DAVID BOWIE's 1970 Historic Archives

Original released on Double CD Parlophone WOAC 50

(EU 2021, May 28)

Consider "The Width of a Circle" as a companion to "The Man Who Sold the World", or perhaps "The Metrobolist", the variation of Man released upon the record's 50th anniversary. Appearing a few months after the Tony Visconti-shepherded "The Metrobolist" - an album that restores the originally planned artwork and title for "The Man Who Sold the World", then adds a largely new remix of the album - "The Width of a Circle" is a double-disc set collecting a bunch of stray recordings from 1970. The centerpiece is a John Peel Sunday Show from February 1970, a complete concert released in part on the 2000 compilation "Bowie at the Beeb". Here, it's possible to hear David Bowie transition from the slightly unwashed hippie singer of the late 1960s into the muscular rocker of the 1970s, as the first part of the show features solo Bowie, with Tony Visconti's Hype entering halfway through and guitarist Mick Ronson joining for the second half of the set. The second disc combines selections recorded for the televised play "The Looking Glass Murders" aka "Pierrot in Turquoise", a bunch of non-LP singles (including alternate mixes), and an appearance on "Sounds of the 70's": "The Andy Ferris Show" from March 1970, plus five new mixes from Visconti. While this second disc is a bit of a clearinghouse, there is a lot to like here. The rarest material, the music Bowie wrote for the play "The Looking Glass Murders", has its stagey charms and it's interesting to hear the origins of the "London Bye Ta-Ta" melody in "Threepenny Pierrot." Some of the rare 45s appeared on Rykodisc's Sound + Vision CD reissue series but it's nice to get "London Bye Ta-Ta," "Holy Holy," and the re-recorded "Memory of a Free Festival" back in circulation, while the Andy Ferris performance contains a brawny version of "Waiting for the Man" and a robust take on "The Width of a Circle." As a whole, "The Width of a Circle" doesn't quite add up to much more than an odds-and-sods collection, but then again, that's its appeal. It allows listeners to live within Bowie's 1970, a strange, weird, and absorbing year when he was figuring out his strengths and weaknesses. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)