I've heard this album was Bowie's attempt at heavy metal. I'm not sure I agree, but the album is definitely one of his heaviest efforts. This is Bowie's second studio album, & it is strikingly different from his folk-oriented "Space Oddity". Bowie excellently employs legendary glam-rock guitarist Mick Ronson for a blusier, heavier, more distrotion-driven guitar sound.

"The Man Who Sold the World" (TMWSTW) couldn't have opened with a better piece than "The Width of a Circle". It's a long, segmented song with a variety of tempo changes and it also moves the listener through a plethora of moods. "All the Madmen" is a song about, well, madmen. The eerie wooden whistles add a nice touch of lunacy to the song. "Running Gun Blues" is an all-out rocker about a war vet who comes home & embarks on a shooting spree not unlike the DC sniper incident. "She Shook Me Cold" is a dark, bluesy ditty with obvious lyrics describing a sexual encounter. My favorite song on the album is the conclusion, "The Supermen". It's a lofty, echoing piece about an apparent race of superhumans that existed before time...It reminds me of short stories from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The timpani and octave-leaping moans in the background give the song a weird, other-worldly feel.

The album cover for TMWSTW is characteristically Bowie, with him sporting a tight fitting, Victorian-era silk dress. He is holding playing cards while reclining on a sofa. It's a feminine image giving off a sense of subtle danger.

A drawback to TMWSTW is the sometimes muddy production of the album, thanks to Tony Visconti (maybe he's a bass player first, then a producer...). There are also a few songs like "After All" & "Saviour Machine" that I consider rather weak & forgettable.

Overall, if you want a change from Bowie's (*powder-puff*) 80's & 90's material, this is an album to invest in.

From the cover, which shows a longhaired Bowie in a full-length dress, reclining on a chaise longue, it is clear that this is no ordinary record. "The Man Who Sold The World" is often cited as being Bowie's "heavy metal" album. It definitely marks a significant departure from the folk influenced sound of his previous album, and without question stands as his first great piece of work. Overall the sound is raw and rather under-produced. Mick Ronson's dazzling guitar work, combined with the eerie sound of a moog synthesiser, and Bowie's pronounced Cockney accent creates an atmosphere that is distinctly, and suitably macabre.

The album begins with "Width Of A Circle", a grotesque and disturbing psycho-neurotic fantasy. This eight-minute opener, with its religious and sexual imagery is as phantasmagoric as the works of Hieronymus Bosch or William Blake. Bowie's half brother Terry suffered mental illness and spent most of his life in psychiatric institutions. In "All The Madmen" Bowie provides a rather wry and sinister commentary on mental illness, a theme he would often return to in his career. "After All" with its quasi-music hall "Oh by jingo" refrain was intended to address a generation jaded hippies. 'I've borrowed your time and I'm sorry I called' sings Bowie. "Saviour Machine", a dark, prophetic tale of society's over-dependence on technology, tells of a machine that is bored with the utopia it has helped to create. In a Dostoyevskian act of disassociation, the narrator of "The Man Who Sold The World" meets his doppelganger on the stairs, where he announces "Oh no, not me/I never lost control". "The Supermen" with its overt reference to Neitzsche is almost Wagnerian in feel. On this track Bowie's strained vocals erupt over the ominous beating of drums and monastic chants to chilling effect.

With its surreal, stream of consciousness lyrics and wailing guitars, "The Man Who Sold The World" is an unnerving album that flows in places like a grotesque, existential nightmare. But in the end its pain and anguish is only human, all too human.

In November 1970, David Bowie released his 3rd studio album and the promise that showed on the previous year's release was brought to fullfillment on 'The Man Who Sold the World'. Tales of madness, the occult, science fiction, maniac Vietnam vets and a race of superhumans fill this bizarre masterpiece of sonic indulgence. Some have commented on this record being David's heavy metal piece and in some parts the guitars are very heavy for 1970 (excepting of course Zep, Purple and the Sabs), but in many ways it is typical early Bowie record, especially lyrically. The Spiders from Mars make their debut here (with producer Tony Visconti handling the bass chores). Mick Ronson was the actual session leader on these recordings as newlywed Bowie was "preoccupied". Maybe that was the reason for the overabundance of heavy rock but much of Bowie's later work would be heavy as well. Favorites include the epic "Width of a Circle", an alltime favorite of mine which incorporates many of Bowie's early influences including legendary occultist Aleister Crowley. "All the Madmen" which explores the nature of insanity and touches on David's own troubled psyche while sympathizing with the plight of his half brother Terry. "Savoir Machine" and "Circle" explore the nature of false leadership and gods ("You can't stake your lives..."). "Running Gun Blues" explores the psychosis of war and its impact on soldiers who can't shut it down while back home. Both "After All" and "The Supermen" explore the ideas of Nietzsche and possibly Lovecraft describing a race aliens who resemble humans but are superior. Many of these will continue in future albums, especially 'Ziggy'. The most famous song on an album of non-hits is undoubtably the title track and it is a brilliant piece of work which stands up to the best of Bowie. A young man in a fragile state of mind? A blissfully ignorant hippie youth? A genius flaunting what was exceptable in rock music? Probably a little of all three which would show its first full bloom on this strange, troubling but brilliant record.

This is the album where Bowie first hit his stride. After a forgettable and debut and the well-intentioned but lackluster(except for the title track) "Space Oddity" album, Bowie roared back with "The Man Who Sold The World".

After the folky, mod-ish wankery employed on his first two albums, Bowie hit hard with what is easily his heaviest and most challenging album. This album is pretty much straightfoward heavy metal by the standards of 1971, at times sounding more like Black Sabbath than the man who belted out "Space Oddity" two years prior. In fact, considering the small market for metal at the time, this album could very well have served as a strong influence for a number of bands who would define the genre more percisely during the coming years. The guitars are heavy (Mick Ronson destroys on this album)while Bowie sticks mostly to acoustic guitar for ambience (although they are so quiet at times, the album probably would have not suffered without them). The drums are killer, and the bass (played by the album's producer, Tony Visconti) is competent. In fact, the backing band is rumored to be responsible for composing most of the music on this album, leaving the lyrics to Bowie.

The greatness of this album lies in its individual songs, however. "Width of a Circle" is a standout, as is "All the Madmen", "Saviour Machine", "She Shook Me Cold", and pretty much every other song on the album. The title track was famously covered by Nirvana on their "Unplugged" set years ago...they did the song more than justice, but I still perfer the original found here. The lyrics are awesome, and set the precedent for what would be covered by Bowie's later Ziggy Stardust and Thin White Duke personas, with lots of references to Nietchze, Crowely, and supermen.

Keyboards and synthesizers add positively sinister tones to a number of tracks, employed to greatest effect on "She Shook Me Cold" and "Saviour Machine". Surpirisingly, synths and keys are featured very prominitely on this album, a heavy metal album from 1971! (Bowies was several years ahead of his time, here).

A classic album, and the first taste of how awesome Bowie had the potentiol to be. He would spend the rest of the decade cranking out genious albums at an astounding, inhuman pace.

Bowie would never be this heavy again until 'Tin Machine" in '89 (which sucked, incidentally). So, if you want to hear Bowie rocking out at the peak of his abilities, this is pretty much the only place to get it.

The songs on THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD are what fans call "progessive" or "artful;" critics label them "self-absorbed," "pompous" and "pretentious."

Bowie has always walked that line. I have to admit I find it pretentious when he turns his accent off and on, or when, in his stage shows, he used to do mime. But more often than not he hits the nail on the head and his lyrics touch a nerve.

I can't agree with the praise of "All The Madmen," but "The Width Of A Circle" works for me, and "The Man Who Sold The World" is fantastic. It's the only tune on this record with any recognizeable structure, it has that soaring Mick Ronson lead part, and the vocals are mixed forward for a change. It took 25 years, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana to improve this song.

If Tony Visconti had been any kind of producer at all this would have been a much better LP. Bowie's vocals are mixed low, drenched in echo and reverb, and often sound as if they were recorded over a telephone line. Visconti should have been shown the door.

Luckily, Ronson saves the day. The man was a wizard, and there hasn't been anyone who played with such enthusiasm and power since he died.