The Man Who Sold the World
Encyclopedia
The Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by David Bowie
. It was originally released on Mercury Records
in November 1970 in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK. The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the "Spiders from Mars", the backing band made famous by The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
in 1972. Though author David Buckley has described the singer's previous record David Bowie (Space Oddity) as "the first Bowie album proper", NME
critics Roy Carr
and Charles Shaar Murray
have said of The Man Who Sold the World, "this is where the story really starts". It has been claimed that this album's release marks the birth of glam rock
.
, an Edwardian mansion converted to a block of flats that was described by one visitor as having an ambience "like Dracula
's living room". As Bowie was preoccupied with his new wife Angie
at the time, the music was largely arranged by guitarist Mick Ronson
and bassist/producer Tony Visconti
. Despite his exasperation with the singer's preoccupation with married life, Visconti would later rate The Man Who Sold the World his best work with Bowie until 1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
.
Much of the album had a distinct heavy metal
edge that distinguishes it from Bowie's other releases, and has been compared to contemporary acts such as Led Zeppelin
and Black Sabbath
. The record also provided some unusual musical detours, such as the title track's
use of Latin rhythms to hold the melody. The sonic heaviness of the album was matched by the subject matter, which included insanity ("All the Madmen
"), gun-toting assassins and Vietnam War
commentary ("Running Gun Blues
"), an omniscient computer ("Saviour Machine
"), and Lovecraftian
Elder Gods ("The Supermen
"). The song "She Shook Me Cold" was an explanation of a heterosexual encounter. The album has also been seen as reflecting the influence of such figures as Aleister Crowley
, Franz Kafka
and Friedrich Nietzsche
.
, featuring a cowboy in front of the Cane Hill
mental asylum. The first UK cover, on which Bowie is seen reclining in a Mr Fish "man's dress", was an early indication of his interest in exploiting his androgynous
appearance. The dress was designed by British fashion designer Michael Fish
, and Bowie also used it in February 1971 on his first promotional tour to the United States, where he wore it during interviews despite the fact that the Americans had no knowledge of the as yet unreleased UK cover. It has been said that his "bleached blond locks, falling below shoulder level", were inspired by a Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
. The 1971 German release presented a winged hybrid creature with Bowie's head and a hand for a body, preparing to flick the Earth away. The 1972 worldwide reissue by RCA Records
used a black-and-white picture of Ziggy Stardust on the sleeve which remained until 1990 when the Rykodisc
reissue reinstated the original UK "dress" cover. It also appeared on the 1999 EMI
remaster.
". "Black Country Rock
" was released as the B-side of "Holy Holy
" in the UK in January 1971, shortly before the album. The title track appeared as the B-side of both the U.S. single release of "Space Oddity" in 1972 and the U.K. release of "Life on Mars?
" in 1973; it also provided an unlikely hit for Scottish pop singer Lulu
(produced by Bowie and Ronson) and would be covered by many artists over the years, including Richard Barone
in 1987, and Nirvana
in 1993, who performed the cover in their famous Unplugged in New York.
(Note:) Although stock copies have apparently never turned up, according to Michel Ruppli & Ed Novitsky's "The Mercury Labels" Greenwood Press, 1993, "Janine" from the previous album was intended as the B side of the edited "All The Madmen" single (Mercury 73173).
and NME
found it "surprisingly excellent" and "rather hysterical", respectively. John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone
called the album "uniformly excellent" and commented that producer Tony Visconti's "use of echo, phasing, and other techniques on Bowie's voice [...] serves to reinforce the jaggedness of Bowie's words and music", which he interpreted as "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". Sales were not high enough to dent the charts in either country at the time, however it made #26 in the UK and #105 in the US following its rerelease on 25 November 1972, in the wake of Bowie's commercial breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
The album has been cited as influencing the goth rock
, darkwave
and science fiction elements of work by artists such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure
, Gary Numan
, John Foxx
and Nine Inch Nails
. In his journal, Kurt Cobain
of Nirvana
listed it at number 45 in his top 50 favourite albums. In 1993, the band re-recorded its title-track
in their MTV Unplugged in New York
. It has been claimed that glam rock
began with the release of this album, though this is also attributed to Marc Bolan
's appearance on the UK TV programme Top of the Pops
in December 1970 wearing glitter, to perform what would be his first UK hit single under the name T. Rex, "Ride a White Swan", which peaked at Number 2 in the UK chart.
In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine
cited the album as "the beginning of David Bowie's classic period" and complimented its "tight, twisted heavy guitar rock that appears simple on the surface but sounds more gnarled upon each listen". Erlewine viewed its music and Bowie's "paranoid futuristic tales" as "bizarre", adding that "Musically, there isn't much innovation [...] it is almost all hard blues-rock or psychedelic folk-rock — but there's an unsettling edge to the band's performance, which makes the record one of Bowie's best albums". In a 1999 review upon the album's reissue, Q
gave it three out of five stars and called it "a robust, sexually charged affair". Mojo
stated in a 2002 review, "A robust set that spins with dizzying disorientation [...] Bowie's armoury was being hastily assembled, though it was never deployed with such thrilling abandon again".
The album was reissued by Rykodisc
(RCD 10132) / EMI
(CDP 79 1837 2) on 30 January 1990 with an extended track listing including a 1971 rerecording of "Holy Holy
", incorrectly described in the liner notes as the original 1970 single version. Bowie vetoed inclusion of the earlier recording, which is available only on the bootleg album
Changesthreeandahalf. Rykodisc later released this album in the AU20 series (RCD 80132) with 24-bit digitally remastered
sound.
In 1999, the album was reissued again by Virgin/EMI (7243 521901 0 2), without the bonus tracks but with 24-bit digitally remastered sound. The Japanese mini LP (EMI TOCP-70142) replicates the cover and texture of the original Mercury LP.
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. It was originally released on Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
in November 1970 in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK. The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the "Spiders from Mars", the backing band made famous by The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English musician David Bowie, which is loosely based on a story of a rock star named Ziggy Stardust. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music...
in 1972. Though author David Buckley has described the singer's previous record David Bowie (Space Oddity) as "the first Bowie album proper", NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
critics Roy Carr
Roy Carr
Roy Carr is an English music journalist. He joined the New Musical Express in the late 1960s and has edited NME, VOX and Melody Maker magazines...
and Charles Shaar Murray
Charles Shaar Murray
Charles Shaar Murray is an English music journalist. His first experience in journalism came 1970 when he was asked to contribute to the satirical magazine Oz...
have said of The Man Who Sold the World, "this is where the story really starts". It has been claimed that this album's release marks the birth of glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
.
Production and style
The album was written and rehearsed at Bowie's home in Haddon Hall, BeckenhamBeckenham
Beckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located 8.4 miles south east of Charing Cross and 1.75 miles west of Bromley town...
, an Edwardian mansion converted to a block of flats that was described by one visitor as having an ambience "like Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
's living room". As Bowie was preoccupied with his new wife Angie
Angela Bowie
Angela Bowie is an American cover girl, model, actress and musician. She is the former wife of English musician David Bowie and mother of film director Duncan Jones.-Early life:...
at the time, the music was largely arranged by guitarist Mick Ronson
Mick Ronson
Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...
and bassist/producer Tony Visconti
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers; his lengthiest involvement with any artist is with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's 1969 album Space Oddity to 2003's Reality, Visconti...
. Despite his exasperation with the singer's preoccupation with married life, Visconti would later rate The Man Who Sold the World his best work with Bowie until 1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Scary Monsters is an album by David Bowie, released in September 1980 by RCA Records. It was Bowie's final studio album for the label and his first following the so-called Berlin Trilogy of Low, "Heroes" and Lodger . Though considered significant in artistic terms, the trilogy had proved less...
.
Much of the album had a distinct heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
edge that distinguishes it from Bowie's other releases, and has been compared to contemporary acts such as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
. The record also provided some unusual musical detours, such as the title track's
The Man Who Sold the World (song)
"The Man Who Sold the World" is a song by David Bowie. It is the title track of his third album, released in the U.S. in November 1970 and in the UK in April 1971. The song has been covered by a number of other artists, notably by Lulu in 1974, and Nirvana in 1993.-Inspiration and explanation:The...
use of Latin rhythms to hold the melody. The sonic heaviness of the album was matched by the subject matter, which included insanity ("All the Madmen
All the Madmen (song)
"All the Madmen" is a song written by David Bowie in 1970 for the album The Man Who Sold the World, released later that year in the U.S. and in April 1971 in the UK...
"), gun-toting assassins and Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
commentary ("Running Gun Blues
Running Gun Blues
"Running Gun Blues" is a song protest song against the Vietnam War written by David Bowie in 1970 for his album The Man Who Sold the World. It is a mixture of his past folk days and a proto-heavy metal path. It features Mick Ronson playing slide guitar in an open G tuning....
"), an omniscient computer ("Saviour Machine
Saviour Machine (song)
"Saviour Machine" is a song written by David Bowie in 1970 for the album The Man Who Sold the World. It is a hard rock song which uses a 'Saviour Machine' as a metaphor for the entity of Law which promises great things, but ultimately fails its people...
"), and Lovecraftian
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
Elder Gods ("The Supermen
The Supermen
"The Supermen" is a song written by David Bowie in 1970 and released as the closing track on the album The Man Who Sold the World. It was one of a number of pieces on the album inspired by the works of literary figures such as Friedrich Nietzsche and H. P...
"). The song "She Shook Me Cold" was an explanation of a heterosexual encounter. The album has also been seen as reflecting the influence of such figures as Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
and Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
.
Cover art
The original 1970 US release of The Man Who Sold the World employed a cartoon-like cover drawing by Bowie's friend Michael J. WellerMichael J. Weller
Michael John Weller was born in south London in 1946.Weller designed USA sleeve for David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World LP , re-released . As "Captain Stelling" Weller wrote and drew The Firm - an early British artist's publication inspired by American underground comic book innovations...
, featuring a cowboy in front of the Cane Hill
Cane Hill
Cane Hill was a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. Built to care for patients in the eastern part of Surrey, remote from the Springfield and Brookwood Asylums, it opened in 1882 as the Third Surrey County Lunatic Asylum. Following a gradual winding down of...
mental asylum. The first UK cover, on which Bowie is seen reclining in a Mr Fish "man's dress", was an early indication of his interest in exploiting his androgynous
Androgyny
Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- and γυνή , referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics...
appearance. The dress was designed by British fashion designer Michael Fish
Michael Fish (fashion designer)
Michael Fish is a British fashion designer famous for designing many of the notable British looks of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the kipper tie.-Career as fashion designer:...
, and Bowie also used it in February 1971 on his first promotional tour to the United States, where he wore it during interviews despite the fact that the Americans had no knowledge of the as yet unreleased UK cover. It has been said that his "bleached blond locks, falling below shoulder level", were inspired by a Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
. The 1971 German release presented a winged hybrid creature with Bowie's head and a hand for a body, preparing to flick the Earth away. The 1972 worldwide reissue by RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
used a black-and-white picture of Ziggy Stardust on the sleeve which remained until 1990 when the Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
reissue reinstated the original UK "dress" cover. It also appeared on the 1999 EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
remaster.
Singles
None of the songs were released to the public as singles at the time, though a promo version of "All the Madmen" was issued in the U.S. in 1971 (see note below). The same song appeared in Eastern Europe in 1973, as did "The Width of a CircleThe Width of a Circle
"The Width of a Circle" is a song written by David Bowie in 1970 for the album The Man Who Sold the World, released later that year in the U.S. and in April 1971 in the UK. It is the opening track to the album, a hard rocker with heavy metal overtones...
". "Black Country Rock
Black Country Rock
"Black Country Rock" is a song written by David Bowie in 1970 for the album The Man Who Sold the World, released in November 1970 in the U.S. and April 1971 in the UK. An upbeat blues-rock number, it has been described as a "respite" from the musical and thematical heaviness of the remainder of the...
" was released as the B-side of "Holy Holy
Holy Holy
"Holy Holy" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in 1971. It was recorded shortly after the completion of The Man Who Sold the World, in the perceived absence of a clear single from that album. Like Bowie's two previous singles, it sold poorly and failed to chart.At the time...
" in the UK in January 1971, shortly before the album. The title track appeared as the B-side of both the U.S. single release of "Space Oddity" in 1972 and the U.K. release of "Life on Mars?
Life on Mars?
"Life on Mars?" is a song by David Bowie first released in 1971 on the album Hunky Dory. The song—which BBC Radio 2 later called "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dalí painting"—featured guest piano work by keyboardist Rick Wakeman. When released as a single in 1973,...
" in 1973; it also provided an unlikely hit for Scottish pop singer Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
(produced by Bowie and Ronson) and would be covered by many artists over the years, including Richard Barone
Richard Barone
Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...
in 1987, and Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
in 1993, who performed the cover in their famous Unplugged in New York.
(Note:) Although stock copies have apparently never turned up, according to Michel Ruppli & Ed Novitsky's "The Mercury Labels" Greenwood Press, 1993, "Janine" from the previous album was intended as the B side of the edited "All The Madmen" single (Mercury 73173).
Release and aftermath
The Man Who Sold the World was generally more successful commercially and critically in the US than in the UK on its original release in 1970–71. Music publications Melody MakerMelody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
and NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
found it "surprisingly excellent" and "rather hysterical", respectively. John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
called the album "uniformly excellent" and commented that producer Tony Visconti's "use of echo, phasing, and other techniques on Bowie's voice [...] serves to reinforce the jaggedness of Bowie's words and music", which he interpreted as "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". Sales were not high enough to dent the charts in either country at the time, however it made #26 in the UK and #105 in the US following its rerelease on 25 November 1972, in the wake of Bowie's commercial breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
The album has been cited as influencing the goth rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, darkwave
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...
and science fiction elements of work by artists such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, John Foxx
John Foxx
John Foxx is an English singer, artist, photographer and teacher. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox before being replaced by Midge Ure, when he left to embark on a solo career in 1979...
and Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
. In his journal, Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
of Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
listed it at number 45 in his top 50 favourite albums. In 1993, the band re-recorded its title-track
The Man Who Sold the World (song)
"The Man Who Sold the World" is a song by David Bowie. It is the title track of his third album, released in the U.S. in November 1970 and in the UK in April 1971. The song has been covered by a number of other artists, notably by Lulu in 1974, and Nirvana in 1993.-Inspiration and explanation:The...
in their MTV Unplugged in New York
MTV Unplugged in New York
MTV Unplugged in New York is a live album by the American rock band Nirvana. It features an acoustic performance taped at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993 for the television series MTV Unplugged. The show was directed by Beth McCarthy and first aired on the cable television...
. It has been claimed that glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
began with the release of this album, though this is also attributed to Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
's appearance on the UK TV programme Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
in December 1970 wearing glitter, to perform what would be his first UK hit single under the name T. Rex, "Ride a White Swan", which peaked at Number 2 in the UK chart.
In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
cited the album as "the beginning of David Bowie's classic period" and complimented its "tight, twisted heavy guitar rock that appears simple on the surface but sounds more gnarled upon each listen". Erlewine viewed its music and Bowie's "paranoid futuristic tales" as "bizarre", adding that "Musically, there isn't much innovation [...] it is almost all hard blues-rock or psychedelic folk-rock — but there's an unsettling edge to the band's performance, which makes the record one of Bowie's best albums". In a 1999 review upon the album's reissue, Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
gave it three out of five stars and called it "a robust, sexually charged affair". Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
stated in a 2002 review, "A robust set that spins with dizzying disorientation [...] Bowie's armoury was being hastily assembled, though it was never deployed with such thrilling abandon again".
Track listing
CD releases
The Man Who Sold the World was first released on CD by RCA in 1984. The German (RCA PD84654, for the European Market) and Japanese (RCA PCD1-4816, for the U.S. market) masters were sourced from different tapes and are not identical for each region.The album was reissued by Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
(RCD 10132) / EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
(CDP 79 1837 2) on 30 January 1990 with an extended track listing including a 1971 rerecording of "Holy Holy
Holy Holy
"Holy Holy" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in 1971. It was recorded shortly after the completion of The Man Who Sold the World, in the perceived absence of a clear single from that album. Like Bowie's two previous singles, it sold poorly and failed to chart.At the time...
", incorrectly described in the liner notes as the original 1970 single version. Bowie vetoed inclusion of the earlier recording, which is available only on the bootleg album
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
Changesthreeandahalf. Rykodisc later released this album in the AU20 series (RCD 80132) with 24-bit digitally remastered
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
sound.
Bonus tracks (1990 Rykodisc)
- "Lightning Frightening" (1971 Outtake from the Arnold Corns Sessions http://www.helden.org.uk/t/thecompletearnoldcornssessions.htm) – 3:38
- "Holy HolyHoly Holy"Holy Holy" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in 1971. It was recorded shortly after the completion of The Man Who Sold the World, in the perceived absence of a clear single from that album. Like Bowie's two previous singles, it sold poorly and failed to chart.At the time...
" (1971 rerecording of A-side from 1970 non-LP single) – 2:20 - "Moonage DaydreamMoonage Daydream"Moonage Daydream" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 and first released as a single under the name Arnold Corns. A rerecorded version was released in 1972 on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars....
" (1971 Arnold CornsArnold CornsArnold Corns was a band formed by David Bowie in 1971. The name was inspired by the Pink Floyd song "Arnold Layne".This was one of Bowie’s side projects and something of a dry run for Ziggy Stardust. The band was formed in Dulwich College and Bowie agreed to write for them...
version) – 3:52 - "Hang on to YourselfHang on to Yourself"Hang On to Yourself" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 and released as a single under the name Arnold Corns. A re-recorded version was released on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars...
" (1971 Arnold Corns version) – 2:51
In 1999, the album was reissued again by Virgin/EMI (7243 521901 0 2), without the bonus tracks but with 24-bit digitally remastered sound. The Japanese mini LP (EMI TOCP-70142) replicates the cover and texture of the original Mercury LP.
Personnel
- David BowieDavid BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
– vocals, guitar, StylophoneDubreq StylophoneThe Stylophone is a miniature stylus-operated synthesizer invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis and going in to production in 1968. It consists of a metal keyboard played by touching it with a stylus — each note being connected to a voltage-controlled oscillator via a different-value resistor -... - Mick RonsonMick RonsonMichael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...
– guitar, vocals - Tony ViscontiTony ViscontiAnthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers; his lengthiest involvement with any artist is with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's 1969 album Space Oddity to 2003's Reality, Visconti...
– bass, piano, guitar, producer - Mick WoodmanseyMick WoodmanseyMick 'Woody' Woodmansey is an English rock drummer from Driffield, Yorkshire, best known for his work with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars...
– drums, percussion - Ralph Mace – Moog synthesiser
- Ken ScottKen ScottKen Scott is an English record producer and recording engineer.-Career:Scott started at the age of 16 working in the tape library at Abbey Road Studios. He became a recording engineer working with such acts as The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Procol Harum...
– engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
26 |
| 1973 | Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
105 |