Your thoughts on Young Americans?
It doesn't hit the heights of Station to Station, Ziggy, Low, etc. but for me it is pretty underrated. The title track is fantastic and there's some really smooth soul on there like Win and Right. I'm not particularly keen on Fame though.
I love putting this record on when getting ready to go out for the night, it gets you in the mood pretty damn well and is just a fun album if (obviously) not among his very best. Part of me wishes we got more soul/funk out of Bowie but I suppose it's hard to complain when StS was the follow up.
Thoughts?
7/10 for me
I really like Fascination, Fame, and the title track.
It's not emotionally harrowing or revealing, which is often what distinguishes highly praised rock from the rest, but it's an incredibly fun, joyous album with a lot of musical complexity and confidence. I love it.
>>66480047
7/10 seems fair. I'd be tempted to slap a .5 on the end of that or maybe even bump it up to an 8 if I'm feeling generous, but then I am a bit of a sucker for the genre anyway.
I can see why some Bowie fans who like his glam rock stuff or the Berlin trilogy have trouble enjoying this album, though.
It's my favorite bowie album I don't think it gets enough love, in terms of vocals I think its his best.
>>66480126
Agreed.
>>66480156
I really like the vocals too. His voice was very versatile anyway but it fits this style of music particularly well for me.
Win is such a fucking good song
a massive spin of the wheel for bowie, with the chamber (for better or worse) ending up empty. john lennon ruined the actual album, but i forgive him for buying david some time with fame, a crucial post-mainman hit that came at just the right moment
the lennon switch-up makes the album feel rushed and inconsequential, as if it was all a lark, another cut-out lp. there are heights on (and not on) here that he would never reach again. it's awkwardly slotted in between a bunch of classics but i can enjoy it on the revisionist condition that i program the track order myself
First half is excellent, second half is only decent. Avoid any reissues with the 3 bonus tracks like the plague.
half is great, the other half poor. His Across the Universe cover was pretty horrible.
>>66480026
I think it's a real shame that Ritchie Blackmore basically threatened to kick Glenn Hughes out of Deep Purple if he appeared on the title track like Bowie originally wanted (Not wanting any of his bandmates to "appear with that fucking freak", in his words).
Check out his Play Me Out album if you're into Young Americans (Bowie was originally gonna produce it, but it fell through at the last minute), very much in the same vein. Even the cover art's not entirely dissimilar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLmqWOp9Ts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqs4LssenqI
