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Young Americans | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 7 March 1975 | |||
Recorded | August 1974 – January 1975 | |||
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Genre | ||||
Length | 40:00 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Producer |
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David Bowie chronology | ||||
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Singles from Young Americans | ||||
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Young Americans is the ninth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 7 March 1975 through RCA Records. A departure from the glam rock style of previous albums, the record showcased Bowie's interest in soul and R&B. Music critics have described the sound as blue-eyed soul; Bowie himself labelled the album's sound "plastic soul".
Recording sessions began at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia in August 1974, after the first leg of his Diamond Dogs Tour. The record was produced by Tony Visconti, and includes a variety of musicians, such as the guitarist Carlos Alomar, who became one of Bowie's most frequent collaborators, and the backing vocalists Ava Cherry, Robin Clark and then-unknown singer Luther Vandross. As the tour continued the setlist and design began to incorporate the influence of the new material. The recording sessions continued at the Record Plant in New York City at the tour's end. A collaboration between Bowie and John Lennon yielded a cover of Lennon's Beatles song "Across the Universe" and an original, "Fame", during a January 1975 session at Electric Lady Studios, produced by Harry Maslin. The album's cover artwork is a back-lit photograph of Bowie taken by Eric Stephen Jacobs.
Young Americans was Bowie's breakthrough in the US, reaching the top 10 on the Billboard chart; "Fame" became Bowie's first number one hit single. Bowie continued developing its sound on Station to Station (1976). Young Americans has received mixed critical reviews on release and in later decades; Bowie himself had mixed feelings about the album. The album proved influential. Bowie was one of the first white artists of the era to overtly engage with black musical styles; other British artists followed suit. The album has been reissued multiple times with outtakes, and was remastered in 2016 as part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set.
David Bowie released his eighth studio album Diamond Dogs in May 1974. His final album in the glam rock genre, [1] it contained two songs, "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" and "1984", that exhibit elements of funk and soul, which predicted the musical direction for Bowie's next project. [2] [3] [4] While his interest in soul music dated back to his mod days in the mid-1960s, he began listening to soul records extensively and incorporating soul material into his live sets. [5] [6] In July, towards the end of the first leg of his Diamond Dogs Tour, he performed covers of the soul songs "Knock on Wood" by Eddie Floyd and "Here Today and Gone Tomorrow" by the Ohio Players for shows in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania; these shows were recorded and released on the live album David Live in October 1974. [lower-alpha 1] [1] Bowie had grown tired of the tour's lavish set-pieces and theatricality and was ready to fully embrace black soul music. [9]
In early 1974, Bowie met the funk guitarist Carlos Alomar, an Apollo Theater session musician who had played with James Brown, Chuck Berry and Wilson Pickett. One of Bowie's favourite records was Brown's Live at the Apollo (1963), so meeting a musician who played at the Apollo meant a lot to him. Alomar had never heard of Bowie when they met, but they immediately connected and formed a working relationship that would last almost 15 years; Alomar became Bowie's guide into American black music. [1] [10]
While in Pennsylvania, Bowie visited Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia to work on recordings with the American musician Ava Cherry. [11] [12] Sigma Sound was the home of Philadelphia soul [13] [14] and the favourite studio of the writer-producer duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff; the two had co-founded Philadelphia International Records, the home of many well-known black American musicians. At the end of the first leg of the tour, Bowie returned to New York City to mix David Live, listening to various black albums in preparation for his return to Sigma Sound. [1]
For the backing band, Bowie wanted to hire MFSB ("Mother Father Sister Brother"), [6] Sigma Sound's house band of over 30 session musicians. [15] [14] All members were unavailable except for Larry Washington (percussion), so Bowie went to New York City for further recruitment. Mike Garson (piano), David Sanborn (saxophone) and Pablo Rosario (percussion) were retained from the Diamond Dogs Tour, while Earl Slick was replaced by Alomar on guitar. At Alomar's suggestion, Bowie hired Andy Newmark, a former member of Sly and the Family Stone, and Willie Weeks of the Isley Brothers to replace Tony Newman and Herbie Flowers on drums and bass, respectively. The producer Tony Visconti joined the project immediately after Bowie informed him of Weeks' involvement; [1] [9] Visconti co-produced much of Bowie's work for the rest of the decade. [16] Cherry, Alomar's wife Robin Clark, then-unknown singer Luther Vandross, Anthony Hinton and Diane Sumler performed backing vocals for the sessions. [9] [5]
Demo work began at Sigma Sound on 8 August 1974, with official work starting three days later on 11 August upon Visconti's arrival. [1] [17] Before Philadelphia, Bowie had spent most of his recording career in Britain, where recording methods were different from those in the United States. At Olympic and Trident Studios in Britain, engineers applied equalisers and reverb as they were recording, so these effects were heard upon playback. At Sigma Sound, however, the engineers applied effects during the mixing stage. Bowie was initially confounded when hearing the tapes back, as according to the biographer Chris O'Leary, he "hadn't heard his 'naked' voice on tape in years". [5]
The sessions were productive and moved rapidly, only taking two weeks to complete. It was agreed early on to record as much of the album as possible live, with the full band playing together, including Bowie's vocals, as a single continuous take for each song. According to Visconti, the album contains "about 85% 'live' David Bowie". [1] Most of the material was built out of jam sessions. [9] [14] The album represented a change in Bowie's approach to production, [18] allowing the musicians to come up with ideas that Bowie used to write lyrics and melodies. [14] Cherry, Clark and Vandross, in particular, became driving forces of the project. [18]
During his time at Sigma Sound, Bowie completely immersed himself in soul music. He created a new persona called "The Gouster", a slang term for a hip street boy, [14] [6] which became one of the album's working titles. Visconti commented: "It wasn't so much a concept as a way of setting the tone that we were going to make a very hip album." [14] Bowie's cocaine addiction heightened at a rapid pace during the period; he often stayed awake day and night recording while the band slept. [lower-alpha 2] [1] Alomar said the sessions were "fuelled" by drugs, [14] recalling: "He used drugs to keep himself awake. [I assumed] it was more a functional thing [than an addiction], so he'd be 'on' whenever the moment came to record." [13] Bowie's cocaine use affected his voice, creating what Bowie himself called "a real raspy sound" that prevented him from singing higher notes. He believed the album contained the highest notes he ever sang on record. [1]
The sessions produced numerous outtakes, including "After Today", "Who Can I Be Now?", "It's Gonna Be Me", a rerecording of Bowie's 1972 single "John, I'm Only Dancing" titled "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", "Lazer", "Shilling the Rubes", a scrapped rerecording of Bruce Springsteen's "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" [lower-alpha 3] and "Too Fat Polka". [1] After these sessions, Bowie was eager to perform the new work live. Embarking on the second half of the Diamond Dogs Tour, lasting September to December 1974, this portion is nicknamed the Soul Tour due to the influence of the new material. The shows were heavily altered and no longer featured elaborate set-pieces, due to Bowie's exhaustion with the design and wanting to explore the new sound he was creating. Songs from the previous leg were dropped, while new ones were added, including some from the upcoming album. [21] On 2 November, Bowie appeared on The Dick Cavett Show and performed "1984", "Young Americans" and a version of the Flairs' "Footstompin'". He was inarticulate and visibly drugged during his interview. [22] [23]
Bowie and Visconti added overdubs and started mixing following the conclusion of the Soul Tour in November 1974. [10] Local fans, whom Bowie referred to as the "Sigma Kids", waited outside the studio over the course of the sessions. On the final day of tracking, these fans were invited into the studio to listen to rough versions of the new songs. [10] [14] The album's many working titles included The Gouster, Dancin', Somebody Up There Likes Me, One Damned Song, Shilling the Rubes and Fascination. An early acetate of The Gouster provided by Visconti showed "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", "Who Can I Be Now?" and "It's Gonna Be Me" in the track-listing. [1]
The Soul Tour ended in December 1974, after which Bowie, Visconti and Alomar regrouped at the Record Plant in New York City to record two new songs, "Fascination" and "Win". At this point, Bowie told Disc magazine the album title was Fascination (after the newly recorded track); "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" was still in the track-listing and the two new tracks replaced "Who Can I Be Now?" and "Somebody Up There Likes Me". Visconti, who believed the album was completely finished, returned to London to record string arrangements for "Can You Hear Me", "Win" and "It's Gonna Be Me" at AIR Studios, [24] while Bowie remained in New York, working on separate mixing with in-house engineer Harry Maslin. [1] [25]
During this time, former Beatle John Lennon was working at the Record Plant on his covers album Rock 'n' Roll (1975). Lennon, who was in what he later termed his "Lost weekend" period, had met Bowie in Los Angeles in September 1974. [5] The two connected and decided to record together. With Alomar, the two convened at New York City's Electric Lady Studios in January 1975, recording a cover of Lennon's Beatles song "Across the Universe" and a new song, "Fame". [1] In Visconti's absence, the session was co-produced by Bowie and Maslin. [25] Alongside Alomar, Bowie invited Slick and the drummer Dennis Davis, making their debuts on a Bowie record, [5] as well as the bassist Emir Ksasan from the Soul Tour band. Ralph MacDonald contributed percussion, while Jean Fineberg and Jean Millington sang backing vocals. [1]
Mixing for Young Americans was completed at the Record Plant on 12 January 1975. Bowie contacted Visconti about the collaborations with Lennon two weeks later. [1] Bowie was apologetic and requested the two tracks be on the final album; they replaced "Who Can I Be Now?", "It's Gonna Be Me" and "After Today". [26] Visconti later said: "[They were] beautiful songs and it made me sick when [Bowie] decided not to use them. I think it was the personal content of the songs which he was a bit reluctant to release, although it was so obscure I don't think even I knew what he was on about in them!" [1] The album was mastered by the engineer Greg Calbi. [27]
Young Americans presented a new musical direction for Bowie, [28] exploring blue-eyed soul [29] [30] and R&B. [31] [32] [33] Bowie himself labelled its sound "plastic soul", [13] or, in the words of the author Benoît Clerc, "a pale synthetic derivative of authentic soul music". [9] Garson later argued: "I think because he was uncertain if he was good at it, he demeaned himself by calling it plastic soul." [14] Other writers have classified it "sax-y white soul" [34] and white soul music. [35] [36] Ashley Naftule of Consequence of Sound described the album as a cross between Bowie's "artsy rocker tendencies" and the "warm earnestness" of soul and R&B. [30] According to BBC Music's Daryl Easlea, lyrical themes throughout the album include loneliness, despair and alienation, [37] although the biographer Christopher Sandford writes that the album is "a record of high spirits and lively, colliding ideas". [28] One of Bowie's major inspirations when writing the album was Aretha Franklin. [6] [26]
"Young Americans" opens the album, which Bowie said was about "a newly-wed couple who don't know if they really like each other". [5] The song also presents new lyrical directions for the artist: instead of "shady" characters living in worlds fraught with darkness, "Young Americans" shows typical American teenagers. [38] References are made to McCarthyism and the resignation of president Richard Nixon, which occurred a week before the recording sessions began. The line "I heard the news today, oh boy" was taken from the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life" (1967), acknowledging Lennon's influence on Bowie and their imminent collaboration later on the album. [23] The author Peter Doggett writes that the song introduced the world to an entirely new Bowie, catching everyone by surprise. [39] Bowie said "Win" was about people who "don't work very hard". [40] According to the author James E. Perone, the lyrics are more abstract than the previous track and are open to interpretation. [38] Saxophones and strings feature throughout, while the backing vocalists are more relaxed and in line with Bowie's lead. [5]
"Fascination" evolved out of a Vandross track titled "Funky Music (Is a Part of Me)", which Bowie added new lyrics to. Bowie kept most of Vandross' structure but changed the interplay of the backing vocalists. [lower-alpha 4] [5] [41] Doggett cites elements in the novels City of Night (1963) and The Occult Reich (1974) as inspirations for the title, [43] while David Buckley writes that it reaffirms the 'strange fascination' motif of Bowie's track "Changes" (1971). [44] "Right" is the only track on Young Americans to feature Bowie's old friend Geoff MacCormack. The call and response between Bowie and the backing singers "lends an air of immaculate sophistication to the lyric's paean to positive thinking", according to the biographer Nicholas Pegg. [45] In 1975, Bowie called the song a mantra: "People forget what the sound of Man's instinct is—it's a drone, a mantra. And people say, 'Why are so many things popular that just drone on and on?' But that's the point really. It reaches a particular vibration, not necessarily a musical level." [45] Bowie, Vandross, Clark and Cherry can be seen rehearsing the song in the BBC documentary Cracked Actor (1975). [5] [46]
The title of "Somebody Up There Likes Me" was taken from the 1956 film of the same name. [5] [46] Similar to "Right", it uses a call-and-response structure [44] and is embellished in strings, saxophone and synthesisers that hide dark lyrics. Pegg states that the lyrics discuss the idea of celebrity and the "hollowness of fame and adulation". Bowie himself described the song as a "Watch out mate, Hitler's on your back" warning. [47] Bowie's rendition of "Across the Universe" is a blue-eyed soul reworking that features Lennon on guitar and backing vocals. [48] Bowie had previously called the Beatles' original version "very watery" and wanted to "hammer the hell out of it". [5] His cover has been maligned by critics and biographers. [5] [32] [48] [49] Perone argues that it succeeds as a "groove piece". [38]
"Can You Hear Me?", originally "Take It in Right", is described by O'Leary as contemporary R&B, [5] while Doggett believes its style is more reminiscent of southern music rather than Philly soul. [50] Perone likens Bowie's vocal performance to the singer Al Green. [38] In 1975, Bowie stated that the song was "written for somebody" but declined to disclose who; his biographers agree that it was most likely for Cherry. [5] [44] [51]
"Fame" is a funk rock song [52] that represents Bowie and Lennon's dissatisfaction with the troubles of fame and stardom. [53] Alomar originally developed the guitar riff for Bowie's cover of "Footstompin'", which Bowie then used to create "Fame". [54] [55] Lennon's voice is heard interjecting the falsetto "Fame" throughout the song. [56] Bowie later said that Lennon was the "energy" and the "inspiration" for "Fame", which is why he received a writing credit; [57] O'Leary states that Lennon wrote the song's intro chord progression. [5] In 1980, Lennon stated: "We took some Stevie Wonder middle eight and did it backwards, you know, and we made a record out of it!" [53] [56]
"Who Can I Be Now?" reflects the theme of self-identity. Over its runtime, it builds to a what Pegg calls a "gospel-choir climax". [58] Doggett writes that its title summarises Bowie's career up to this point, sharing a similar theme as "Changes". [59] "It's Gonna Be Me" is a ballad similar in style to Aretha Franklin. Originally titled "Come Back My Baby", it is lyrically similar to "Can You Hear Me?", in that it follows a casual seducer who realises the error of his ways and works to redeem himself. Pegg and Doggett praised the track as one of the most overlooked gems of Bowie's entire career. [60] [59] "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" is a radical seven-minute funk and disco reworking of Bowie's 1972 glam rock single "John, I'm Only Dancing". This new version mostly retains the original's chorus, but with new verses and an entirely different melody. It was released as a single in 1979. [5] [61] [32] "After Today" is a soul-disco song with a falsetto vocal from Bowie and less polished production compared to other album tracks. [lower-alpha 5] [63]
For the album cover artwork, Bowie initially wanted to commission Norman Rockwell to create a painting but retracted the offer when he heard that Rockwell would need at least six months to do the job. According to Pegg, another rejected idea was a full-length portrait of Bowie in a "flying suit" and white scarf, standing in front of an American flag and raising a glass. The final cover photo, a back-lit and airbrushed photo of Bowie, was taken in Los Angeles on 30 August 1974 by the photographer Eric Stephen Jacobs. [1] Jacobs took inspiration from a similar photo he took of the choreographer Toni Basil for the September 1974 cover of After Dark magazine. [9] Using that photo, Craig DeCamps designed the final cover at RCA Records' New York City office. [64] [65] Sandford calls it one of the "classic" album covers. [28]
RCA released "Young Americans" as the lead single to the album on 21 February 1975, with the Ziggy Stardust track "Suffragette City" (1972) as the B-side. [66] [67] In the US, it was released in edited form, [68] omitting two verses and a chorus; [69] its B-side was the 1974 live cover of "Knock on Wood". [70] It reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, his second top 40 entry and second-highest chart peak in the US up to that point. [69] [71] Bowie's November 1974 performance of the song on The Dick Cavett Show was used as promotion, airing on the BBC's Top of the Pops on 21 February 1975. [23]
Young Americans was released in the UK on 7 March 1975, [5] [72] [73] and in early April in the US. [9] It reached number nine on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and remained on the chart for 51 weeks; [74] by July, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). [75] It stayed on the UK Albums Chart for 17 weeks, peaking at number two, [76] being kept off the top spot by Tom Jones's 20 Greatest Hits . [77] Elsewhere, Young Americans reached the top five in New Zealand and Sweden, [78] [79] the top ten in Australia and Finland, [80] [81] number 12 in France, [82] 13 in Norway, [83] 17 in Canada and 82 in Japan. [84] [85] According to Buckley, sales were lower than Diamond Dogs overall. [71]
The second single "Fame" was released on 2 June in the US [68] and on 25 July in the UK, with the album track "Right" as the B-side. [67] [57] Although it only reached number 17 in the UK, "Fame" topped the charts in the US. [86] Its chart success was a surprise to Bowie, who recalled in 1990: "Even though [Lennon] had contributed to it and everything, and I had no idea, as with 'Let's Dance', that that was what a commercial single is. I haven't got a clue when it comes to singles. ... I don't get it, and 'Fame' was really out of left-field for me." [86] In early November, he became one of the first white artists to appear on ABC TV's Soul Train , where he gave mimed performances of "Fame" and his new single "Golden Years"; [32] [86] [87] He then sang "Fame" and "Can You Hear Me?" live on the CBS variety show Cher a few weeks later. [86] [88]
Initial reviews | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
The Gazette | B [33] |
The Village Voice | C+ [89] |
Young Americans was released to a generally favorable reception, particularly in America. [1] Billboard predicted that the album would appease Bowie's current fans and open him up to new ones. [90] Record World called it Bowie's "most compelling album to date"; [91] Crawdaddy 's Michael Gross said it was his best studio record since Ziggy Stardust, [92] while Cashbox praised Bowie as an artist. [72] In their end-of-year list, NME ranked Young Americans the seventh best album of 1975. [93]
Amongst mixed reviews, some enjoyed certain tracks but disregarded the collection as a whole. [94] [95] [33] Rolling Stone 's Jon Landau praised the title track and thought that the remainder of the album "works best when Bowie combines his renewed interest in soul with his knowledge of English pop, rather than opting entirely for one or the other". [96] Ray Fox-Cumming of Record Mirror described the sound as "spasmodic, awkward, frustrating" and having "a joyless energy". [94] In The Philadelphia Inquirer , Jack Lloyd called Young Americans a "gem" and a "triumph" filled with "superb" songs aside from the "pretentious" title track, but felt "Across the Universe" and "Fame" were out of place. [97]
Several critics were negative. In The Village Voice , Robert Christgau called the record "an almost total failure", saying that "although the amalgam of rock and Philly soul is so thin it's interesting, it overwhelms David's voice, which is even thinner". He nonetheless appreciated Bowie's renewed "generosity of spirit to risk failure" following the disappointments of Diamond Dogs and David Live. [89] In Phonograph Record , John Mendelsohn criticised the lyrics, Bowie's vocal performance, found the melodies "as good as non-existent" and the overall album very weak. [98] In the NME, Ian MacDonald felt the record was more of a transitional one, created out of a confused state of mind not knowing where to take his career next. He enjoyed it despite its flaws. [99] In Melody Maker , Michael Watts praised the backing band but found the record too "pastiche" to be credible and Bowie's worst release up to that point. [95] In Canada, Bill Man of The Gazette was also disappointed, believing Bowie should "focus his talents more directly". [33]
Bowie continued developing the funk and soul of Young Americans, with electronic and German krautrock influences, for his next studio album, Station to Station . [100] [101] Produced by Harry Maslin, the album was recorded in Los Angeles from September to November 1975 and released in January 1976. [102] [103] Songs from the Young Americans period that foreshadowed the album's direction included "Win", "Can You Hear Me?" and "Who Can I Be Now?" [5] [104] Station to Station continued Bowie's run of commercial success, reaching number three in the US. [105] However, his cocaine use continued throughout 1975, to the extent he had almost no recollection of recording Station to Station. [101] After completing the Isolar Tour in May 1976, he moved to Europe to rid himself of his drug addiction. [106] [107]
Commentators have acknowledged Young Americans as Bowie's first album that he performed as himself rather than as a persona. [108] [109] [18] Sandford believed that Bowie showed maturity by not featuring Ziggy Stardust, which secured his breakthrough into the US market. [28] Pegg says the album turned Bowie from "a mildly unsavoury cult artist to a chat-show friendly showbiz personality" in the US. [1] Bowie, however, expressed varying statements about the album throughout his lifetime. [37] In late 1975, he described it as "the phoniest R&B I've ever heard. If I ever would have got my hands on that record when I was growing up I would have cracked it over my knee." [44] He further described it as "a phase" in a 1976 interview with Melody Maker. [110] He later reversed his stance in 1990, telling Q magazine: "I shouldn't have been quite so hard on myself, because looking back it was pretty good white, blue-eyed soul [and] it was quite definitely one of the best bands I ever had." [111]
Young Americans has been called one of Bowie's most influential records. [71] With the album, Bowie was one of the first mainstream white artists to embrace black musical styles, [28] paving the way for other artists to engage in similar styles. [1] Daryl Easlea summarised in Record Collector : "While all rock'n'roll was based on white men's appropriation of black popular music, very few artists had embraced the form wholesale, to the point of using the same studios and musicians, as Bowie [did]." [6] Buckley commented that it brought fans of both glam rock and soul together in the wake of the disco era. [71] In subsequent years, artists who experimented with funk and soul after Bowie included Elton John, Roxy Music, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, Talking Heads, Spandau Ballet, Japan and ABC. [1] [6] Bowie was also referenced directly by George Clinton in the Parliament song "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" (1976) and in the film Saturday Night Fever (1977). [6] Clinton also used a modified version of the "Fame" instrumental for Parliament's "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" (1976), while James Brown used "Fame"'s riff verbatim for "Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved)" (1975). [32] In 2016, Joe Lynch of Billboard argued that "Fame" and Young Americans as a whole served as an influence not only on other funk artists such as Clinton but also early hip hop artists and the West Coast G-funk genre of the early 1990s. [34]
Retrospective professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [29] |
Chicago Tribune | [112] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B− [113] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [114] |
New Musical Express | 7/10 [109] |
Pitchfork | 8.7/10 [32] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [115] |
Select | 5/5 [116] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 6/10 [117] |
Uncut | [118] |
Young Americans has received mixed reviews from critics and fans in later decades, [18] being dismissed as a purely transitional record [32] and an inauthentic excursion by an artist whose talents lay elsewhere. [1] Others have criticised it for being inconsistent, [119] and lacking strong songwriting [29] and the musical cohesiveness of Bowie's other 1970s albums. [38] Douglas Wolk stated in Pitchfork : "It doesn't have the mad theatrical scope of Diamond Dogs or the formal audacity of Station to Station; at times, it comes off as an artist trying very hard to demonstrate how unpredictable he is." [32] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that Young Americans is "more enjoyable as a stylistic adventure than as a substantive record". [29]
Some critics have viewed Young Americans as an overlooked album [6] [120] that occupies a troubled place in Bowie's discography, [37] being sequenced between Bowie's Ziggy and Thin White Duke periods. [6] [14] Rob Sheffield opined that the album is "easy to overlook" because Bowie "did most of these robot-soul space-funk tricks better two years later on Station to Station". [120] Mark Beaumont of The Independent argued: "Those rock historians who dismiss the album as a white elephant among Bowie's 1970s output [...] underestimate its significance. Because this was Bowie's first display of true fearlessness, rock's most celebrated shape-shifter attempting his first real post-fame metamorphosis." [14] Others agree that Young Americans deserves a spot in Bowie's discography, [121] with Sam Kemp of Far Out arguing that "it's impossible to imagine Bowie's later albums without Young Americans". [18] Positive reviews of the album say that it has aged well, [18] [116] even being considered by some as a masterpiece of white soul. [109] [116] In 1991, Jon Wilde of Melody Maker argued that, like Bowie's other 1970s records, Young Americans was ahead of its time. [122] The singer Bob Geldof said: "Young Americans is a fantastic soul record, but soul with something else going on. There's an edginess to it." [1]
Young Americans was voted Bowie's ninth best album in a 2013 readers' poll for Rolling Stone. The magazine argued that its style shift helped introduce Bowie to a wider audience. [123] That same year, NME ranked the album at number 175 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [124] In 2004, the critic Charles Shaar Murray voted it the 88th best British album in a list for The Observer . [125] The album was also included in the 2018 edition of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [126]
2007 reissue | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Goldmine | [127] |
Rolling Stone | [120] |
Young Americans was first released on CD by RCA in 1984, [1] and then by Rykodisc/EMI in 1991, with three bonus tracks. [128] The reissue charted at number 54 on the UK Albums Chart for one week in April 1991. [129] A 1999 edition on EMI featured 24-bit digitally remastered sound and no extra tracks. [130] The 2007 reissue, marketed as a "Special Edition", included an accompanying DVD containing 5.1 surround sound mixes of the album and Bowie's November 1974 interview and performances on The Dick Cavett Show. [1] [120] [127] [131] In 2016, the album was remastered for the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set, which also includes an earlier, rawer-sounding draft of the album, titled The Gouster. [132] It was released in CD, vinyl, and digital formats, both as part of this compilation and separately. [133]
The 1991 and 2007 reissues featured "Who Can I Be Now?", "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" and "It's Gonna Be Me" as bonus tracks; the latter was released in an alternate version with strings on the 2007 edition. [1] The 1991 reissue replaced the original versions of "Win", "Fascination" and "Right" with alternate mixes, but later reissues restored the original mixes. Another outtake, "After Today", appeared on the 1989 box set Sound + Vision , as did the alternate mix of "Fascination". [5] [134]
All tracks are written by David Bowie, except where noted [135]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Young Americans" | 5:10 | |
2. | "Win" | 4:44 | |
3. | "Fascination" | Bowie, Luther Vandross | 5:43 |
4. | "Right" | 4:13 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Somebody Up There Likes Me" | 6:30 | |
2. | "Across the Universe" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | 4:30 |
3. | "Can You Hear Me?" | 5:04 | |
4. | "Fame" | Bowie, Carlos Alomar, Lennon | 4:12 |
Total length: | 40:00 |
According to the liner notes and the biographer Nicholas Pegg, [1] [135] except where noted.
Primary musicians
Additional musicians
| Technical
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Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Certifications
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Diamond Dogs is the eighth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 in London and the Netherlands, following the disbanding of his backing band the Spiders from Mars and the departure of producer Ken Scott. Bowie played lead guitar on the record in the absence of Mick Ronson. Diamond Dogs featured the return of Tony Visconti, who had not worked with Bowie for four years; the two would collaborate for the rest of the decade. Musically, it was Bowie's final album in the glam rock genre, though some songs were influenced by funk and soul music, which Bowie embraced on his next album, Young Americans (1975).
Let's Dance is the fifteenth studio album by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 14 April 1983 through EMI America Records. Co-produced by Bowie and Nile Rodgers, the album was recorded in December 1982 at the Power Station in New York City. The sessions featured players from Rodgers' band Chic and the then-unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. For the first time ever, Bowie only sang and played no instruments.
Station to Station is the tenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 23 January 1976 through RCA Records. Regarded as one of his most significant works, the album was the vehicle for Bowie's performance persona the Thin White Duke. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, Station to Station was mainly recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California, in late 1975, after Bowie completed shooting the film The Man Who Fell to Earth; the cover art featured a still from the film. During the sessions, Bowie was suffering from various drug addictions, most prominently cocaine, and later said that he recalled almost nothing of the production.
"Heroes" is the twelfth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 October 1977 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the second release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low, released in January the same year, and the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Sessions took place in mid-1977 after Bowie completed work on Iggy Pop's second solo album Lust for Life. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for "Heroes", augmented by the King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Lodger is the thirteenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 25 May 1979 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the final release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low and "Heroes". Sessions took place in Switzerland in September 1978 during a break in the Isolar II world tour, and in New York City in March 1979 at the tour's end. Most of the same personnel from prior releases returned, and the future King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew joined from the tour. The sessions saw the use of techniques inspired by Eno's Oblique Strategies cards, such as having the musicians swap instruments and playing old songs backwards.
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), also known simply as Scary Monsters, is the fourteenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 12 September 1980 through RCA Records. His first album following the Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes" and Lodger), Scary Monsters was Bowie's attempt at creating a more commercial record after the trilogy proved successful artistically but less so commercially.
Low is the eleventh studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 January 1977 through RCA Records. The first of three collaborations with the producer Tony Visconti and the musician Brian Eno that became known as the Berlin Trilogy, the project originated following Bowie's move to France in 1976 with his friend Iggy Pop to rid themselves of their drug addictions. There, Bowie produced and co-wrote Pop's debut studio album, The Idiot, featuring sounds the former would explore on his next record. After completing The Idiot, sessions for Low began at Hérouville's Château d'Hérouville in September 1976 and ended in October at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, where Bowie and Pop had relocated.
"Golden Years" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released by RCA Records on 21 November 1975 as the lead single from his tenth studio album Station to Station (1976). Partially written before Bowie began shooting for the film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), the song was mostly compiled in the studio and was the first track completed for the album. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, recording took place at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles during September 1975. Due to Bowie's heavy cocaine use, he later recalled remembering almost nothing of Station to Station's production.
"Fashion" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 14th studio album Scary Monsters (1980). Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and recorded from February to April 1980 at New York and London, it was the last song completed for the album. Originating as a reggae parody titled "Jamaica", "Fashion" is a post-punk, dance and funk track structurally similar to Bowie's "Golden Years". King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp contributed lead guitar.
"Fame" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released on his 1975 album Young Americans and was later issued as the album's second single by RCA Records in June 1975. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, it was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City in January 1975. It is a funk rock song that represents Bowie's dissatisfaction with the troubles of fame and stardom.
"Young Americans" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his ninth studio album of the same name. It was mostly recorded in August 1974 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia and was debuted on the Soul tour the following month. The song featured contributions from then-unknown singer Luther Vandross, who conceived the backing vocal arrangement. An embracement of R&B and Philadelphia soul, the song presents an Englishman's impressionist portrait of America at the time, featuring various characters and allusions to American totems and events.
"John, I'm Only Dancing" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, originally released as a non-album single on 1 September 1972. A glam rock and R&B number, the lyrics describe a situation in which the narrator informs his lover not to worry about the girl he is with because he is "only dancing" with her. Although ambiguous, many interpreted it as concerning a gay relationship. Recorded in London in June 1972, it was boosted by a low-budget promotional video directed by Mick Rock. It reached number 12 in the UK; RCA refused to release it in America due to its suggestive lyrical content.
"TVC 15" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his 1976 album Station to Station. RCA Records later released it as the second single from the album on 30 April 1976. The song was recorded in late 1975 at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, the recording featured guitarists Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick, bassist George Murray, drummer Dennis Davis, pianist Roy Bittan and Warren Peace on backing vocals. The upbeat song is mostly art rock performed in a style reminiscent of the 1950s. Lyrically, the song concerns a character's girlfriend being eaten by a television set. It was inspired by a dream of Iggy Pop's and Bowie's role in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Some lyrics are also influenced by the Yardbirds and Kraftwerk.
"Sound and Vision" is a song by the English musician David Bowie. It was released in January 1977 by RCA Records on side one of his 11th studio album Low. RCA later chose it as the first single from the album. Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, the song was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France, in September 1976, and completed at Hansa Studios in West Berlin in October and November. The song began as a simple G major chord progression that Bowie gave to the backing musicians, writing and recording his vocals afterward. It features backing vocals from Brian Eno and Visconti's then-wife Mary Hopkin.
"Boys Keep Swinging" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released on 27 April 1979 by RCA Records in the United Kingdom as the lead single from his 1979 album Lodger. It was written by Bowie and Brian Eno and recorded in Montreux and New York City in September 1978 and March 1979. The recording utilised techniques from Eno's Oblique Strategies cards, which resulted in the musicians swapping instruments. Adrian Belew contributed a guitar solo, which he played receiving little guidance and was composited from multiple takes. The song was also built on the same chord sequence as the album track "Fantastic Voyage". Musically, "Boys Keep Swinging" contains elements of glam rock, funk and new wave, while lyrically, the song deals with the concept of gender identity, featuring various gender-bending lyrics. Bowie himself stated that the song was full of irony.
"D.J." is a song by English musician David Bowie, released on 29 June 1979 as the second single from his 1979 album Lodger. It was written by Bowie, Brian Eno and Carlos Alomar and recorded in Montreux and New York City in September 1978 and March 1979. A cynical comment on the cult of the DJ, the track includes a guitar solo by Adrian Belew, which was recorded in multiple takes, and then mixed back together for the album track. Bowie mimics David Byrne of Talking Heads in his vocal performance. Its accompanying music video, directed by David Mallet, features Bowie casually walking down London's Earl's Court Road as passersby recognise him and follow him, interjected with Bowie as the tortured DJ destroying his studio. The single charted at number 29 in the UK and has received positive reviews.
"Up the Hill Backwards" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his 1980 album Scary Monsters . It was later issued by RCA Records as the fourth and final single from the album in March 1981. Originally written under the title "Cameras in Brooklyn", the song was recorded between February and April 1980 at the Power Station in New York City and Good Earth Studios in London. The recording features backing vocalists, guitar contributions from Robert Fripp and acoustic guitar played by co-producer Tony Visconti. Lyrically, the song concerns the struggles of facing a crisis, partially influenced by Bowie's divorce from his wife Angie. Musically, the song contains numerous time signature changes and a Bo Diddley-inspired beat.
"Fascination" is a song written by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie and the American musician Luther Vandross for Bowie's Young Americans album in 1975. The song originated from a Vandross song called "Funky Music " which The Mike Garson Band used to play before Bowie concerts in 1974.
"Stay" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his 1976 album Station to Station. The song was recorded in late 1975 at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, the recording featured guitarists Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick, bassist George Murray, drummer Dennis Davis, pianist Roy Bittan and Warren Peace on percussion. The track features prominent dual guitar work from Slick and Alomar, who mostly composed it in the studio. Based on the chord structure of "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", a funk reworking of "John, I'm Only Dancing" (1972), "Stay" emulates funk rock, soul and hard rock. The song's lyrics are abstract and relate to love.
"Ashes to Ashes" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 14th studio album, Scary Monsters (1980). Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was recorded from February to April 1980 in New York and London and features guitar synthesiser played by Chuck Hammer. An art rock, art pop and new wave song led by a flanged piano riff, the lyrics act as a sequel to Bowie's 1969 hit "Space Oddity": the astronaut Major Tom has succumbed to drug addiction and floats isolated in space. Bowie partially based the lyrics on his own experiences with drug addiction throughout the 1970s.
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