5: April 27th — Plastic Soul: Young Americans and Station to Station
Watch:
- “Young Americans”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLcs4VrjZQ
- “Bowie on ABCs Soul Train 1975 Nov 4th”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcoju5QP5iM
- “Bowie at Victoria Station”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFV-RQS4EJE
- “David Bowie German 1984 TV Clip (with the infamous "76 Victoria Station Nazi salute)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_k55hlfcdI
Blog question: Pick one song from Young Americans and one from Station to Station and compare them. How does Young Americans lead into Station to Station?
I definitely noticed the interplay between Young Americans and Station to Station when it came to the heavy influence of Black soul music. This was my first time listening to the two albums, and while I definitely enjoyed listening to both of them, I was surprised at how overt the soul/funk influence was. To me, Young Americans (the track) sounded almost identical to SNL’s opening credits song (which I found amusing). I also thought that the lyrics would be suitable for a sitcom theme song for some result. I found the song to be extremely catchy and was humming the chorus to myself all day. I think Station to Station shared a lot of similar elements with YA, yet it sounded more like the old Bowie. The album felt a bit more rock-heavy and his vocals regained that signature echo-y/ethereal sound. I think there was a smooth transition between Young Americans and Golden Years — the songs flowed into one another. Having said that, Golden Years sounded a bit more subdued when compared to the upbeat sound of YA. This was also one of the songs where I noticed a far more discernible change in Bowie’s vocal delivery.
ReplyDelete- Oksana
I completely agree with Oksana that the Black soul music was a distinguishing feature in Bowie's music this week compared to last week and was a similarity between the two albums. The distinguishing factor was that Young Americans felt more welcoming and danc-y meanwhile Station to Station was a bit murkier, a bit more desolate in feel and experimental in style. Comparing the two title tracks had this effect on me from the beginning of both albums but is maintained throughout the record and I think both title tracks are a decent summary of the entire albums. One thing in particular I noticed from the get go of Young Americans was the Beatles reference. Bowie at one point sings "I read the news today, oh boy," a famous line from the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life" off of Sgt Pepper's. Then, as we continue through the album, Bowie sings his cover of 'Across the Universe' which personally I loved more than the Beatles version. Bowie's vocal performance and his playing around with the rhythm of the words s of the song's chorus felt like it gave me a fresh appreciation of the song and new outlook on the lyrics. Overall I wonder what this Beatles tribute means for the album of Young Americans as a whole. At first impression it does give it a different tone and significant than that of Station to Station. What might Bowie be commenting about UK-US relations at the time? Also i did read online that Bowie was a known fan and lover of the Beatles, as are the rest of us I'm sure :-) Im excited to discuss the documentary in class!!!! (I watched it after already listening to the albums and it was a shockingly fun but evil twist, I did not pick up on that info from Bowie in my first listening of Station to Station)
ReplyDeleteDavid Bowie’s “Young Americans” sounds like an upbeat tune that provokes interest by maintaining a solid positive rhythm. The lyrics of the song are very catchy and easy to sing along to, and pair well with the hopeful attitude.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite different from his song “Golden Years” from his Station to Station album. Golden years seems to try to sound “cool” rather than upbeat and separate itself a bit from pop. The funk inspired guitar and bass give a “groovy” kind of feel that leads to an attitude of ease rather than positivity. The second song compared to the first feels more relaxed and in its element as the first song seemed to try to catch your attention with a vibe that is happy and exciting and energetic.
The albums Young Americans and Station to Station both show a significant shift from Bowie’s previous glam rock era into something different. While Young Americans is heavily influenced by Black American music, mainly soul, funk, and R&B, Station to Station incorporates these elements, but also returns to more rock influences, while introducing some new ones such as krautrock. In a way, Young Americans, from its title to its music, continues to follow Bowie as he lives and works in the US, while Station to Station signals a return back to Europe. Both albums, even through the guise of distance attributed to terms such as “plastic soul” to describe the music, or the introduction of a new persona, the Thin White Duke, portray many of Bowie's struggles as he deals with love, fame, faith, addiction, and isolation.
ReplyDeleteParticularly, “Fame,” as the closing song of Young Americans, finishes the album at an interesting point. With it’s funky beat, saxophone, and guitar riff, paired with Bowie’s long-winded delivery of the titular word and John Lennon’s backing vocals, the song is simultaneously very danceable, but also laden with darker and more cynical undertones. Lyrics like “Fame (fame) puts you there where things are hollow” speak of the difficulties of fame, and the inauthenticity or “hollowness” that comes with it. Meanwhile the opening of Station to Station, “Station to Station,” incorporates guitar feedback that switches into a slow sort of meandering beat, going into Bowie’s vocals that resemble some of his older work and eventually change from slow and controlled to more upbeat. Essentially, this continues to follow Bowie’s struggles with knowing himself and his feelings, as he is “lost in [his] circle,” and struggling with his cocaine addiction, while also returning as “The European canon.”
It was my first time listening to these two albums all the way through, and I found that Young Americans and Station to Station contrasted Bowie’s preceding records through their lyrical simplicity and lack of complex world or character building (like in Ziggy Stardust). Both albums were very pleasant to listen to and gave a groovy, fun vibe, but there was nothing mystical or mysterious about them. Bowie himself classifies Young Americans as “plastic soul”, suggesting that the lack of complexity within the lyrics is a deliberate decision, potentially to focus on the sound of the instruments and the style of music (funk, soul) instead. The track that highlights this the most to me is “Fame”, with its constant anaphora of the title, alongside its catchy, funky tune.
ReplyDeleteIt’s easy to see how Young Americans can be considered a transitional album in many ways. Firstly, Bowie alludes to his previous space-related metaphors and characters with song titles like “Across the Universe” and “Somebody Up There Loves Me”. Similar to several tracks on Aladdin Sane, he continues drawing from distinctly American imagery in his songs: “It's a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)/ It's a drive-in Saturday” (Drive in Saturday) and “Well, he wants the young American/ Do you remember your President Nixon?” (Young Americans). While there wasn’t a specific persona assigned to Young Americans, this album definitely helped Bowie gear up for his Thin White Duke character in Station to Station, with his increased use of piano and what sounded like musical theater elements to me.
Station to Station - while it is a short album, almost all of its tracks are over 6 minutes long, which adds to the musicality of the album to me. While listening to this album, I could imagine most of the songs being performed as part of a musical or movie, rather than at a concert. The talk-singing that Bowie does in Golden Years “In the back of a dream car twenty foot long/Don't cry, my sweet, don't break my heart/ Doing all right, but you gotta get smart/Wish upon, wish upon, day upon day” especially highlights this”. In part, I think this element comes from how seriously Bowie seemed to take his Thin White Duke persona outside of performances and in real life, leading to several controversies during that time.
Side note, but my favorite song from this time period is “John, I’m Only Dancing” and I genuinely wonder why Bowie chose to leave it off of Young Americans.
Tanvi Gaitonde
This was the first time I had listened to both of these albums and I really enjoyed Station to Station. It baffles me how Bowie managed to write such great pieces despite living the crazy life that he was. It just goes to show how much raw talent Bowie had, as he could spit out great songs while being at rock bottom, mentally.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the link between Young Americans and Station to Station, I felt that ‘Fame’ from Young Americans and ‘Golden years’ from Station to Station were similar, in that they both had elements of funk and disco in them. In my opinion, “Golden years” stood out from the rest of the songs in its album as it seemed a lot more fun and groovy compared to the other, highly experimental songs in the album. Additionally, the lyrical content on both of these seem to lead into each other. ‘Fame’ details the various annoyances famous people face with their shallow audiences, bad managers and with their overall fame. ‘Golden years’ seems to be addressed towards someone spiralling who is no longer motivated and does not seem to enjoy their life despite being in their prime. The song advises them to “come get up” and rise from their disappointment. While some research told me that this song might have been written for Bowie’s first wife, I initially interpreted it as a song made to motivate anyone, including Bowie, when they feel themselves spiralling. To me, this feels like Bowie recognising that the annoyances and struggles faced by him when he wrote ‘Fame’ had exacerbated his drug problems and mental health issues, and so he wrote this song to motivate himself to get back and live out his “golden years” rather than wasting it away.
- Natasha Mubeen
Listening to both of these albums all the way through was certainly marking a departure for Bowie from his glam rock side to a contrasting, new character for himself. Whereas Aladdin Sane seemed to be a more consistent continuation of Ziggy Stardust, we now see him introducing the Thin White Duke, a more frightening alter-ego of sorts now. For Young Americans, "Fame" we really see a more in depth view of the topic of being a superstar that Aladdin Sane started to cover as well. In the funk rock song, with lyrics such as "Fame (fame) makes a man take things over / Fame (fame) lets him lose hard to swallow" Bowie echoes how fame truly might not be all that it's cut out to be. Gone is the sort of wonder and chaotic world building of sorts that the previous albums had created, but that doesn't mean the musical talent is gone. Bowie's focus is on how fame can ruin lives, take parts of someone away, and troubles in general. As we head to Station to Station, Bowie's "Station to Station" song opens the album for an over 10 minute long introduction. It has an edge-of-your-seat build up that goes insane as the song continues on. It is heartbreaking knowing that Bowie was at one of his worst periods of his life at the time, cocaine fueled lifestyle, with this song emerging as some sort of cry out towards the world. Though the character of the Thin White Duke was shown to be more restrained and cold, inside was emotion and heartbreak. The two albums share in this sort of cohesive cautionary tale about fame and its facade. Station to Stations mere number of songs is made up for in the lengths and integrity of them. Where Young American's funk rock and "groove" is present in Station to Station, the latter seems to be a bit of a departure towards the future era of Bowie when he inevitably goes to Germany.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Station to Station's "
At first, I thought the title track of Young Americans and "Golden Years" almost directly contradicted each other in their themes. "Young Americans" talks about the despondence that comes with feeling your best years were in your youth and they're long behind you, as the main character of the narrative in the song is stuck with a guy she got together with at a young age. As the song progresses, she feels more and more trapped in her marriage and life, and eventually Bowie sings "We live for just these twenty years / Do we have to die for the fifty more?" meaning that this woman's take on her life is that it was only worth living when she was young, and the rest of her life is just waiting to die while she wades through adult troubles like the "bills you have to pay." Whereas, with "Golden Years," at surface level "golden years" refers to the enjoyable years after retirement, and Bowie sings in the chorus "I'll stick with you baby for a thousand years / Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years," seeming to imply that the golden years are the best years for him and his "baby." As the track goes on, though, a darker tone emerges, like "run for the shadows in these golden years," with shadows of course having a negative connotation of darkness, in contrast to the "golden" imagery of the title. Also, the person the song is addressed to seems to need to be consoled throughout the lyrics, especially since the chorus repeats "There's my baby, lost that's all / Come get up my baby" which leads me to think that maybe these aren't the "golden years" at all, and the catchy repetition of the "golden years" is supposed to thinly veil a layer of darkness and relationship turmoil in what is perceived to be a happy time in one's life (possibly Bowie's period of greatest fame?) which would tie back in to the themes of "Young Americans" after all.
ReplyDeleteSofia Potter
Both albums, as do most of Bowie’s albums, are a departure from his previous styles. As a lot of people mentioned already, the influence of soul music and R & B is particularly evident in Young Americans. In comparing the titular track from each album, there is a stark contrast in the style from the very start. While young Americans is more upbeat and danceable, station to station builds more slowly and is more of an epic of sorts, with different movements, so to speak. Station to station is also when we first start seeing more german influences, mixed in along with the black american soul music from young americans. I also noticed a similarity between the track Station to Station and Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, which starts off with the sound of a car door and other effects that make use of stereo speakers and a slowly building, driving beat. Similarly, station to station starts off in a similar way, using sounds and strange effects not particularly associated with any particular instrument sound, and taking its time to build up to the rest of the song. This one song, through its distinct “movements,” seems to encompass Bowie’s previous musical influences on young americans and his newer german influences.
ReplyDelete- Mia Sparks
DeleteAlthough Bowie completely reached out to new genres in Young Americans with songs like “Fame,” Station to Station saw Bowie forge together soul and his earlier genres on tracks like “TVC15.” Young Americans also set up a thematic groundwork for Bowie to continue exploring in his later album. Sonically, “Fame” is a hard but laid back, funky song featuring rough vocals and frequent breaks. By ending Young Americans with the song, Bowie is perhaps proclaiming his ultimate fear, and his future, to be getting lost and isolated in superstardom. This is apparent in lines like, “Fame, (fame) what you get is no tomorrow/Fame, (fame) what you need you have to borrow.” Interestingly, that couplet was allegedly supplied to him by John Lennon, a friend who would obviously know the material he was writing about. Bowie had not yet hit Beatles-level fame when this album was released, but his anxiety about it is clear. For better or for worse, in Station to Station Bowie seems to have come to terms with that fear, and has fully embraced his dark new reality. “TVC15,” while not exactly jubilant, does return Bowie’s more typical keys, underscoring a borderline glam-rock sound. Bowie refers to his television as “a very good friend” that he wants to get lost inside of, after watching a girl he was with do the same. He sings about a “transmission transition” and seems to be seeking change.
ReplyDelete- Elizabeth Gulli
Both Young Americans and Station to Station stand out as distinct albums that share a common persona and themes of hardship. I didn't know until I read Idella's post that Bowie took on a new persona, the Thin White Duke. According to my research, the Thin White Duke sang songs of intense romance even though the White Duke was emotionless himself. The sounds in Young Americans felt jazz inspired and had slower toons with an emphasizes on the saxophone. Station to Station broke this mold with 2-min long interesting avant-garde guitar intros. In Bowie's song "Across the Universe" the lyrics repeat over and over again how broken Bowie feels in this trapped world he has fallen into. He yearns for healing, but feels too lost to know where to start. The song itself feels melancholy and almost like Bowie is weeping while singing it: "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup/They slither while they pass they slip away across the universe/Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind/Possessing and caressing me/Jai guru deva, Om/Nothing's gonna change my world." Bowie was calling out to the world that he was struggling (as other posts noted above with a drug addiction) and depressed under this guise of an all American family style album. By the time Bowie fully embraced this new persona in Station to Station, his music became more sporadic, fast-paced, and guitar heavy. In "Word on a Wing" from Station to Station, Bowie sings "Lord, I kneel and offer you/My word on a wing/And I'm trying hard to fit among/Your scheme of things." Both songs embody Bowie's desire to feel like he has a place in this world, one where his purpose is not lost or clouded by fame. Again, in "Word on a Wing," Bowie sounds like he is crying out for help and sounds of the piano and bass are very similar to "Across the Universe." Both songs are very religious and have Bowie crying out to a God for help or throwing around sayings like "Jai guru deva, Om" (approximates as "glory to the shining remover of darkness" and can be paraphrased as "Victory to God divine"). In "Word on a Wing," Bowie relies on sounds of angel like voices singing in the background to convey this religious feel and in "Across the Universe," he relies on slow guitar, drums, and some background singers. The lyrics of the songs in the slower, jazz-inspired Young Americans provided the context for Bowie's transition to Station to Station, giving him an opportunity to introduce the concept of this sadder, romanticized Thin White Duke.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Cohen
Although I’ve heard the song “Fame” countless times before in media, I’ve never made the connection that it’s a Bowie song because it’s just so different from everything else I’ve heard from him, especially since I’ve never listened to these two albums. Much like the other songs in the album “Young Americans,” “Fame” is very (forgive my lack of music terminology knowledge) subdued and groovy, bordering very heavily on R & B and funk. I noticed that he doesn’t focus as much on melody or lyric here, as it’s very rhythmically centered; I could picture this being the music at a 70’s discotheque. The song “Station to Station” from his next album was similarly more subdued, with continuous rhythmic patterns. However, in contrast to “Fame,” “Station to Station” felt more similar to some of the older Bowie albums we’ve listened to; perhaps it has to do with the instrumentation, as well as the return of prominent piano. It definitely feels more “true rock” than “Fame” did. Additionally, “Station to Station” is much more dynamic with the vocals; although there is still quite a bit of repetition, but less so than in “Fame.” Although the repeated portions in “Fame” made me feel that the song was a touch drawn out, “Station to Station” doesn’t feel needlessly long, despite being 10 minutes long (6 minutes longer than “Fame”). “Station to Station” actually even felt like a transition song, keeping many of the elements from the “Young Americans” album, with maintaining some funky elements, and heavy focus on rhythm and repetitive verses. Other songs like “Golden Years” and “Stay” both retained the rock style, but they don’t quite have the edge like some older albums have, keeping that subdued tone from “Young Americans.” Interestingly, I noticed the trend that between the two albums, the songs become longer on average, but the song list gets shorter. Bowie also seems to really lean into extended instrumental segments (accompanied by simple, repeated vocals so as not to overshadow them), which I really enjoyed!
ReplyDelete-Mila Daniel
It is very cool to see Bowie transition into this very soul and R&B style in Young Americans. Especially, since his previous album was so rock and roll focused this album fits very well with the time period around the 70s and this goal to find his style with soul music. This is very apparent in the actual song Young Americans, where we hear Bowie’s use of background singers adding to his vocals as well as the additions of instruments such as the saxophone creating a very strong R&B sound. I feel like he does a really good job of combining his own glam rock with soul music to create this album. While Young Americans relies on Bowie’s influence with soul and R&B it becomes apparent that Bowie moves out of this influence into his album Station to Station. In this album, Bowie gains great influence from European funk and creates very heart-felt and strong ballads. While the album still has a strong influence from funk and soul as seen in songs like Golden Years where there is a strong use of instrumentals and the base, Bowie really starts this new transition into electronic music in Europe. In my opinion, this album sounds a lot like Talking Heads to me so it’s cool to see how maybe Talking Heads was influenced by Bowie’s work. Overall, in this album, Bowie really replied on the sounds of disco and funk to create this new Avante-garde sound for the 70s and going into the 80s.
ReplyDelete- Ella Barnes
Young Americans is different from previous albums we have listened to because it has more of a funk and soul influence. The song “Fascination” really stood out to me because of its funky and groovy beat. I read some background about the song and was surprised to learn that it was originally written by Luther Vandross about walking through the streets of New York listening to music and feeling happy. But Bowie added certain lyrics to change the song and make it darker. Lyrics like “I’ve got to use her” paint a story of someone walking the streets addicted to drugs. I think this dependence and influence of drugs leads into Station to Station. The album seems to still be funk-driven, especially with songs like “Golden Years" but a with a bit more rock influence like in songs like “Stay”. However, “Stay” is similar to “Fascination” when Bowie sings “Maybe I’ll take something to help me” in that both reference drugs, a central part of his life at the time.
ReplyDelete-Sydney Beale
The listening material for this week was quite enjoyable! I had heard very few of the songs on either of these albums, probably only one from each. I knew the song “Fame” - both David Bowie’s version and Duran Duran’s version - from Young Americans and I knew the song “Golden Years” from Station to Station. I will compare the title track of Young Americans and “Golden Years” from Station to Station now. When “Young Americans” began, it sounded distinctly American, even without paying attention to the title of the song. Then, adding in the title of the song and the lyrics, it is clear that Bowie was emulating American life with this track. He referenced many aspects of American society with this track, including references of President Richard Nixon and the Ford Motor Company, among other things. Outside of the lyrics, however, the musical instruments utilized - the horns, for example - and the background voices - African American voices that were a major part of American music at the time and still are today - also created this atmosphere of being a distinctly American song. The musical instruments utilized and the background voices in “Golden Years” also work to paint this American-esque atmosphere for the track. Unlike “Young Americans,” “Golden Years” does not have explicit references to aspects of American life, although the line “In the back of a dream car twenty foot long” seems to be a reference to the very large vehicles that once permeated American life, such as in the 1950s. I think the style of both of the songs is overall quite similar, although it seems that Bowie branches out from simply following the instrumentals of the song more in “Golden Years” than he does in “Young Americans,” maybe because he has begun to feel more comfortable singing this style of music and incorporating some of his earlier stylistic techniques into songs of this distinctly different, more soul-inspired, style. Young Americans leads into Station to Station quite well. Young Americans is a quick departure from his last album Diamond Dogs. He begins to be heavily influenced by soul music, and this is very evident in both of the following albums. After jumping to this new style with Young Americans, it seems as though Bowie takes a brief step back and he creates a more conceptual and abstract album, working to connect vocal techniques utilized with previous albums and somewhat forgotten in Young Americans with his next album, Station to Station.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
I very rarely say this but I genuinely believe that 'Young Americans' just "isn't for me." I think that a lot of the songs sound like David Bowie doing Bruce Springsteen karaoke. To be honest, it was somewhat hard to listen to for me as none of the songs gripped my attention at all. If I had to say, I would probably say that 'Win' or 'Can You Hear Me?" were my favorite tracks. After listening to 'Station to Station,' it almost felt like the previous album was parody. 'Young Americans' lacks the complex and aesthetically pleasing instrumentation that we have come to expect from Bowie after albums like 'The Man Who Sold the World' and 'Ziggy Stardust,' but these along with an amount of catchiness are present once again on 'Station to Station.' I throughly enjoyed this album and I was interested in seeing what each song had to offer. The bass and guitar tones on this album really shine through and complement Bowie's voice in interesting and different ways. My personal favorite song on this track was the closer, 'Wild is the Wind.' I have heard the version of this song by Nina Simone, who is probably my favorite female artist of her era (50s and 60s) and I think that the Bowie version really added something to it that wasn't present before which I think is interesting considering how little life and style was added to the Beatles cover on 'Young Americans.' I think that the comparisons I have made thus far have somewhat covered the stylistic differences, however, to be succinct, I think that there is very much an unpleasant wedding band thing going on in 'Young Americans,' however, 'Station to Station' brought back the individuality, artistry and instrumentation that defined Bowie's earlier albums. Finally, the production on 'Young Americans' was nowhere near as clean as the earlier Bowie albums or 'Station to Station,' even after being remastered. I personally don't see a connection between these two albums. More, I see 'Young Americans' as a temporary lapse of judgement and 'Station to Station' as a powerful rectifier of this lapse.
ReplyDelete- Charles Whitcomb
Coming off of Aladdin Sane, Young Americans was quite an interesting listening experience, one that definitely marks yet another transitional stage in Bowie’s career. We did not focus too much on Diamond Dogs, but my understanding from last week’s lecture is that after that album, Ziggy Stardust was officially dead. However, hints of the fizzling out the persona I feel were also present in Aladdin Sane, as, while the music was still experimental, it was becoming more commercialized. In Young Americans, that American influence is still present, but less so in terms of American rock; rather, in this album, Bowie embraced influences from American soul. From the first song, “Young Americans,” Bowie’s reliance on supportive backing vocals and the saxophone is established, and they are both seen prominently throughout the rest of the work. Specifcally, I think the only songs on the album that don’t feature saxophone are “Across the Universe” and “Fame.” One track, in particular, that really fascinated me on this album happens to open with saxophone, and that song is “Win.” This song reflects the more subdued side to Bowie’s music, which, over the past few albums, I feel has been less represented in lieu of complex rock tunes. What I love most about “Win” is its unique vocals, which, in the chorus, are drawn out to maintain a deliberate, engaging syncopation that leaves room for the backing vocals. It is also interesting to note that “Win” and the other songs on Young Americans are quite long, a trend that continues in the following album, Station to Station. Instead of having more songs that are short, these two albums both have fewer songs that are long. In fact, Station to Station only has six tracks. The two significant musical motifs of Station to Station’s predecessor, the dominating saxophone and chorus, are also far less present in this work, which I think says something about this career stage in general. A song I really liked on this album is “Wild is the Wind,” which is another slower piece, but the only voice heard this time is Bowie’s. Bowie is still experimenting post-Ziggy and pulling from different inspirations. Therefore, this album reflects the continuing changes he is undergoing as an artist, and he is establishing what he wants to continue using in his work and what he doesn’t.
ReplyDelete- Devin Bosley
Compared to Bowie’s older work, he definitely takes a different approach to Young Americans and Station to Station. One song from Young Americans that sticks out to me most is “Fame.” I found this song intriguing because John Lennon sings backup to Bowie. In this song, Bowie focuses less on the lyrics and more on the rhythm and sound. Although there is less of an emphasis on lyrics, Bowie sticks with his frequent theme, beginning with Ziggy Stardust, discussing the toxicity and detriment of fame. Throughout this whole album, there are definitely elements of soul music and even some R&B present. The song “Golden Years” is one of my favorite songs on Station to Station. It has a very funky beat to it and is probably the most similar song on this album to ones of Young American. The transition from Young Americans to Station to Station furthers the funk tone, but combines it with the rock we have seen from Bowie before. This additive of rock elements might be because of the change in Bowie’s personal life. This is when his cocaine addiction really picks up, therefore, this probably had an affect on the overall vibe/mood of Station to Station.
ReplyDeleteSofia Sabra
Like others, this was my first time listening to these two albums all the way through and I was greatly surprised by Bowie's dive in jazz/funk/soul music. Between these two albums the only song I was previously familiar with was "Fame" and now seeing this song in context of Young Americans as a whole, the groovy tone makes more sense. As for songs between Young Americans and Station to Station that are similar, I saw a lot of parallels between "Can You Hear Me" off of Young Americans and "Wild is the Wind" off of Station to Station. Both songs are more subdued and laid back than a lot of the other more overt soul or funk tracks on the album. Both are love ballads. Like Young Americans as a whole when compared to Station to Station, "Can You Hear Me" is more groovy/funky than "Wild is the Wind" with its sultry saxophone and soulful background singers. "Wild is the Wind" is more barren or raw which I think matches the tone of Station to Station accurately. Although "Wild is the Wind" is not a Bowie original and was recorded a tribute to Nina Simone's beautiful cover of the song, he truly made it his own and made it fit the flow and tone of the album perfectly (unlike his "Across the Universe" cover on Young Americans, in my opinion). Lyrics like "I want love so badly/I want you most of all/You know, it's harder to take it from anyone/It's harder to fall/Can you hear me call ya?" and "You touch me/I hear the sound of mandolins/You kiss me/With your kiss my life begins/You're spring to me, all things to me" display the hopeless romance of the Thin White Duke while the stark timbre of Bowie's voice convey his emotional unavailability.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought these two albums were great complements to one another and Station to Station especially fleshes out the character of the Thin White Duke. (Off topic, but I thought it was super interesting how Bowie portrayed the Thin White Duke as an "Aryan superman" and overt fascist but Young Americans and Station to Station heavily relied on genres like soul/jazz/funk that were created by Black musicians. Maybe a comment on how white musicians have been co-opting/stealing content pioneered by Black creators for decades?)
- Addison Harms
Young American and Station to Station are the lesser-known albums to me, although I did know the cover of Wild is the Wind. Young American is not my favorite album. However, I have to give credit to Bowie for really incorporating American elements in his music further than he did in Aladdin Sane. The track Young Americans sound like a sitcom opening theme song. In other words, it almost sounds corny to me, but I can't deny how beautiful the instruments and background vocals sound either. The lyrics, on the other hand, appear like they're exciting. However, they are actually depressing. The song begins with two young people who are having a good time, but it quickly ends when a commitment gets involved. It's interesting to see how many young adults in the '70s are like young adults today. This song reminds me of Young Lust by Pink Floyd in a weird way because Young Lust came out after Young Americans.
ReplyDeleteStation to Station was a record I never really listened to, but the cover Wild is the Wind. I love how Bowie adds his elements to the song but keeps the integrity of its original jazz components. The track itself is timeless. I feel like the addition of the acoustic drums and the guitar really adds a theatrical dimension to the song.