David Bowie – Sweet Thing-Candidate-Sweet Thing (Repr.) - Live at the Universal Amphitheatre - 1974

The Sweet Thing / Candidate / Sweet Thing (Reprise) suite was originally from David Bowie’s 1974 album, Diamond Dogs. It was subsequently performed on the 1974 tour, and was included on the David Live album. As Chris O’Leary states at the beginning of his excellent essay on the subject, the suite is “The rotten heart of Diamond Dogs; a triptych where prostitutes are the only lovers left, where street hustlers double as politicians.” Many agree that the studio version of the Sweet Thing suite, from Diamond Dogs, is one of the finest things Bowie ever produced. Chris’s essay is really the last word on this musical masterpiece, so I’ll spare you my artless list of superlatives. However, I do feel inclined to say that Diamond Dogs was the first Bowie album I truly loved, from when I first became a fan, at about 12 years old. And the Sweet Thing suite was even then for me the obvious standout. Musically it app