David Bowie - "The Man Who Sold the World" (1970)

Going further backwards in David Bowie's discography, 1970's The Man Who Sold The World is generally considered by fans to be the first Bowie record that is worth listening to all the way through. It's the first time Bowie played around with a harder blues rock sound, and combines with some interesting songwriting to produce a fun album, even if it doesn't have the same impact as some of the blues rock classics from that era or Bowie's later exploration of the sound on Aladdin Sane.

The record opens with one of the heaviest and dramatic tracks, the 8 minute The Width of a Circle. The prog-tinged tune flirts with themes of psyche and spirituality and feels deliberately cryptic and intense. Bowie's creative juices really start to get going on this song. The title track is also one of the most ambitious tracks on the record, and one of Bowie's first truly god-tier songs. The weird vibrato effects on Bowie's vocals really emphasise this creepy, dystopian character who controls the world from the shadows like some sort of Bond villain. The whining guitar also makes the track feel very sinister. Saviour Machine is build around this bouncy flamenco-like guitar groove, but slows down the pace for the chorus and solos, making the track feel very dynamic. Bowie's exaggerated vocals talk about the idea of computers controlling the world and becoming our 'saviour machines'. He sells the idea as something so dystopian, which is engaging to look back on from the 21st century where we can't live without technology.

The other tracks are more straightforward blues rock songs. They're all a good time if they do feel a little like Cream or Led Zeppelin-Lite. I think the derivations from other artists feels a lot less intrusive here than on Hunky Dory, due to them all being clearly inspired from the same genre; as opposed to the one-off homages on Hunky Dory. She Shook Me Cold could fit right on Led Zeppelin I, and is quite a fun time, as is the more folky Black Country Rock and Running Gun Blues.

Comparing The Man Who Sold The World to Hunky Dory; TMWSTW is certainly more consistent in style and overall quality, but lacks the spectacular highlights of Hunky Dory (outside of the title track). So overall I feel I enjoy both records about the same, but for different reasons.

Top Tracks: The Width of a Circle, Saviour Machine, She Shook Me Cold, The Man Who Sold the World

7/10