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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
With 1970's The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie set aside his pop and singer-songwriter aspirations and headed in a harder-rocking direction. Producer Tony Visconti provided a thick, dense setting with guitarist Mick Ronson playing the role of guitar hero to Bowie's megalomaniac frontman; think Keith Richards and Mick Jagger sprinkled with fairy dust. The new approach flowered on Hunky Dory, but the outline for the master plan is here. The title track, "The Width of a Circle," and "All the Madmen" are essential Bowie, as he slips from cryptic to straightforward, celebratory wordplay. --Rob O'Connor
Product Description
Remastered 1999 version of his elegant 1972 album featuring "Saviour Machine" & "Width of a Circle"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have to admit that, musically this is probably one of my fave albums of all time. The stark, ambiguity of "Width of a circle" sets the tone for the whole album. The set itself has a dark, brooding, menacing feel which challenges the listener to explore new musical directions and rewards in abundance. This is rock as it was intended. No nonsense, no posturing, and pure. I defy anyone to listen to "All the madmen" in the dark without the hairs on the back of the neck standing to attention! Indeed there are homages to Hendrix but Mick Ronson manages to pull it off and still sound the way that only Ronno can. Truly an album that still stands the test of time and still sounds more honest than virtually anything else that has come along since. Maybe "Ziggy Stardust" is more important but this is a reminder of how rock should be played. No BS, no frills, just undiluted rock performed by a band that is obviously still trying to find it's way and the nerves and agression shine throughout. I'd have given it 10 stars but I'm limited to just the 5. Buy it!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Always armed with the realisation that the British public have always had the propensity to be easily shocked, David Bowie chose to don what he called a 'Man's Dress' for the cover of 'The Man Who Sold The World'. Anyway, whether the masses were shocked or not, it didn't stimulate them much into buying this album on its original release. Which was their hard luck, really, 'cause this album is amongst the very best of Bowie's albums. By then, he was considered pretty much a 'One Hit Wonder' following his failure to follow-up 'Space Oddity' in 1969. For The Man Who Sold The World, Bowie made one of what would be many stylistic shifts, by putting out his hardest and heaviest album (until the 'Tin Machine' days, that is). The title track has justly been accorded classic status thanks to Nirvana's latter-day cover, but the whole album is a masterpiece. On 'After All', Bowie experimented with varying the speed of his vocals, something he'd use to even greater effect on 'The Bewlay Brothers' on 'Hunky Dory', and the spooky, ethereal quallity is but one of the many changes of mood and atmosphere on display here. On 'Black Country Rock', he does a witty impression of his old mate Marc Bolan, and also allows guitarist Mick Ronson free rein to play some of his most searing guitar work throughout the album. 'She Shook Me Cold' is dense hard rock, and the driving 'Width Of A Circle' was clearly a favourite, that he kept in his live set all the way through the 'Ziggy' and 'Aladdin Sane' eras. Lyrically, Bowie has abandoned the occasional whimsy of the 'Space Oddity' album, in favour of more darker moods, even negotiating the sci-fi lyrical motifs and musical terrain that's percolated to the surface of much of his work. A truly magnificent work that has not dated at all.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
An unusual departure for Bowie into heavy rock, but nevertheless a powerful album. Worth buying for the epic Width of a Circle alone, but there's also the sweet and sad After All, the spooky title track, Bowie's killer impression of Marc Bolan on Black Country Rock, and a reworking of his earlier pretty Ching A Ling on the not-so-pretty apocalyptic Saviour Machine, to savour too. Oh, and of course the guitar wizard Mick Ronson works his magic again.It's often shamefully underrated, but much more interesting than later lauded works like Young Americans.Plus, Bowie's lyrics are darkly poetic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
BOWIE YAYAYA
Although this is what could be considered he first REAL Bowie album, there are still some weak tracks.
Listen and be AMAZED -------!
In 2012 this still ROCKS
Listen and be AMAZED -------!
In 2012 this still ROCKS
Published 1 month ago by BOGBAIN1
an early taste of genius
This is one of Bowie's earliest and best albums. Although considered heavier than most of Bowie's work - except Tin Machine of course - this is still an album of considerable... Read more
Published 2 months ago by markr
the man who
the first bowie albim i bought on vinyl,and now 11 albums on have gone back in time,raw and rough edges but great for it, took me back to my youth
Published 3 months ago by field9591
ONE OF HIS FINEST
I have just bought this album for the third time, having worn out the cassette and vinyl copies I owned over the last 30 years. Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. McCarraher
DB 'n' Ronno do Heavy...
One of the very first vinyl albums I ever bought - and still one of the most memorable. The cover featured Bowie in his silver jumpsuit, rather than his Camilla Parker Bowles-alike... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Dash Riprock
Genius
This is an interesting album in its own right. Inside the sleeve you can see the original artwork from the album, including a drawing of the Cane Hill Asylum that Bowie's brother... Read more
Published 15 months ago by justanonlooker
THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD (1990 EDITION)
The 1990 CD reissue includes four bonus tracks, including the previously unreleased "Lightning Frightening," and the single "Holy Holy"[B-SIDE 1973], and both sides of the 1971... Read more
Published 15 months ago by PEDRO
Bowie's finest
I bought this album upon its re-release, on RCA, in 1972 and was not disappointed.
After seeing DB on 'Lift Off' and 'TOTP', performing 'Starman', like thousands of... Read more
After seeing DB on 'Lift Off' and 'TOTP', performing 'Starman', like thousands of... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mr. S. R. Ronson
Bowie's first great album.
'The Width of a Circle' gets this album off to a great start, and the closing two tracks finish it on a real high. Read more
Published 21 months ago by MR K J DOWNING
Bowies Finest...
This must be my fave Bowie album, and I needed to buy it again as my old copy was damaged.
It arrived quickly and in great condition, I am very impressed with the seller and... Read more
It arrived quickly and in great condition, I am very impressed with the seller and... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2009 by proudofthebrave
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