Classic Albums Review: The Man Who Sold the World

Many people think that the early years of Bowie consist solely of “Changes,” Ziggy Stardust, and perhaps even “Jean Genie.” In reality, Bowie’s career truly started with release of The Man Who Sold the World in late 1970. By far the hardest sounding record Bowie produced at that point, The Man Who Sold the World mixes elements of blues and hard rock while also exhibiting early stages of glam rock and heavy metal. And, as with most Bowie records, contains bizarre but enthralling lyrics.

The LP starts with the raucous and increasingly ominous “Width of a Circle,” which showcases several brilliant changes in tempo and mood in its eight-minute length. Then, the crazy one as always, Bowie’s “All the Madmen” takes it down a notch with psychedelically surreal lyrics before driving into a harder second half. “Black Country Rock,” the third track, is a bit of a let-down compared to the first two numbers. Its saving grace is its driving hard rock style, but it fails to break past the typical “hard” song with its mediocre lyrics and lack of variety. The fourth and fifth tracks (“After All” and “Running Gun Blues”) set the record back on track; a folk-ish expedition fit with mysterious lyrics followed by a morbidly cheeky hard blues tune about the bad side of the Vietnam War – excellent. Next up is “Saviour Machine,” a tasteful four-minute song which can be dull with a casual listening, but if you pay close attention the song really shines in its own special way. “She Shook Me Cold,” the pen-penultimate track is a lot like a pleasant blues song; it does not share the blues’ structure, but the overt references to heterosexual encounters is hilarious and hardly masked by the groovy instrumentation. Finally we come to the title track and “The Supermen.” “The Man Who Sold the World” is an intriguing work on insanity with a wonderful percussion track and simple yet gripping guitar hook – definitely one of the album’s best. The Man Who Sold the World concludes with “The Supermen.” Unfortunately, “The Supermen” is not the best final note for an otherwise fantastic album. It’s lyrics and instrumentation try too hard to accomplish a nonexistent understanding of some greater force or figure and will likely end up disappointing whoever listens to it.

All together, The Man Who Sold the World is an exceptional album. While most people look to Bowie’s later work as his height of creativity, The Man Who Sold the World contains several overlooked gems that deserve listening to. Granted, not every track is a masterpiece (nor does an amazing album have to be), but the ones that are will never fail to please.