The problem and a short conclusion in advance

In most discographies, the German issue of Bowie's debut album is listed as a 1967 release, probably because that's the year printed onto the cover. I will argue that it was released in January 1968.
This will be a rather lengthy text, in which I will discuss the release dates of records by artists you probably never wanted to hear about. So if you want a short version, here it is: there is a German promo-only various artists compilation from January 1968 that promotes the German release of Bowie's debut. This shows that the album was released that month!
If you want to learn more on my views on possible counterarguments, the release policy of German record companies in the 1960s, and the release date of the German issue of The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request, you might want to read the rest of this section...

On the problem of determining the release date of German issues

To begin with, it is always difficult to determine the exact release date of German issues of international albums before, say, the mid-1970s. The USA had magazines like Billboard, which aimed at people from the music business and announced the release of many records, and the UK seems to have had quite a vivid scene of music magazines, which often included ads for new releases. There were no comparable things in Germany. In fact, in Germany the first "semi-serious" music magazines that concentrated on rock and pop music appeared in the early 1970s.
So how can we determine the release date of early German Bowie albums? The "copyright" (©) or "phonogram" (℗) dates on the records are not always helpful: they usually refer to the year in which a recording was first released (or sometimes even only prepared for release) anywhere in the world. And in the 1960s and early 1970s German issues of international records were usually released with some delay. This is particularly problematic in the case of albums that were released at the beginning of a year - in such cases we can expect that the German issues have the previous year on the cover and/or the labels.

Promo records

So if even the year given on the records isn't reliable, is there a way to find out when exactly a German record was released? In some cases the answer is "yes", namely when there was a promo record with more exact information. And exactly this is the case for the German Deram album. In the 1960s Decca (and related labels, including Deram) ran a series of promo-only records called Informationsplatte (on the covers) or Informations-Schallplatte (on the labels). Each month one (or sometimes two) of these records were released. They included unique edits of tracks from new singles and "neue LP's" (new LPs). Not only is there such a record that promotes the Love You till Tuesday single (Informationsplatte Liste Oktober 1967), but there is also one that promotes Bowie's debut album (Informationsplatte Liste Januar 1968). So the most plausible assumption is that the German version of the album was released in January 1968.
For the reasons given above, the fact that the cover of the LP says "Copyright 1967" doesn't contradict this. Of course you could argue that "new LPs" is a relative term and that it might cover releases from the previous months, but what sense would that make for a series of promo albums that was released on a monthly basis?

A closer look at Informationsplatte Liste Januar 1968

But let's take a look at some other albums promoted on the January 1968 Informationsplatte album. For most of the German issues promoted on the record Discogs gives the release year 1967, which is not surprising because that's the year printed onto the records, probably because of the possible delay in the German release. But in some cases, the release dates given by Discogs are so absurd that they actually prove the delay: Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof is listed as released in 1964 (the original release year in the USA and possibly some other countries). It is obvious that a 1964 album wouldn't have been promoted as a "new LP" in January 1968, but that the German version was issued much later. Tom Jones's A-tom-ic Jones is a similar case: Discogs lists it as a 1966 record, while it is here promoted as a new album (in Germany). Obviously, there was quite a delay here, too. In the case of the Tom Jones record, there is even additional evidence if you compare catalogue numbers. Unlike the other labels, Decca Germany used a unique numbering system, and most of the records following the catalogue number of the Jones album (SLK 16 532-P) are listed as 1968 releases (though, admittedly, there is again the occasional album claimed to be from 1967).
Let's get to the possibly most interesting album promoted on Informationsplatte Liste Januar 1968 (except for the Bowie album, of course): The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request. In the UK and the USA the album was released in early December 1967, and the German issue is usually listed under 1967, too. Of course, The Rolling Stones were superstars in Germany as well, so wouldn't we expect the German album to be released at the same time as its British and American counterparts? Well... no. The album reached the top ten in all three countries, but there is one difference: whereas is entered the UK and US charts in December 1967, it didn't reach the German charts before mid-January 1968. If the German record had been released in December (in time for the Christmas market), wouldn't it have entered the charts in late 1967? After all, it would have made a good Christmas gift for your teenage kid (if you ignored the "Satanic" aspect - but back in those days most Germans didn't speak English, anyway). I would suggest that the Geman release date for the Stones album is actually January 1968. This isn't too surprising, by the way. All original German copies came in lenticular covers imported from the UK. So the British probably first satisfied the domestic demand before they exported covers to Germany.

Conclusion

To cut a long story short: it seems that the date on the promo-compilation is more reliable than that on the Bowie album.

The problem

Most discographies don't give a separate release date for the US issue of Bowie's second album, but simply list it with the UK version under November 1969. Carr & Murray explicitly give that month as the release date. However, there are good reasons to challenge that date.

Some facts

- The US Billboard magazine from 15/11/1969 states that "Mercury will also release a Bowie LP in December".
- The US Cash Box magazine from 03/01/1970 mentions the Mercury album in an article on "Merc's 1970 Album Debut" and claims that it is part of a release campaign called "1970 - The Mercury Shot". The US Record World magazine from the same day gives basically the same information.
- The US Billboard magazine from 10/01/1970 features an article called "Merc Shoot for '70 With 22-LP Issue", which mentions the Bowie album as part of the above-mentioned release campaign and claims that "Mercury released 22 albums during December".
- The Billboard issue from 24/01/1970 includes a short review of the album.
- The Billboard issue from 07/02/1970 includes a list of "new album releases for February", which lists albums that "were released during the past several weeks and are considered as parts of the manufacturers' January release", and includes Man of Words/Man of Music.

Contradictory information

So what do we make of all this mess? As an intermediate conclusion I would say that a release in November 1969 is out of the question, since it contradicts all of the above information. The Billboard remark from 15/11/1969 isn't of much value because it refers to plans for the future, and plans can change. From the remarks in Cash Box and Record World (both 03/01/1970) we can conclude that there was a release campaign that promoted the album (among other records). The Billboard article about that release campaign (10/01/1971) claims that the album was released in December 1969. However, later (07/02/1970) the same magazine claims that it was released in January 1970. The Billboard review is from 24/01/1970, and user "mythnormadman" from the idbd forum writes that Billboard usually reviewed albums in the week of release. Since I have no reason to doubt his expertise, this would speak for a release in January.

Some thoughts on US promo records

The question that is left is that of whether the record was released in December 1969 or January 1970. As odd as it might sound, I think both is correct! It depends on what you mean by "released": released to an assorted group of people (promos) or released to the record-buying public (stock copies)? Discographers and collectors (like me) tend towards simply listing promo copies with the stock copies, but it seems that in the USA promo records were actually advance copies, distributed before the corresponding stock copies. In order for Cash Box to report a promo campaign as early as 03/01/1970 that campaign must have started in December. And it probably included the distribution of white label promo copies of the album, so that Billboard erroneously claimed the record was "released" that month. The later article (and the review) then referred to the release of the stock copies.

Conclusions

Man of Words/Man of Music was definitely not released in November 1969. Promo copies of the record were probably distributed in December 1969, whereas stock copies probably didn't arrive in the shops before January 1970. In order not to list the stock and promo version separately, I will list the album under December 1969, because that's when the album was first available (to assorted persons) in the USA.

The problem

It is clear that the US version of The Man Who Sold the World was released before the UK issue, but when exactly? I originally filed it under November 1970, because that's the date under which it is listed in practically all discographies. But that date doesn't seem realistic.

Some facts

- The "official" release date for the album is 04/11/1970. The release date of the 50th anniversary re-issue Metrobolist was based on that date. However, even the official Bowie website sheds doubt on that date in a blog entry from 10/11/2020 and points out that no reviews or adverts from around that time seem to exist.
- The US magazines Record World from 17/12/1970, Cash Box from 19/12/1970, and Billboard from 26/12/1970 include articles that refer to The Man Who Sold the World as being promoted in a series of Mercury "sales meetings" (for several new releases). Record World and Billboard state the records promoted are part of the company's December release.
- "mythnormadman" writes that the album was reviewed in the Cash Box magazine from 26/12/1970. Alas, that issue doesn't seem to be available online, but I have no reason to doubt this information.
- The album is briefly mentioned (in a list of editorial staff's suggestions for "album of the year honors") in Billboard from 09/01/1971.
- "mythnormadman" also provides a picture of a letter to Mercury Records written by Bowie's manager Tony Defries dated 13/04/1971. This letter says "I should be glad if you will let me know the sales figures of the album 'The Man Who Sold the World' to date and confirm the exact release date of that album in the U.S.A. as I understand such release took place some time in January."

Contradictory information

Note that the information on the album (as drawn from the press releases) almost exactly mirrors the problem with the Man of Words/Man of Music album one year before. There is nothing that indicates a release in November. There was a campaign in December during which The Man Who Sold the World (among other albums) was promoted, and we find the claim that the album was released that month. The Cash Box review from December shows that music magazine staff actually must have had access to it in December. But the letter by Defries is a strong argument for a release in January 1971, since it is likely that he had good reasons to assume that month as the release date.

Conclusions

There is nothing that substantiates November 1970 as the release date for The Man Who Sold the World in the USA. The album was promoted in December and promos were probably distributed that month. However, given Defries's letter, stock copies were probably not distributed before January 1971. So I will file the album under December 1970 pointing out the problem with stock copies.

As I already wrote above, it is difficult to detect the release date of German issues of international artists' albums from the late 1960s and early 1970s. So it's not surprising, that it is still unknown when exactly (that is which month) the original German Mercury issue of The Man Who Sold the World was released, but the standard assumption is that record was issued in 1971, like its Australian and UK counterparts. This assumption has been challenged by a strange piece of information I came across on Discogs. Discogs claims that the album was released in 1972, and the reason is given in the description of the record: "Edition with the small pressing ring around the spindle hole, so not pressed and released prior to summer 1972." An official Mercury album by Bowie released in summer 1972? This sounded so absurd to me that I decided to look into this issue a bit more closely, especially because Discogs has become a quite influential website. And I think I can prove that there's no reason to part with the "traditional" view that the album was released in 1971.

Facts

Let's start with a few facts about the record. As pointed out in my entry for the album, there are two different pressings. First, there is an issue with two large centre rings and the following information in the run-out grooves:
- side 1: 10 AA6338041 1Y 320 plus A1 and 1 in different places
- side 2: 10 AA6338041 2Y 320 plus A1 and 1 in different places, plus a faint scratched A4 575 close to the edge of the label
Then there is a pressing with a small centre ring on side 1 and a large ring on side 2. This issue has the following information in the run-out grooves:
- side 1 (small ring): 10 AA6338041 1Y 320 plus a B in a different place
- side 2 (large ring): 10 AA6338041 2Y 320 plus A1 and 1 in two different places

It is not known if the two versions were pressed at the same time (with different machines) or if they were pressed at different times. If the latter is true, then the variant with two large rings probably came first, since white label promo copies have the same label moulding and the same matrix information as these.
However, does the fact that there are copies with small rings mean that they were actually pressed as late as summer 1972?

The legal situation

Let's consider the legal situation. By September 1971 Bowie's contract with Mercury had been terminated, and the deal included that he was given back the rights to his two Philips/Mercury albums. He signed his contract with RCA around the same time. However, it is not exactly clear when the master tapes of the two albums were returned to Bowie/RCA, and some sources claim that Mercury retained the right to keep the master tapes until September 1972. If this is true, then Mercury could have pressed albums in 1972. It is, however, quite unlikely that they did, as the next paragraph will show.

The rarity of Mercury pressings of TMWSTW

But what about the centre rings?

Let's return to the original reason for my starting this discussion - the argument that there can't be a German Mercury album with small centre rings pressed before summer 1972. I will show that this is plainly wrong!
First of all, it is not entirely correct that the album has a "small pressing ring around the spindle hole". As I wrote above there are both copies with two large centre rings and copies with a small ring on one side and a large ring on the other. The latter show that small and large rings were produced at the same time.
But still the claim that small rings can't be found before summer 1972 could be correct. However, Mercury wasn't an independent record company at the time but a daughter label of Philips, who made and distributed their records in Germany. So the claim would only be correct if there wasn't any Philips-made record with small centre rings prior to summer 1972. And this is incorrect.
Not only was Philips a label in its own right, but also a major distributor for other labels in Germany in the early 1970s: Vertigo, Charisma and Island (and possibly more) all had their records made and distributed by Philips. This can easily be seen from the Philips-style catalogue numbers: a four digit block always starting with "6" followed by a three digit block, which is in turn followed by a letter (the price code) on the cover (although there are a few exceptions to this pattern).
So to prove the above claim wrong, we must find a Philips-made record that (a) was definitely pressed in 1971 or earlier, and (b) has a small centre ring. And, oddly enough, this is were old Bowie pals Mott the Hoople come into play.
Mott the Hoople's third album Wildlife was originally released on the pink "i" Island label in Germany. The catalogue number was 6339 031 D, so the original pressing was definitely made by Philips. In the course of 1971 (June, according to Discogs) Island changed their German distributor from Philips to Ariola, and the record was quickly re-released on the "pink rim" Island label with a new, Ariola-style catalogue number (86 696 IT). Note that all re-issues and re-pressings of early Island records in Germany were also provided with new Ariola-style numbers. So regardless of wether the change of distributor was actually in June, we can safely assume that all Philips-made copies of Wildlife are pressings from 1971. And the copy of the album shown on Discogs has small centre rings. With respect to the present topic my personal copy is even more interesting: it has a small ring on one side, and a large ring on the other - just like The Man Who Sold the World. So Philips did make records with small centre rings in 1971!

Conclusion

To sum up, then, there are no convincing reasons for 1972 as the year of release of the original German The Man Who Sold the World. On the contrary, there are good reasons to assume that all Mercury pressings of the album, including the German one, were made before 1972.
After all, given the German release policy of the time, any month between April 1971 (month of the UK release) and late 1971 is possible.