David Bowie Invented ‘Plastic Soul’ on “Young Americans”

50th anniversary commemorated with a half-speed master

David Bowie was the alien-like rock and roll messiah to teenagers of the glam era, but none would’ve guessed that soul music was part of his musical DNA when his career started in the mid-60s. His initial flirtation with the genre stems back to his 1974 album, Diamond Dogs, with tracks like “Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me” and the Orwellian-inspired “1984.” The influence grew more potent on the tour supporting the album, with his cover of Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood” immortalized on the David Live album. The choice of recording the live album at Philadelphia’s Tower Theatre exemplified the city’s importance to the world of soul music, which became the focus of Bowie’s next project. 

During a break from the Diamond Dogs tour, David Bowie decamped to Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios. Personnel shuffling occurred to make way for a lineup Bowie deemed authentic to the soul stylings he was eager to embrace. Along with pianist Mike Garson, saxophonist David Sanborn, and percussionist Pablo Rosario from his touring band, new blood came from session guitarist Carlos Alomar, Sly and the Family Stone drummer Andy Newmark, and Isley Brothers bassist Willie Weeks. Bowie’s then-girlfriend Ava Cherry, Robin Clark, and a then-unknown Luther Vandross were notable backing vocalists. These sessions came to life under fast and loose circumstances, lasting only two weeks and recorded live with minimal overdubs. Further work commenced at New York’s Record Plant and Electric Lady Studios, where Bowie collaborated with friend and former Beatle John Lennon. 

The fruits of David Bowie’s new enthusiastic direction, which he dubbed ‘plastic soul’ to differentiate the genre’s Black American origins, came in March 1975 with the release of Young Americans. The album embraced both sides of the soulful coin, between the funk of the opening title track and the luscious orchestrations of “Win” and “Can You Hear Me.” Through it all, Carlos Alomar’s rhythmic guitar style, David Sanborn’s blaring saxophone, and the raspy tinge to Bowie’s vocals give the album its instrumental trademarks. As much as the backing band adds to the album’s flavor, the backing vocalists had a heavy hand in the album’s influence, with Luther Vandross receiving a co-writing credit on “Fascination” and the call-and-response vocal arrangements on “Right” and “Somebody Up There Likes Me.” Bowie wasn’t setting out to reinvent soul, but he added his twist by transforming the psychedelic John Lennon-penned Beatles track, “Across The Universe,” into a hard-hitting groover. 

The title of Young Americans is ironic because it enabled David Bowie to be fully embraced by the American record-buying public. The r&b/funk/soul stylings made the album an unintentional byproduct of the disco craze within mid-’70s pop culture. The release of the single “Fame,” co-written with Alomar and Lennon, gave Bowie his first No. 1 hit in America. Knowing for constantly evolving artistically from one year to the next, Bowie saw the album as a phony phase shortly after its release. Though not one to look back frequently with nostalgic lenses, he came to appraise the album in later years. In retrospect, Young Americans is an exercise in artistic liberation, not having to hone his craft while catering to a persona i/e Ziggy Stardust.

Young Americans is the next David Bowie album to receive a half-speed master for its 50th anniversary. Keeping it in line with other titles in the series, the first being Ziggy Stardust, the distinguishable feature is an OBI strip mentioning the Neumann cutting lathe and the restored 192kHz files. The original canvas-like cover found with original American pressings, replicated on the 2017 reissue, is done away for a more lightweight textured finish. The original printed inner sleeve of lyrics comes reformatted into an insert, which presents the record housed in a polylined sleeve with orange Bowie (in the style of the RCA logo) labels. 

The standard for David Bowie’s catalog in recent years, albeit digitally or in physical media, is the Ray Staff remasters included in the various “eras” box sets, Young Americans stemming from Who Can I Be Now? 1974-1976 and was the source of this pressing. The remasters vary from album to album, this one being respectable, but the result is the same as most of the other half speeds: lots of emphasis on the bass and mid-frequencies and lacking crispness. However, the slick production value of Young Americans enables the half-speed process to shine.

The opening drum fill of the title track is explosive, and there's plenty of air for the background vocals. “Win” inhabits a dream-like quality with phased guitars, filtered vocals, and fluttering saxophones. The groove on “Fascination” is impeccably set by the different rhythmic guitars panned between the speakers–it hits another sonic level with the auxiliary percussion during the chorus. Exceptional instrumentation separation can be heard on “Right,” with the guitar panned to the left and clavinet to the right. The bottom end is at its richest sounding on “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” and the background vocals pop out of the mix. “Can You Hear Me” is a fitting climax with Bowie’s emotional vocal delivery, rich sounding strings, and the acapella vocals during the outro sounding in your face. There is a punchy tightness between the staccato bass and distorted guitars on “Fame,” as the pitched cascading vocals bounce back and forth between the speakers. 

One of the astounding aspects of David Bowie’s artistry was his ability to adapt to any musical climate at any point in his varied career. In the case of Young Americans, out was the androgyny of glamorous London and in were the soulful sounds from the City of Brother Love.