MB Bowie Classics: "The Man Who Sold the World"
 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...972_RCA_LP.png

All right then, let's go: there's bound to be some decent debate about this one.

Now this is a good album. First heard it when I spent a week painting and took this album and had it on repeat all week, with British Steel also. I think there are four artworks for it.

This is the 1971 British LP artwork, it is my favourite one:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ldtheWorld.jpg

This is the original 1970 US LP artwork:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...x-MWSTWUS2.jpg

This is the 1971 German LP artwork:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...px-MWSTWG1.jpg

Width of a Circle, one of his best album intros, I like the longer tracks he did and this is no exception. His vocals in particular are excellent here. Probably one of his best tracks.

Black Country Rock is another favourite, as is the title track, and All the Madmen.

It's his first very good album for me, one that I would recommend to anyone. And it contains some of his heaviest stuff. She Shook Me Cold is a heavy metal song, for me.

It gets a solid 4.

Listening to this album for the first time, I'm realizing that Queen basically stole the idea for "I'm Going Slightly Mad" from Bowie's "All The Madmen". There's several musical similarities - not just the lyrical theme.

"Black Country Rock" gives me a strong Roxy Music vibe.

And of course the title track is really good.

This album is vastly more musically interesting than it's two predecessors and the sound quality is better by a factor of ten. The drums, bass and guitars especially sound massively better than on Space Oddity. Songwriting is better, Bowie's vocals are more varied and generally flawless... This is where he starts being actually great.

Not all songs blew me away (the opener is a bit of a snore, for example), but it's a strong album all the same.

Voted 4/5.

I want to include the list below in my future comments, so that I can keep track of what I've voted in the past when reacting to each new album. Otherwise, I'm gonna get lost in my ratings.

_Previous ratings:__________________
David Bowie: 1/5
Space Oddity: 2/5
The Man Who Sold The World 4/5
Hunky Dory
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
PinUps
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Lodger
Scary Monsters
Let's Dance
Tonight
Never Let Me Down
Black Tie White Noise
1. Outside
Earthling
Hours
Heathen
Reality
The Next Day
Blackstar

By far the best. I wonder if it was too androgynous for the American record label or something.

It's the best artwork for sure, and the one I associate with the album, even though my vinyl copy is the one in the OP.

Maybe, saw a documentary years ago. Saying a blond man in a long dress wouldn't really have appealed to metal guys of the time, considering that is the sound some of the tracks are going for.

Enter Mick Ronson, and indeed Tony Visconti, and all change! Does anyone recognise the embryonic riff from "The Jean Genie" in "Width of a Circle" and again in "All the Madmen"? Still, I have to say I'm not really, if I remember correctly, one of those who were very impressed with this album, though "After all" is nice and of course I love the title track. Certainly heavier than either of his previous two albums - probably the heaviest in his catalogue really, though I haven't yet heard it all - but maybe a little too basic rock for me at this point.

"The Supermen" is good too, but this album just doesn't speak to me. I'm more for the later releases. Give it another 4 I guess - hard to really award anything less, in my opinion.

Bowie went heavy and hard with this album. An improvement over the previous album and the beginning of his 70's androgynous period. The addition of Mick Ronson added a new sound to the music and helped Bowie on his way towards his new musical direction.

I've never been completely satisfied with the mix on this album. Some songs sound like they were mixed well and others sound a bit thin and just don't seem to have enough "crunch." Still a good album overall and a must-listen for anyone interested in David Bowie's music and especially his early to mid 70's era.

This was another Bowie album I heard early on. It's probably the heaviest of all the Bowie albums and it's obvious that he is going to be one of the great chameleons of rock with four distinctly different sounds under his belt already. I'd like to say the album is consistent but,alas, it isn't. Basically every other song is a classic while the other five tracks range from fairly good to kind of meh. Best songs for me are All the Madmen and After All. Overall, a pretty solid album.

7/10 (The Word has spoken :D)