David Bowie - Young Americans ( VINYL 02-10-2017 )

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.

CONDITION: NEW

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A

A1 Young Americans 5:10
A2 Win 4:44
A3 Fascination 5:43
A4 Right 4:13

SIDE B

B1 Somebody Up There Likes Me 6:30
B2 Across The Universe 4:30
B3 Can You Hear Me 5:04
B4 Fame 4:12