Bowie bedazzles, Ronson rocks hard!

Overall, this album has a much more "classic" blues-based, folk rock sound than any of Bowie's other material. It's not too far off from the kind of music typically heard on classic rock radio. But thanks to Bowie's phenomenal creativity (not to mention the fantastic band - basically a proto-Spiders from Mars) the music often reaches far beyond this "classic" style, the bedrock for most of these songs. Sometimes it's quasi-psychedelic, sometimes it's just straight-up rock and sometimes it's altogether unclassifiable.



Each song features meltdown guitar playing from Mick Ronson. The lyrics aren't really that deep but they're quite entertaining and sometimes pretty thought provoking none-the-less. My favorite track - the soaring case for insanity "All the Madmen." Least favorite - "The Supermen" with those "George of the Jungle" drums. For a rock n' roller, Bowie had real vision. Not only that, he had the courage to pursue his vision.



Bowie was very good at manipulating his image and one could say his decision to wear a dress on the cover was calculated to shock (something he loved to do). But he also did what he wanted and seemed to genuinely like wearing dresses. Consider this quote from 1971: "I went to America to promote THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD and, as I was going to Texas, I wore a dress. One guy pulled out a gun and called me a (...). But I thought the dress was beautiful." On the other hand: "I was always sort of a throwback to the Beat period in my early thinking, and when the hippies came along with all their funny tie-dyes and things, it seemed naive and wrong. It didn't have a backbone. I hate weak things. I wanted to hit everyone that came along wearing love beads." (1976)



Not to brag or anything, but I must say I'm quite happy with my RYKODISK remaster. It's worth seeking out for the excellent bonus material, especially the supercool "Holy, Holy" single.

One of Bowie's strangest efforts

After I explored the true glam-rock classics Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, I decided to pick up The Man Who Sold the World. At first, I disliked a great deal of the songs, but as time passed, I've found it to be a decent album overall, with some classics and some huge missteps. The Width of a Circle is a great opener, the Marc Bolan tribute of Black Country Rock is excellent, the creepy, disconcerting After All is great as well, and Saviour Machine is one of my favorite Bowie songs of all time. The Man Who Sold the World is a strange song, but I've grown to like it. Also, the closer - The Supermen - is one of Bowie's greatest songs of all time, very atmospheric and dense. Even if these songs are pretty good, the missteps suck the life out of the album. All the Madmen is a weak song in my opinion; I never truly enjoyed that song. She Shook Me Cold is Bowie's attempt to be Robert Plant, but it's kind of by-the-numbers, very clinical and boring. Running Gun Blues is the same way, not at all interesting, and these three mistakes stand out. The other problem is that there are no obvious classics. So, after you've listened to Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, and Hunky Dory, check this out. It isn't an all-time classic, but it is worthwhile for the real Bowie fan - it's often very underrepresented on compilations.

The third time really is the charm

The Man Who Sold The World (1970.) David Bowie's third album.



Despite his lack of success using an oldies/folksy/pop musical sound in the mid sixties, David Bowie managed to find a sound all his own just as that decade drew to a close. With his sophomore album, 1969's Space Oddity, Bowie began to experimenting with what would ultimately result in the glam rock uprising of the early seventies. The earliest years of Bowie's musical career were arguably the most progressive and experimental, and it's on Bowie's third album, The Man Who Sold The World, that he began to place more emphasis on electric guitars and the classic glam rock sound. This is due in no small part to the arrival of the most important man to ever play in Bowie's band (apart from Bowie himself, of course) - legendary glam rock guitarist Mick Ronson. How does Bowie's third album measure up? Read on for my review of The Man Who Sold The World.



When it was released in 1970, this was, by far, the strongest David Bowie LP. While Space Oddity was a fusion of folk and glam rock, The Man Who Sold The World pretty much abandons the folk element and enters a mostly glam-rock sound. Mick Ronson's arrival into Bowie's band results in almost instantaneous improvement. The harder, guitar-driven glam rock is unlike anything Bowie did prior to its release. Most of David Bowie's albums, while excellent, usually only contain one really big hit. And in the case of The Man Who Sold The World, that one really big hit would have to be the title track. The title track isn't nearly as popular as the big hits on some of his other albums, but its popularity got a huge revival when nineties grunge rock legends Nirvana covered it at their classic 1994 acoustic show. The track is one of Bowie's most gritty, down-to-earth rockers - it kills Nirvana's version dead (and that's saying a lot since I LOVE the Nirvana one!) Despite being the only big hit, it's NOT the only noteworthy hit here. The Width Of A Circle, track one on this album, is arguably the most underrated David Bowie song EVER - and certainly my favorite cut on the album. The eight-minute track features a classic glam rock sound that combines various sounds and tempos - and the end result is a masterpiece. Another great track is All The Madmen - if the classic title track from David Bowie's Space Oddity album had been done with electric guitars, it would have sounded a little something like the way this song turned out. Bowie shows off his diversity on Black Country Rock, a hard-rocking blues-oriented number reminiscent of early Led Zeppelin. You've gotta love Mick's guitars here! We even get to see a darker, gloomier side of Bowie on After All - one of the many underrated gems this album hosts. Another interesting track to speak of is Running Gun Blues - a track that fuses electric guitar rock with modest folk rock elements. It ultimately ends up sounding somewhat like a cross between Bowie and Bob Dylan - it's almost as if Bowie is trying to mimic Dylan's voice at times. Next up comes another unsung Bowie classic - Saviour Machine. This classic glam rocker integrates the use of synthesizers into Bowie's classic glam rock sound - something that would get pretty heavy rotation on later releases from Bowie. She Shook Me Cold is an excellent track in that it gives Mick Ronson a chance to show off his guitar skills (that guy was SO underrated...) His guitars combined with a damn fine bass riff make for some of the finest classic rock you'll ever hear. Closing out this gem of an album is The Supermen, which is another track in which Mick shows off his guitar skills. Bowie was never the same after Ronson departed from his band, and on this track, you can really see why. Ultimately, The Man Who Sold The World is a collection of underrated masterpieces. Every song on this album is a masterpiece in its own right - it's just a shame that so many of them are overlooked - even by fans of Bowie.



Bowie's albums all got reissued in fairly recent years, but the import Ryko remasters are better since they include bonus cuts you don't get on the domestic releases. If you're a big-time Bowie fan, shell out the extra cash and import the Ryko versions. It's a shame Americans got deprived of the bonuses - many of them are very nice.



The Man Who Sold The World is David Bowie's first true five-star masterpiece. Admittingly, it's no Ziggy Statdust, but it's still one of the finest classic hard glam rock albums out there. David Bowie and Mick Ronson were one of the finest classic rock musician combos out there, and no album epitomizes Ronson's place as a guitar god the way this album does. This is the Bowie album hard rock/heavy metal fans should own. If you're just a casual Bowie fan, you may want to start with a hits compilation, though, as the album may give you the wrong idea about Bowie's sound. But if you're already a tried and true Bowie fan, you can't go wrong adding this one to your collection.