David Bowie - Young Americans
RCA Canada (1975) cat# CPL1-0998
Transcription:
Ariston RD-11s turntable
Fidelity Research FR-12s tonearm
Nagaoka MP30 MM cartridge
Yamaha phono stage
M-Audio sound card for A-D conversion
33rpm vinyl rip @24bit/96khz resolution
Post transcription:
ClickRepair 3 Wavelet mode @33
Manual touchup on missed clicks
Manual touchup on leadin/out areas
Package peak levelled to 96.27%
Track to track levels preserved
WMA conversion by Easy CD-DA extractor
Personal Restore rating:
8.0/10
Notes:
This copy was an average commercial pressing.
The quality of RCA product had started to slide in 1974.
This copy had a low click count, but the intertrack vinyl
noise was a bit on the high side which made touching up the
intro and fade outs a bit of a challenge. This copy also
lacks the rich gloss characteristic of the better sounding
pressings.
I had to filter a small 1 sec spot at the end of 'Win' due
to a calcium deposit.
This was the third time this album has left the jacket
so the copy was Near Mint.
The cover scans were sourced externally but are similar
to the copy in this release.
Even though it is not rare, this version of the album
does not seem to surface that frequently.
Synopsis:
It's been my opinion this album is actually an
aggregation of 2 singles and an EP.
The A side single -- (Young Americans)
And the 'Look, I'm a Friend of John Lennon'
namedropper single A/B -- (Fame/Across the Universe)
The White Plastic Soul EP -- (Win/Fascination/
Right/Somebody/Can You Hear Me)
At any rate this was a complete departure for Bowie
and marked the 'keep up with me if you can' phase of
his career. The press seemed to enjoy this phase since
it did make for interesting articles but some of the longer
term fans were not quite as accomodating.
In a way this album was intended to be Bowie's big
mainstream breakthrough but he would have to wait for
Let's Dance to become the mega-star he always wanted
to be.
Track listing:
A1 - Young Americans
A2 - Win
A3 - Fascination
A4 - Right
B1 - Somebody Up There Likes Me
B2 - Across The Universe
B3 - Can You Hear Me
B4 - Fame
Comments:
Before this album, a new Bowie release was an event
which I awaited eagerly and I would save up my shillings
so that I could be one of the fortunate few to purchase
one of the two or three copies as soon as it arrived in
my local backwater.
This album arrived with a dull thud when it first hit my
turntable. It wasn't just that it was such a large departure
from the previous album, it just wasn't groundbreaking in any
way. What a contrast between Ziggy Stardust, A Lad Insane,
1984, to be followed up by Disco Dave.
The best track by a long stretch is 'Can You Hear Me' which
was actually a well crafted song. In retrospect, Time has
been kinder to this album than to its predecessor, Diamond
Dogs. But I certainly did not have that opinion at the time.
Hence this was dubbed to cassette and left to sit on the
shelf for quite a while. I didn't actually listen to the
album much until I bought a copy of the Ryko CD and after a
while I reached the point I didn't mind a listen to it.
Hope you enjoy this presentation of 1975 era technology.