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David Bowie

Young Americans

Virgin / EMI | 1975 | Album

Biography

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The special edition rerelease of David Bowie’s popular 1975 album Young Americans has been spruced up and repackaged with some extras included. Those extras include a 1974 sit down with Dick Cavett. During the interview, the former Ziggy Stardust / Thin White Duke-to-be describes himself as a “person of diverse interests”. It was an understatement in 1975 but the simple classification is almost laughable today, now that we have 32 years worth of Bowie fads and fashions, topics and taboos to look back on.

Back in ‘75, David Bowie was still shy in conversation, he fiddles with a cane throughout his chat with Cavett, but as a performer he exuded confidence and charisma. Young Americans finds the orange-haired dandy comfortably ensconced in his “plastic soul” phase. The term, coined-by Bowie, describes his own coldly sophisticated take on Philadelphia soul. It’s a sound and an attitude that would serve the singer/songwriter well because it was this funk-influenced disc that gave him his first crossover hit in America. The sarcastic song “Fame” co-written by John Lennon even topped the American pop charts.

Today, the album is still worth a spin from the jazziness of the title track to Bowie’s defiant cover of The Beatles “Across the Universe”. When he howls, “Nothin’s gonna change my world!” Bowie voices the thoughts of his generation. The happy hippie days were over, the world was changing in a dark foreboding way - and there was nothing anyone could do to stop the tide from turning. The ever-changing artist is at his sneering best though on the song “Fame”. The song was a hit then and should be considered a classic now.

The reissue also includes three bonus tracks and you won’t want to miss David Bowie’s incredibly raw delivery on “It’s Gonna Be Me”. It’s just another one of those moments when this classic chameleon steals up on you and takes your breath away.

Amy Wagner