David Bowie

Bowie's interest in the Philadelphia soul sound of the 1970s merged with his Anglo-Saxon disgust for the cocaine-fueled high life he was then enjoying to create the blueprint for early '80s New Wave. Disco for those who hated themselves for dancing their lives away, this features the monster hit "Fame" and the brilliant title track.

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 Englis... More >

This is a failure. The tunes make (Lennon-McCartney's) "Across the Universe" sound like a melodic highlight, and although the amalgam of English hard rock and Philly soul is so thin it's interesting, it often overwhelms David's voice, which is even thinner. But after the total alienation of Diamond Dogs and the total ripoff of David Live, I'm pleased with Bowie's renewed generosity of spirit--he takes pains to simulate compassion and risks failure simply by moving on. His reward is two successes: the title tune, in which pain stimulates compassion, and (Bowie-Lennon-Alomar's) "Fame," which rhymes with pain and makes you believe it. (Grade - B-)