YOUNG AMERICANS

Ziggy Stardust traded his guitar for a saxophone Young Americans was released in 1975 and has a much different sound and style than on Bowie's classic three (Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane). The style has suddenly ch-ch-ch-changed from glam rock to soul. During this period Bowie had developed a cocaine addiction and had changed from the flambouyant Ziggy Stardust to a nerdy shady chactor called The Thin White Duke. Young Americans is the opener, great way to start off the album and it sets the mood for the entire album, 2min and 15sec into the song there is a great saxophone solo and the song has very good lyrics and strong female-backing-vocals. Next is Win, which is soft compared to the title track, the song has thick guitar and has back-up strings...all you've got, to do, is win. Track three Fascination: the best song on the album, in my opinion they should have had this as the 2nd track, to add to the overall sound of the album. Fascination has outstanding playing from every member especially the drums and sax. Right is slower and softer than the previous, has very good guitar work. The only downfall about this album is, at times (especially this song) has very poor lyrics that just repeat certain phrases, other than that the music/sound of Right is fantastic. Somebody Up There Likes Me is more up-beat than the previous and has remarkable arragements and is very catchy, the strong saxophone lines are the best part about the song. On the original version the next song would be a horrible version of Across The Universe, that really throws off the soul feeling, by far the worst song on the album. But on my version of the album, Across The Universe is completly left out and replaced by It's Gonna Be, the slowest song on the album and the 2nd longest behind the previous song Somebody Up There Likes Me. Can You Hear Me? another tender song with strings and soft vocals and drums. An overall good song. Fame: with Young Americans were the two big hits. Fame is very catcy, funky and at the end, crazy. John Lennon from The Beatles plays guitar and sings "fame". The last track is called Who Can I Be Now which is one of the strongest songs on the album. It has a piano peice that sounds like something off of 1971's Hunky Dory. This song is either my favorite or 2nd favorite behind the intense sound of Fascination. Extremely good song, one of Bowie's best. This album is not prog-rock at all...this album is flat-out soul. If I were to rate it by Progressive-Qualities I would rate it 1-star. For overall sound/music of the album, the production, arragments and performance, I would rate it 3&3/4-stars.