The Man Who Sold The World is the album many fans consider to be the starting point of David Bowie’s trajectory? This is the point where collecting Bowie records gets both interesting and confusing. In fact, you could write a book on collecting just this album alone, but there are some highlights to focus on.
The album was first released in the US on November 4th, 1970 through Mercury. This first issue had a cartoon image by Michael J. Weller, featuring a cowboy standing in front of the Cane Hill psychiatric hospital. It was pressed with red labels and machine stamped matrices. Despite being the first issue of this album and carrying a price tag of around £200, this is not the most collectable pressing of The Man Who Sold The World.