Young Americans (album)

Young Americans
Studio album by David Bowie
Released	7 March 1975[1]
Recorded	August 1974, November 1974, December 1974, January 1975
Studio	Various Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia (August & November 1974) Record Plant, New York (December 1974) Electric Lady Studios, New York (January 1975)
Genre	Blue-eyed soul[2]
Length	40:32
Label	RCA
Producer	Tony Visconti Harry Maslin David Bowie
David Bowie chronology
David Live (1974) Young Americans (1975) Station to Station (1976)
Singles from Young Americans
"Young Americans" Released: 21 February 1975[3] "Fame" Released: 25 July 1975

Young Americans is the ninth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released in 1975.

For the record, which showed off his 1970s "obsession" with soul music,^[4] he 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."^[5] 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".^[6]

Because of the strong influence of black music on the album, Bowie used the term "plastic soul" (originally coined by an unknown black musician in the 1960s) to describe the sound of Young Americans.^[7] Although Bowie was an English musician bringing up touchy American issues, the album was still very successful in the US; the album itself reached the top ten in that country, with the song "Fame" hitting the No. 1 spot the same year the album was released.^[4]

Background and recording

Begun on 11 August 1974, during breaks in David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour, Young Americans was recorded by Tony Visconti primarily at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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".^[8]

In order to create a more authentically soulful sound, Bowie brought in musicians from the funk and soul community, including an early-career Luther Vandross and Andy Newmark, drummer of Sly and the Family Stone. It was also Bowie's first time working with Carlos Alomar, leading to a working relationship spanning more than 30 years. Carlos, who hadn't heard of Bowie before being called in to help with the album, recalled that Bowie was "the whitest man I've ever seen – translucent white" when they met.^[9] Carlos said of how the album was put together:

David always does the music first. He'll listen for a while then if he gets a little idea the session stops and he writes something down and we continue. But later on, when the music is established, he'll go home and the next day the lyrics are written. I'd finish the sessions and be sent home and I never heard words and overdubs until the record was released.^[9]

The song "Young Americans", which Bowie said was about "the predicament of two newlyweds", took two days to record.^[10]

The sessions at Sigma Sound lasted through November 1974.^[8] The recording had attracted the attention of local fans who began to wait outside the studio over the span of the sessions. Bowie built up a rapport with these fans, whom he came to refer to as the "Sigma Kids". On the final day of tracking the Sigma Kids were invited into the studio to listen to rough versions of the new songs.^[11]

"Across the Universe" and "Fame" were recorded at Electric Lady Studios with John Lennon in January 1975. They replaced previously recorded tracks "Who Can I Be Now" and "It's Gonna Be Me" on the record, though these songs were later released as bonus tracks on reissues of the album. The guitar riff for "Fame", created by Alomar, was based on the song "Foot Stompin'" by the doo-wop band The Flairs.^[7]

Bowie considered several different titles for the album, including "Somebody Up There Likes Me", "One Damned Song", "The Gouster" and "Fascination".^[10]

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. The album's cover photo was eventually taken in Los Angeles on August 30, 1974, by Eric Stephen Jacobs. Bowie's apparent inspiration for the cover came from a copy of After Dark magazine which featured another of Jacobs' photographs of Bowie’s then choreographer Toni Basil.^[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Blender	[13]
Robert Christgau	B–[14]
MusicHound	4/5[15]
Pitchfork Media (2016)	8.7/10[16]
Q	[17]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[18]
Uncut	[19]

The album generally received positive reviews from music critics. Rolling Stone's Jon Landau praised the title track and thought that "the rest 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."^[20] Music critic Robert Christgau wrote that "pleased with Bowie's renewed generosity of spirit--he takes pains to simulate compassion and risks failure simply by moving on."^[14]

In a retrospective review, Allmusic senior critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Young Americans is "more enjoyable as a stylistic adventure than as a substantive record."^[2] Douglas Wolk of Pitchfork regarded it as "distinctly a transitional record," stating: "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." Nevertheless, Wolk also praised the fact that "while there had already been a handful of disco hits on the pop charts, no other established rock musician had yet tried to do anything similar."^[16]

Track listing

All songs written by David Bowie, except where noted.

Side one

Side two

CD releases

1991 reissue bonus tracks

1989 Sound & Vision box set

2007 collector's edition bonus tracks

The bonus tracks "After Today," "Who Can I Be Now?," and "It's Gonna Be Me," were outtakes from the 1974 Sigma Sound sessions in Philadelphia.^[22]

Personnel

Musicians

• David Bowie – vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Carlos Alomar – guitar
• Mike Garson – piano
• David Sanborn – saxophone
• Willie Weeks – bass guitar (except on "Across the Universe" and "Fame")
• Andy Newmark – drums (except on "Across the Universe" and "Fame")

Additional musicians

• Larry Washington – conga
• Pablo Rosario – percussion on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Ava Cherry, Robin Clark, Luther Vandross – backing vocals
• John Lennon – vocals, guitar, backing vocals on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Earl Slick – guitar on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Emir Ksasan – bass guitar on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Dennis Davis – drums on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Ralph MacDonald – percussion on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Jean Fineberg – backing vocals on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"
• Jean Millington – backing vocals on "Across the Universe" and "Fame"

Charts

References

External links

• Young Americans (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)