Skip to main content

Young Americans - David Bowie

 


Year Released: 1975

Label: RCA

Year Bought: 2002

Sometimes I don't think its appreciated just how prolific David Bowie was in the '70s.

'Young Americans', released in 1975, was his seventh studio album of the decade, and came just three years after 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'.  Apart from 'Pin-Ups', it was all fantastic. I can only think of the Beatles as a comparison for quantity and quality.

'Young Americans' is the album that showed Ziggy truly was dead. Previous album 'Diamond Dogs' still had one foot in the glam camp, but this record is so far from that genre it sounds like it's been made by a completely different musician.

Dubbed "plastic soul" by Bowie himself, 'Young Americans' was recorded as he was pushing on with his red peppers, milk and cocaine diet. The Thin White Duke persona would be crystallised on the next album, 'Station to Station', but the transition was pretty much complete on this record.

The title track kicks off the record and it's an absolute classic. Sleazy lyrics – "It took him minutes, took her nowhere" - merged with a soul vibe and a brilliant end section which makes full use of his backing vocalists.

The backing vocalists on the record, including a pre-fame Luther Vandross, really add a whole new dimension to the music, giving it an authenticity it would otherwise have lacked.

The whole album has a real energy to it. Most of it was recorded live, and the musicianship feels so pure. The album marks his first work with long-time collaborator Earl Slick. There's also Carlos Alomar on there and just to add some more magic, John Lennon pops up on two tracks. 

Sometimes you get the impression Bowie is just in awe of the people he's working with, and happy to let them get on with it.

"Fascination" is a brilliant track that starts off funky and then builds up into a hot, sweaty chorus. Bowie's nasal glam vocal has gone from this album, and his delivery, particularly on 'Right', was incredibly influential on the wave of blue-eyed soul '80s singers. 

'Can You Hear Me' is a beautiful love song. One of the most genuine and direct he wrote in the '70s.

"Once we were lovers, can they understand? Closer than others I was your, I was your man."

The swelling strings, the way the saxophone holds off until half way through the song, the build up at the end of the chorus and then the stop. All brilliant. It's got a sense of restrain until the end when Bowie really lets rip and then it ends with just the backing vocals. Genius. 

The album ends with 'Fame', one of two Lennon collaborations on the record. It gave Bowie his first US number 1 - although only reached 17 in the UK - and while it's a great track, it feels a bit hollow. 

The only major flaw on the album is 'Across the Universe'. Recorded with Lennon, who of course wrote the thing, it's just a coked-up version with Bowie hamming all over it. You can almost hear the grinding jaw in his delivery. Including his fantastic version of Bruce Springsteen's 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' - recorded during the same session - would have been a much more interesting choice.

Nevertheless, a great album. He really was a genius. 

9/10

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Year Released: 2004 Label: Domino Year Bought: 2004 January 2004. I'd just quit uni. Was back at the family home in Bishop's Stortford. The place I'd been so desperate to get away from, and I was back and already bored.  And then things got a bit less boring. I remember this so clearly. I was having a shower and the radio was on, and on came 'Take Me Out'. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. At first I thought it must be an old tune that had passed me by, but no, it was announced as a new song by a band called Franz Ferdinand. It sounded glorious. It sounded interesting. After the staleness of the post-Britpop years, and beigeness of Coldplay, Travis et al, there was actually a British band doing something interesting. I loved it, and when the album came out the next month, I gobbled it up with glee. Listening back now, and I still love it. The hushed opening of 'Jacqueline', the sleaze of 'The Dark of the Matinee', the homoeroticism of 'M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Coming Up – Suede

  Year Released: 1996 Label: Nude Year Bought: 2011 I know lots of people love this album, and it has got some great songs on it, but I just can't love it. It's too trebly, too thin, too cold. It kicks off with 'Trash', which is an absolutely brilliant tune with fantastic lyrics. Brett is at his absolute best here, with talk of "nowhere towns" and "cellophane sounds", and being the "litter on the breeze". I love it. But, alas we go from one of Suede's best songs to one of their worst. 'Filmstar' feels incredibly lazy. The riff is nothing, and as for the lyrics:  Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car it looks so easy Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car tonight These are Noel Gallagher-on-an-incredibly-bad-day lyrics.  I hate the riff, I hate the chorus, I hate the lyrics. I hate how shiny it is. It's lazy ... which is the title of the next song. This tune sees the first use on the album of the "here the...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bends - Radiohead

Year Released: 1995 Label: Parlophone Year Bought: 2000 Some records I'm going back to for the first time in a while. Others, like 'The Bends', are still in my regular rotation. What to say about this album? The crashing piano chords of opening track 'Planet Telex' give an immediate indication that this is not the same band that made 'Pablo Honey'. The album is a quantum leap from that record, which – while it has its fans, including me – is by-and-large the sound of just another guitar band. 'The Bends' is different. From the slowing-down-time intro of the title track, to the how-high-can-you-go guitars on 'Just', the album constantly delights. 'Fake Plastic Trees' is a magisterial effort, while 'Black Star' contains one of the great opening lines:  "I get home from work and you're still standing in your dressing gown, well, what am I to do?" The recording process for this record was inspired by seeing Jeff Buck...
Post a Comment
Read more