Man Who Sold The World, The [Remastered] - David Bowie

Advantages: typical sound of the seventies
Disadvantages: typical sound of the seventies if you don't like Bowie

...to write about now: „The Man Who Sold The World", released in 1970, at the beginning of the career of a man who was told to be the chameleon of show and music business: David Bowie. The typical sound of the seventies (extended howling guitar soli, bombastic drums soli, some texts sung in an accent I can‘t identify) combined with his typical voice. Though it‘s often said, this album is not his first one (that‘s Space odditiy), ...
...song about heartache The Man Who Sold The World the title song and my favourite track because of its funny percussion, textly a dialogue between Bowie and Bowie as the „Man who sold the world", The Superman starts with a drums solo, followed by a psychedellic chorus, later on the guitar, before David‘s recitative of I‘ll never understood Lightning Frightening (previously unreleased) a song I never thaught it would be by Bowie... ... Read review

Advantages: Bowie at his uncompromising best, seemingly oblivious to all commercial constraints.
Disadvantages: The most recent reissue doesn't have the non-LP single from the same era 'Holy Holy' (but then the previous reissue had the wrong version of this song !

...for English heaviness. And 'The Man Who Sold The World' is a VERY heavy album. Bowie had recently acquired the services of young guitarist Mick Ronson, whose powerful Jeff Beckisms are omnipresent throughout the nine tracks. With producer Tony Visconti on (and therefore whacking the instrument high up in the mix at every opportunity), Woody Woodmandsey's muscular drumming, and Ralph Mace's inspired use of keyboards, these elements perfectly compliment ...
...imagery. 'Width Of A Circle' is an uncompromising opener, over eight minutes in length, Ronson's Les Paul dripping in feedback. 'All The Madmen' begins gently enough before turning into a frenzied tribute to the mentally ill. Black Country Rock' has a very minimalist lyric ending with a delightful tribute to Bowie's old mate Marc Bolan. 'After All' is the album's token ballad, but is probably the spookiest thing on here ('Oh By Jingo', indeed). 'Running ... Read review