"Young Americans" is the ninth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released in 1975 and showing off Bowie’s 1970’s “obsession” with soul music.
David Bowie had dropped hints during the "Diamond Dogs" tour that he was moving toward R&B, but the full-blown blue-eyed soul of Young Americans came as a shock. Surrounding himself with first-rate sessionmen, Bowie comes up with a set of songs that approximate the sound of Philly soul and disco
For this album, Bowie let go of the influences he had drawn from in the past, replacing them with sounds from “local dance halls”, which, at the time, were blaring with lush strings, sliding hi-hat whispers, and swanky R&B rhythms of Philadelphia Soul, Bowie is quoted describing the album as “the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak rock, written and sung by a white limey”.
What does hurt the record is a lack of strong songwriting. "Young Americans" is a masterpiece, and "Fame" has a beat funky enough that James Brown ripped it off, but only a handful of cuts ("Win," "Fascination," "Somebody up There Likes Me") comes close to matching their quality. As a result, Young Americans is more enjoyable as a stylistic adventure than as a substantive record.
Track listing
1. Young Americans (Bowie) - 5:10
2. Win (Bowie) - 4:44
3. Fascination (Bowie, Luther Vandross) - 5:43
4. Right (Bowie) - 4:13
5. Somebody Up There Likes Me (Bowie) - 6:30
6. Across the Universe (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 4:30
7. Can You Hear Me (Bowie) - 5:04
8. Fame (Bowie, Carlos Alomar, Lennon) - 4:12
Released: 7 March 1975
Recorded at: Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Electric Lady Studios, New York
Genre: Funk, rock
Length: 40:32
Label: RCA
Producer: David Bowie, Harry Maslin, Tony Visconti
Personnel
David Bowie – vocals, guitar, piano
Carlos Alomar – guitar
Mike Garson – piano
David Sanborn – sax
Willie Weeks – bass
Andy Newmark – drums
Larry Washington – conga
Pablo Rosario – percussion
Ava Cherry – background vocals
Robin Clark – background vocals
Luther Vandross – background vocals
John Lennon – vocals, guitar, backing vocals
Earl Slick – guitar
Emir Kassan – bass
Dennis Davis – drums
Ralph MacDonald – percussion
Jean Fineberg – backing vocals
Jean Millington – backing vocals
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