David Bowie

Young Americans

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7
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Young Americans Review

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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, yet remain detached from their inspirations; even at his most passionate, Bowie sounds like a commentator, as if the entire album was a genre exercise. Nevertheless, the distance doesn't hurt the album -- it gives the record its own distinctive flavor, and its plastic, robotic soul helped inform generations of synthetic British soul. 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

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time	Stream
1	Young Americans David Bowie	David Bowie	05:17	Amazon
2	Win David Bowie	David Bowie	04:47	Amazon
3	Fascination David Bowie / Luther Vandross	David Bowie	05:48	Amazon
4	Right David Bowie	David Bowie	04:22	Amazon
5	Somebody Up There Likes Me David Bowie	David Bowie	06:36	Amazon
6	Across the Universe John Lennon / Paul McCartney	David Bowie	04:33	Amazon
7	Can You Hear Me David Bowie	David Bowie	05:08	Amazon
8	Fame Carlos Alomar / David Bowie / John Lennon	David Bowie	04:24	Amazon