Even though it contained no hits,
The Man Who Sold the World
, for most intents and purposes, was the beginning of
David Bowie
's classic period. Working with guitarist
Mick Ronson
and producer
Tony Visconti
for the second time
Bowie
developed a tight, twisted heavy guitar rock that appears simple on the surface but sounds more gnarled upon each listen. The mix is off-center, with the fuzz-bass dominating the compressed, razor-thin guitars and
's strangled, affected voice. The sound of
is odd, but the music itself is bizarre, with
's weird, paranoid futuristic tales melded to
Ronson
's riffing and the band's relentless attack. Musically, there isn't much innovation on
-- it is almost all hard blues-rock or psychedelic folk-rock -- but there's an unsettling edge to the band's performance, which makes the record one of
's best albums. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine