Young Americans (album)

''Young Americans'' is the ninth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 7March 1975 through RCA Records. The album marked a departure from the glam rock style of Bowie's previous albums, showcasing his interest in soul and R&B. Commentators have described the record as blue-eyed soul, although Bowie himself labelled the album's sound " plastic soul". Initial recording sessions took place following the first leg of his Diamond Dogs Tour in August 1974 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia with producer Tony Visconti and a variety of musicians, including guitarist Carlos Alomar, who would become one of Bowie's most frequent collaborators. Backing vocalists included singer Ava Cherry, Alomar's wife Robin Clark and then-unknown singer Luther Vandross. After the initial sessions, the tour continued, with the setlist and design changed due to the influence of the new material recorded. This portion of the tour has been labeled the Soul tour.

At the end of the tour, sessions continued at the Record Plant in New York City. After becoming friends with former Beatle John Lennon, the two collaborated on a session in January 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, with Harry Maslin producing. With Alomar, they recorded " Fame" and a cover of Lennon's Beatles song "Across the Universe". Throughout the sessions, many outtakes were recorded and the record went through numerous working titles. The cover artwork is a back-lit photograph of Bowie taken by Eric Stephen Jacobs.

Upon its release, ''Young Americans'' was very successful in the US, reaching the top 10 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape chart, with the single "Fame" becoming Bowie's first number one hit. However, it received mixed reviews from music critics and continues to receive mixed reviews. Bowie himself had mixed feelings about the album throughout his lifetime. Nevertheless, Bowie biographers have considered it one of his most influential records, mainly noting him as among the first white musicians of the era to overtly engage with black musical styles. The album has since been reissued multiple times and was remastered in 2016 as part of the '' Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)'' box set.

Background and development

David Bowie's eighth studio album ''Diamond Dogs'' (1974) was his final album in the glam rock genre, which biographer David Buckley commented: "In the sort of move which would come to define his career, Bowie jumped the glam-rock ship just in time, before it drifted into a blank parody of itself." Despite being mostly glam rock, the album contained two songs, " Rock 'n' Roll with Me" and "1984", that exhibit elements of funk and soul, which Bowie embraced for ''Young Americans''. ''Diamond Dogs'' was also a milestone in Bowie's career as it reunited him with his former producer Tony Visconti, who provided string arrangements and helped mix the album at his own studio in London. Visconti co-produced much of Bowie's work for the rest of the decade.

In early 1974, Bowie wrote the soul song "Take It in Right" as a single for Scottish singer Lulu. Although recording never came to fruition, while producing the session in New York City, he met funk guitarist Carlos Alomar, who would become Bowie's guide into black American music and, for the next 14 years, act as Bowie's bandleader. Before they met, Alomar was a session musician at the Apollo Theater, playing with the likes of James Brown, Chuck Berry and Wilson Pickett. Biographer Nicholas Pegg writes that ten years prior, one of Bowie's favourite records was Brown's '' Live at the Apollo'' (1963), so meeting a musician who played at the Apollo was a dream come true for Bowie. Although Alomar had never heard of Bowie when they met, they immediately connected and formed a working relationship that would last almost 15 years.

Towards the end of the first leg of his Diamond Dogs Tour in July 1974, Bowie resided at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, where he recorded the live album ''David Live'' (1974). During his stay, he visited Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia to work on recordings for American musician Ava Cherry, who he allegedly had an affair with at the time. The owners of Sigma were the writer-producer duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, who co-founded Philadelphia International Records, the home of many well-known black American musicians. Following the end of the first leg of the tour, Bowie returned to New York City to mix ''David Live'', where he requested a list of black albums to hear in preparation for his return to Sigma Sound.

Recording

For the backing band, Bowie wanted to hire MFSB (an acronym for "Mother Father Sister Brother"), a rhythm group of over 30 session musicians that resided at Sigma Sound. With the exception of percussionist Larry Washington, all members were unavailable, so Bowie traveled to New York City for further recruitment. Pianist Mike Garson, saxophonist David Sanborn and percussionist Pablo Rosario were retained from the Diamond Dogs Tour, while guitarist Earl Slick was replaced by Alomar. At Alomar's suggestion, Bowie hired former drummer of Sly and the Family Stone, Andy Newmark to replace Tony Newman and bassist Willie Weeks of the Isley Brothers to replace Herbie Flowers. When Bowie informed Visconti in London of Weeks' involvement, Visconti left for New York immediately, saying: "I'm a bass player myself, and eekswas my idol". Cherry, Alomar's wife Robin Clark and then-unknown singer Luther Vandross performed backing vocals for the sessions.

Philadelphia sessions

Demo work began at Sigma Sound on 8August 1974, but official work commenced three days later upon Visconti's arrival. Before Philadelphia, Bowie had spent most of his recording career in Britain, where recording methods were different from those in the States. At Olympic and Trident Studios in Britain, engineers applied equalisers and reverb as they were recording, so these effects were heard upon playback. At Sigma Sound, however, the engineers applied zero effects when recording, applying these during the mixing stage instead. As a result, Bowie was initially confounded when hearing the tapes back, as according to biographer Chris O'Leary, he "hadn't heard his 'naked' voice on tape in years."

"Take It in Right", now retitled "Can You Hear Me?", was one of the first songs recorded for the album, on 13August. The sessions moved rapidly, only taking two weeks to complete. It was agreed early on to record as much of the album as possible live, with the full band playing together, including Bowie's vocals, as a single continuous take for each song. According to Visconti, the album contains "about 85% 'live' David Bowie". During this time, Bowie's cocaine addiction heightened at a rapid pace, and as a result, he stayed up day and night recording while the band slept. According to Pegg, an anonymous musician recalled Bowie "waiting several hours for coke to be delivered from New York and he wouldn't perform until it came." His cocaine use affected his voice, creating what Bowie himself called "a real raspy sound" that prevented him from singing higher notes. Nevertheless, Bowie believed the album contained the highest notes he ever sang on record.

The sessions at Sigma Sound were very productive, resulting in numerous outtakes, including "After Today", "Who Can I Be Now?", "It's Gonna Be Me", a rerecording of "John, I'm Only Dancing" (titled " John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)"), "Lazer", "Shilling the Rubes", a scrapped rerecording of Bruce Springsteen's "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" and "Too Fat Polka". Upon Bowie's return to Philadelphia during the second half of the Diamond Dogs tour (referred to as the Soul tour) in November 1974, he and Visconti used the opportunity to add overdubs and start mixing. The recording attracted the attention of local fans, who began to wait outside the studio over the span of the sessions. Bowie built up a rapport with these fans, whom he came to refer to as the "Sigma Kids". On the final day of tracking, the Sigma Kids were invited into the studio to listen to rough versions of the new songs. The album was recorded under several working titles, including ''Dancin'', ''Somebody Up There Likes Me'', ''One Damned Song'' (a quote from the title track), ''The Gouster'', ''Shilling the Rubes'' and ''Fascination''. An early acetate of ''The Gouster'' provided by Visconti showed "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", "Who Can I Be Now?" and "It's Gonna Be Me" in the track-listing.

New York sessions

Following the conclusion of the Soul tour in December, Bowie, Visconti and Alomar regrouped at the Record Plant in New York City to record two new songs, "Fascination" and "Win". At this point, Bowie told ''Disc'' the title would be ''Fascination'' (named after the newly recorded track); "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" was still in the track-listing but the two new tracks replaced "Who Can I Be Now?" and "Somebody Up There Likes Me". Visconti, who believed the album was completely finished, returned to London to begin mixing, while Bowie remained in New York, working on separate mixing with in-house engineer Harry Maslin.

During this time, former Beatle John Lennon was working at the Record Plant on his 1975 covers album ''Rock 'n' Roll''. Lennon, who was in his famous " Lost weekend" period, had previously met Bowie in Los Angeles at a party hosted by actress Elizabeth Taylor in September 1974. The two connected and decided to record together. With Alomar, the two convened at Electric Lady Studios in New York in January 1975 and recorded " Fame" and a cover of Lennon's Beatles song "Across the Universe". In Visconti's absence, the session was co-produced by Bowie and Maslin. Alongside Alomar, Bowie invited guitarist Earl Slick and drummer Dennis Davis, making their debuts on a Bowie record, as well as bassist Emir Ksasan from the Soul tour band. Newcomers were percussionist Ralph MacDonald and backing vocalists Jean Fineberg and Jean Millington.

Mixing for ''Young Americans'' was completed at the Record Plant on 12January 1975. Bowie contacted Visconti about the collaborations with Lennon two weeks later. According to Pegg, Bowie was apologetic and asked if two tracks could be replaced by "Across the Universe" and "Fame"; the tracks replaced were "Who Can I Be Now?" and "It's Gonna Be Me". Commenting about the replacement, Visconti said: "Beautiful songs and it made me sick when he decided not to use them. I think it was the personal content of the songs which he was a bit reluctant to release, although it was so obscure I don't think even I knew what he was on about in them!"

Songs

''Young Americans'' presented a new musical direction for Bowie. Although songs on ''Diamond Dogs'', including "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" and "1984", exhibited a funk and soul direction, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that the blue-eyed soul showcased on ''Young Americans'' "came as a shock". Along with blue-eyed soul, the music has been described as R&B and Philadelphia soul, while Bowie himself labeled the sound of the album as " plastic soul", describing it as "the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak rock, written and sung by a white limey

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