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1723
Young Americans
David Bowie
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Label: EMI
Duration: 58:06
Genre: Pop

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.

Roling Stone Review
The title song of David Bowie's Young Americans is one of his handful of classics, a bizarre mixture of social comment, run-on lyric style, English pop and American soul. The band plays great and Tony Visconti's production is flawless — just a touch of old-fashioned slap-back echo to give the tracks some added mystery. The rest of the album works best when Bowie combines his renewed interest in soul with his knowledge of English pop, rather than opting entirely for one or the other. Thus, "Win," one of his best pop ballads, makes great use of an R&B chorus; it works much better than the straight James Brown impersonation "Right." He does a plaintive version of John Lennon's "Across the Universe," while "Fame" and "Fascination," besides being complementary titles, continue his merger of styles on a positive note.

As for Bowie's growth as an artist, the highlight of the album comes when he stops the band and asks, "Isn't there one damn song that can make me break down and cry?" With any other pop singer in the world, you'd know that he or she wanted to be taken seriously. With Bowie, you believe that he half does and half just says what he thinks he's supposed to. Which isn't bad, but only the way he is.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/young-americans-19750522#ixzz2dlHMWyln
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Amazon Description
This set includes a CD of the classic album from the zenith of Bowie's soul period and includes 3 bonus tracks. The DVD contains new audio mixes of the album in its entirety by legendary producer Tony Visconti in 5.1 surround sound and stereo, as well as


TrackDuration
Hang on to Yourself2:44
Zyggy Stardust3:19
Changes3:27
Supermen2:52
Life on Mars?3:27
Five Years4:34
Space oddity5:37
Andy Warhol4:22
My Death Waits There5:38
The Width of a Circle11:03
Queen Bitch3:01
Moonage Daydream4:50
John, I'm Only Dancing2:57
Waiting For The Man6:32
The Jean Genie4:30
Suffragette City3:52
Rock'n Roll Suicide3:16
Young Americans (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)5:16
Win (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)4:45
Fascination (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)5:47
Right (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)4:17
Somebody Up There Likes Me (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)6:32
Across The Universe (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)4:31
Can You Hear Me (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)5:06
Fame (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)4:20
John, I'm Only Dancing (Again) (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)7:03
Who Can I Be Now? (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)4:39
It's Gonna Be Me [With Strings] (5.1 DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Stereo: PCM 48kHz, 24bit 5.1 surround sound.)6:28
1984, Young Americans (live on Dick Cavett) , Dick Cavett Interviews David Bowie24:18
Original Release: 1975-02-01
Composer: David Bowie
Arranged By: Tony Visconti
Producer: Tony Visconti
UPC: 94635126020, 724352190508