News

David Bowie’s third album The Man Who Sold the World opened with the blistering “The Width of a Circle,” an eight-minute blast of rock adrenaline culminating in the narrator’s illicit encounter with a supernatural being in the burning pits of Hell.  Bowie had quickly come a long way from the music hall theatricality of his first eponymous LP and the psychedelic folk-rock of his second.  The 1970 LP welcomed guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Woody Woodmansey, the first appearance on a Bowie album of the future Spiders from Mars.  And the U.K. cover featured Bowie, lazing on a sofa in a long blue dress.  This was a new David Bowie, and the transformation(s) were just beginning.  Last year, Parlophone released The Metrobolist, a remix of the album by original producer Tony Visconti under its original title.  News broke on Tuesday night that the label is now celebrating The Man Who Sold the World with The Width of a Circle, a new 2-CD “companion” collection of related live tracks and singles (many previously unreleased) due on May 28.  Also on that same day, Parlophone will reissue the original Man Who sold the World as a picture disc LP, and also release a 10-inch EP featuring four of the singles heard on The Width of a Circle.

At the heart of The Width of a Circle‘s book-style package are two BBC sets from 1970, both of which are being released in full for the first time.  The first CD features Bowie and his band The Hype’s appearance on influential DJ John Peel’s Sunday Show recorded February 5, 1970 and aired three days later on February 8.  The 13-song set featured covers of Jacques Brel’s “Amsterdam” and Biff Rose and Paul Williams’ “Fill Your Heart” as well as older tunes (“London Bye, Ta-Ta” and “Karma Man”), many songs from David Bowie/Space Oddity (“Cygnet Committee,” “Memory of a Free Festival,” “Janine,” “God Knows I’m Good,” “Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed,” “An Occasional Dream”), and then-unrecorded “The Width of a Circle.”  (The Man Who Sold the World would be recorded in April/May and released in November, 1970.)

The second CD has Bowie and The Hype on presenter Andy Ferris’ Sounds of the Seventies as recorded on March 25, 1970 and aired on April 6.  This shorter set features The Velvet Underground’s “Waiting for the Man” and Bowie’s own “The Width of a Circle,” “Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud,” and “The Supermen.” The latter song would appear on The Man Who Sold the World.  Also on CD 2 is the premiere of Bowie’s score to The Looking Glass Murders, a.k.a. Pierrot in Turquoise.  The theatrical production was conceived by Bowie and his mentor Lindsey Kemp in 1967 and filmed for television in 1970.  Bowie performed four songs as a one-man Greek chorus of sorts: “When I Live My Dream” (in an opening version and reprise), “Columbine,” “The Mirror,” and “Threepenny Pierrot.”  All five of his performances appear here.  The disc is rounded out by six original single mixes from 1970-1971 and a further five 2020 stereo remixes.  Much, though not all, of the other material on the set is in mono.

The picture disc of The Man Who Sold the World will use the 1972 reissue cover of the album rather than the original U.K. dress shot.  The 10-inch EP featuring the 2020 mixes of “The Prettiest Star,” “London Bye, Ta-Ta,” “Memory of a Free Festival,” and “Holy, Holy” will be a DavidBowie.com store exclusive.  (The time is TBA, but it’s generally a good idea to check in often as these exclusives frequently sell out quickly.)  Look for The Width of a Circle on May 28 everywhere from Parlophone.

David Bowie, The Width of a Circle (Parlophone (U.K.), 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: The Sunday Show introduced by John Peel

1. Amsterdam
2. God Knows I’m Good
3. Buzz the Fuzz
4. Karma Man
5. London Bye, Ta-Ta
6. An Occasional Dream
7. The Width of a Circle
8. Janine
9. Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud
10. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed
11. Fill Your Heart
12. The Prettiest Star
13. Cygnet Committee
14. Memory of a Free Festival

Performed by David Bowie and The Tony Visconti Trio (a.k.a. The Hype)
Recorded 2/5/1970; broadcast 2/8/1970

Disc 2

The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot In Turquoise

1. When I Live My Dream
2. Columbine
3. The Mirror
4. Threepenny Pierrot
5. When I Live My Dream (Reprise)

Singles

6. The Prettiest Star (Alternative Mix)
7. London Bye, Ta Ta
8. London Bye, Ta Ta (1970 Stereo Mix)
9. Memory of a Free Festival (Single Version Part 1)
10. Memory of a Free Festival (Single Version Part 2)
11. Holy Holy

Sounds of the Seventies: Andy Ferris Show (Performed by David Bowie and The Hype; recorded 3/25/1970, broadcast 4/6/1970)

12. Waiting for the Man
13. The Width of a Circle
14. The Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud
15. The Supermen

2020 Mixes

16. The Prettiest Star
17. London Bye, Ta Ta
18. Memory of a Free Festival (Single Version)
19. All the Madmen (Single Edit)
20. Holy Holy

Disc 1, Tracks 1-2, 7, 10 and 13-14 and Disc 2, Track 14 released on Bowie at the Beeb – Virgin/EMI 72435 28629 2 4, 2000
Original mix of Disc 2, Track 6 released on Mercury U.K. single MF 1135, 1970
Disc 2, Track 7 released on Sound + Vision – Rykodisc RCD 90120, 1989
Disc 2, Track 8 released on Sound + Vision – Virgin/EMI 72435 94511 2 1, 2003
Disc 2, Tracks 9-10 released as Mercury U.K. single 6052 026, 1970
Disc 2, Track 11 released on Mercury U.K. single 6052 049, 1971
Disc 2, Track 15 released on Bowie at the Beeb vinyl box set – Parlophone DBBBCLP6872 (U.K.), 2016

David Bowie, The Man Who Sold the World (Mercury (U.K.) 6338 041, 1971 – reissued Parlophone, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side One

1. The Width of a Circle
2. All the Madmen
3. Black Country Rock
4. After All

Side Two

1. Running Gun Blues
2. Saviour Machine
3. She Shook Me Cold
4. The Man Who Sold the World
5. The Supermen

David Bowie, The Width of a Circle EP (Parlophone, 2021) (DavidBowie.com)

Side One

1. The Prettiest Star (2020 Mix)
2. London Bye, Ta-Ta (2020 Mix)

Side Two

1. Memory of a Free Festival (2020 Mix)
2. Holy Holy (2020 Mix)