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David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World Audio CD

A fair review of the David Bowie "The Man Who Sold the World" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all David Bowie reviews here, or go back to the David Bowie tabs.

David Bowie Band: David Bowie
Title: The Man Who Sold the World
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-09-28
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Width of a Circle 2: All the Madmen 3: Black Country Rock 4: After All 5: Running Gun Blues 6: Saviour Machine 7: She Shook Me Cold 8: Man Who Sold the World 9: Supermen

She Shook Me Cold, All The Young Dudes, & Something In The Air - remake
Check out [. Artist Dimthingshineon recently did a cover of David Bowie songs: "She Shook Me Cold", "All The Young Dudes", and "Something In The Air" on his latest 4 CD project called "Nostalgia" released in 2009. . . ].


Bowie fanatic
Listened to it all the way to California for christmas. It came fast and I love this album.


JUVENILIA IN EXCELSIS
Which makes "The Man Who Sold the World" a charming but merely transitional record for Bowie. Thin white duke-ing it out with god while lathered in the period-defined gestalt of Gibran mingled with contemporaneous man/superman/machine doodling that apes either Nietzsche and/or the plot outline of "The Forbin Project", we must be satisfied mostly in knowing that meetings are already set for the next bardo (a 7 to 49 day visit depending on your behavior while on this plane o' being). Here he strives to set aside his memories of a free festival by being fitted for mock madness and women's clothing -- just one look at the restored cover art should give pause to the "heavy metal" theorists here among us and hear it instead as it is: The trial balloon for Bowie's more successful marketing of a seemingly dangerous/thrilling androgyny that finds its better expression not within "The Width of a Circle", but rather when all at last became "Hunky Dory". Bowie proves it's no fluke by then going on to realize the full mutation of Ziggy and Aladdin, each a more mature and more deliberate record than this. Hey, you gotta re-restart somewhere.


Boy could he play guitar
Bowie's best work was, in my and many peoples opinion, were the years he had Ronson as his guitarist. Mick Ronson's guitar, The most under-rated guitarist ever. This cd along with honky dory, Ziggy, Pin-ups and Aladdin Sane were his best. After that, no more Ronson and nothing was ever as good. Bowie still had a lot of great stuff but something was always missing. .


a Bowie favorite
Well, I wouldn't go THAT far, but it's certainly one of Bowie's more rocking efforts. The Man Who Sold the World is supposed to be David Bowie's "heavy metal" album.

The quality of the songwriting is *just* as strong as it was on Space Oddity. This time, we have Bowie heading in a different direction with lots of energetic guitar playing, and this is the album where most people consider Bowie's career to have really begun (something I don't quite agree with, but whatever).

"The Width of a Circle" is a multi-part guitar-dominated track, with some of Bowie's best vocal melodies ever laid down on tape. Call me crazy but the guitar playing that opens the song (and occasionally repeats throughout) sounds a lot like "This land is your land, this land is my land". After some frantic guitar playing, the second half of the song kicks in, with some chilly and spooky Bowie screaming (a VERY distinct sound of his) and a second equally-fascinating vocal melody. This is probably the best song on the album.

Many people know the title song, despite not ever being played on the radio. It's quite melodic and fantastic, and "All the Madmen" and "Saviour Machine" are quite similar to the title track in terms of melodic songwriting, so if you like the title song, you'll like these songs as well.

"Saviour Machine" has an intro that sounds very similar to the Sugarloaf song "Things Gonna Change Some", and I believe Elton John copied that middle section for the introduction to his famous hit "Funeral for a Friend/Loves Lies Bleeding" (after the spooky wind blowing sound effects and bells, I mean).

"Black Country Rock" is a great little hard rock song, and the rest of the album is honestly quite exciting and some of Bowie's best written music. The dirty production elevates the music even further, which is always a positive thing in my book. There's too many clean-sounding albums out there, and honestly, I miss the dirt! This album is truly a classic.


You can see a complete list of all David Bowie discography, or go back to the David Bowie tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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