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

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

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  !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There are far more celebrated albums in the Bowie back catalogue, but this one has probably seen more active service on my record deck/tape deck/CD player than most in the past couple of decades than most.

That being said, this album is not for the faint-hearted.

By 1970, Bowie had hopped on and off of most musical genres, from r n'b to jazz-tinged mod, from Anthony Newley- style whimsy to Dylan-tinged folk-rock. With a new live band, The Hype, Bowie was ready to deliver to the masses a harder-edged sound, perhaps in order to break the lucrative US market, with their current penchant 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 Bowie's nihilistic, paranoic (and dare I say it homo-erotic) lyrical 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 Gun Blues' pre-dates Dennis Hopper's 1976 movie 'Tracks' with a story about a soldier returning from Vietnam who wants to continue the war back home. 'Saviour Machine' provides Mace's finest moment (whatever happened to this guy ?). 'She Shook Me Cold' sees Bowie in cock-rock mode, with Ronson delivering some of the most gratuitous lead-guitar in history. The somewhat ambiguous title track was later covered (without irony) by Lulu, whilst the album's closer 'The Supermen' sees Bowie not for the last time in his career coming over all Neitzsche in Aryan super-race mode.

Bowie would return to hard rock two decades later with the total misfire that was the Tin Machine project, but he was never able to match the intensity of these classic recordings.