Review Summary: The first great work of Bowie. Probably no other Bowie’s album has so much rocking power and grooving fun.
“The Man Who Sold The World” is the third studio album of David Bowie that was released in 1970. The line up on the album is David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Ralph Mace, Tony Visconti, Mick Woodmansey, Tim Renwick, Mark Carr-Pritchard, Freddi Buretti and Trevor Bolder.
David Bowie is simply one of the best and most respected artists ever. He was one of the most creative and innovative artists I’ve the pleasure to listen to, too. Despite we cannot consider him as a true progressive rock musician, I always see on him the spirit of a true progressive rock musician. Why? Because he always was an artist that never stopped to progress with is music and never was a man that was satisfied with what he has made before. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was named the chameleon artist. If we take a look to his very impressive and amazing career, we can see why. Since their real first work, I mean “Space Oddity”, till the last “Blackstar”, he never stopped changing his music style.
“The Man Who Sold The World” was Bowie’s first album with the nucleus of what would become the “Spiders From Mars”, the band who would be famous due to his future fifth studio album “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”, released in 1972. “The Man Who Sold The World” has been claimed that this was the album that marked the beginning of the glam rock. Hard rocking and heavy metal hybrid, “The Man Who Sold The World” was Bowie’s third studio album, although considered the second work of his classic period. On “The Man Who Sold The World”, Bowie’s music offers an experience that is as intriguing as it’s chilling, but only to the listener sufficiently together to withstand its schizophrenia. On this album, Bowie deals with oblique and fragmented images that are almost impenetrable separately but which convey with effectiveness an ironic and bitter sense of the world when considered together. His unhappy relationship with the world is traced to his inability to perceive it sanely. In reality, “The Man Who Sold The World” came before he was known for anything other than “Space Oddity”. Unfortunately, this album wouldn’t be his breakout album upon its release. It wasn’t especially a commercial or critical successful work.
“The Man Who Sold The World” has nine tracks. “The Width Of A Circle” is a hard rock song divided into two different parts. It has explicit sexual lyrics. It starts with a nice riff and turns in many musical directions. “All The Madmen” opens with acoustic guitar and recorder before it’s a heavy rock song with a great guitar work. It provides an insanity atmosphere all over the album. “Black Country Rock” is a blues rock number, a kind of respite from the thematically heaviness of the beginning of the album. It has a great vocal work and an unusual hard rock blues sound. “After All” is an unusual song. It was written as a rock song in a waltz time. It reminds me a surreal circus due to the instrumental break. It’s a melancholic song, sinister and dark that transports us to a surrealistic nightmare of a child. “Running Gun Blues” is a return of Bowie to his folk rock roots. It has violent lyrics criticizing the Vietnam War. Here, the beautiful tune contrasts with the criticism of its lyrics. “Saviour Machine” is a return to the hard rock on the album. It’s an epic song with psychedelic influences with a slightly touch of symphonic sound. It’s a powerful song with provocative lyrics and a great ambience. “She Shook Me Cold” is probably the heaviest song of Bowie. The guitar work is influenced by the sound of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. The title track is a classic Bowie’s track. It’s the highlight on the album because the simple and beautiful music and lyrics, instantly catching and attaching. It’s a brilliant and perfect track. I always loved it. It has a special effect on me. I’m not able to stop listening to it, constantly. “The Superman” is inspired by the literary works of Friedrich Nietzsche and H. P. Lovecraft. It’s a dark song with great lyrics that curiously reminds me Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill. It’s a perfect way to close this amazing album.
Conclusion: “The Man Who Sold The World” wasn’t my first contact with Bowie’s music. The first ones were “Space Oddity” and “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”, in the middle of the 70’s. Still, it was love at the first sight. “The Man Who Sold The World” is a fantastic album, a great step forward from their previous album “Space Oddity” and a giant step from their eponymous debut. This is one of the best Bowie’s studio albums and one of my favourite albums from him, together with “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”, “Station To Station”, “Low” and “Heroes”. “The Man Who Sold The World” is the hardest rock album from Bowie that became the precursor of “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”. “The Man Who Sold The World” is one of the most interesting and cohesive hard rock albums I’ve ever heard and represents his first great work. However and unfortunately, I always think that it was probably the most underrated and overlooked album of Bowie.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
