs could really have used a good lead guitarist however.  Bowie does a respectable job and brings some interesting sounds to the table for tracks like Diamond Dogs and Sweet Thing but some songs could use an extra kick in the pants that Bowie just can't provide on guitar by himself.