Similar to what they say about so many things in life, if you don't like the David Bowie album you're listening to, you will probably love the next one. In the late 60's and early 70's (and even beyond that) it seemed like Bowie couldn't keep still. His early "mod" phase had morphed into a folk-rock sound by 1969, probably best represented by "Space Oddity" on the album titled variously Man of Words, Man of Music or David Bowie (not to be confused with the prior album of the same name) or Space Oddity. However, that album didn't enjoy widespread success until a bit later, so David Bowie brought in some heavier musicians and the result was the vastly different The Man Who Sold the World. Songs like "The Width of a Circle" and "The Supermen" that were once folk-influenced numbers were transformed into extended hard-rock mini-suites. Oddly, none of the tracks on the album enjoyed success as singles. In the end, Bowie once again elected to switch gears in 1971 with the lighter but more successful Hunky Dory, which ushered in the Ziggy Stardust era.
The album enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the mid-1990's when Nirvana included the title track in their "Unplugged" show. Both the original version and the cover are good in their own ways and I would be hard-pressed to say who did it better. However, the real strength in The Man Who Sold the World is in the first four songs, not so much the title track.
I still don't have a lot of Bowie in my library and I would like to fix that, but I'm not in any particular hurry. Although I'm more partial to his earlier work, I've found something to like in each of his many eras. Hopefully I will revisit his music here soon.
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