DAVID BOWIE: Young Americans (EXTREMELY RARE 1999 JAPAN ADVANCE MEDIA SAMPLE PROMOTIONAL CD TOCP-65312) LONG OUT OF PRINT.
The David Bowie 24bit Digital Remaster Series No.8
In 1999 Toshiba-EMI Japan re-issued the entire David Bowie catalogue of albums. They were carefully digitally re-mastered to 24bit digital. The ORIGINAL ANALOG MASTER TAPES WERE USED FOR THE FIRST TIME FOR CD MASTERING. The original RCA CD's were mastered from copies of the Vinyl LP masters which sound great on vinyl but very thin on a CD. In 1990, Ryko remastered and issued the CD's at a time when mastering studio software was in its infancy and the results were reasonable but a little lifeless. The Ryko discs are mainly sought after because some have bonus tracks.
This was the first time they were properly mastered for CD by Peter Mew at Abbey Road Studios and they sound amazing. There are no bonus tracks etc, because the main aim here is to make the entire catalogue as David Bowie himself intended, every album as it was originally released but beautifully bought up to CD standard for the first time and preserve the integrity of each album.
This brilliant album, serves as a timeless masterpiece and tribute to DAVID BOWIE on CD. It is, in my opinion one of the greatest albums ever recorded and certainly a pinnacle of the 70's.
These original analogue masters have been digitally transferred at 24 bits resolution, processed using Sonic Solutions NoNoise technology and mastered to 16 bit for CD using Prism SNS Noise Shaping.
Bowie’s genius on this album is astounding, moving from rock to soul/r&b with his original flavour, apart from the 2 incredible singles “Fame” & “Young Americans”, I loved his version of “Across The Universe” my favourite Beatles song and to have John Lennon as a guest on the album was to good to be true. I just f***ing love it.
From Wikipedia:
Released on 7 March 1975. the album marked a departure from the glam rock style of Bowie's previous albums, showcasing his interest in soul and R&B. Initial recording sessions took place following the first leg of his Diamond Dogs Tour in August 1974 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia with producer Tony Visconti and a variety of musicians, including guitarist Carlos Alomar, who would become one of Bowie's most frequent collaborators, and singer Luther Vandross.
After the initial sessions, the tour continued, with the setlist and design changed due to the influence of the new material recorded; this portion of the tour has been labeled "the Soul tour". At the end of the tour, sessions continued at Electric Lady Studios and the Record Plant in New York City, which included contributions from former Beatle John Lennon. Bowie would label the album's sound "plastic soul".
The album was very successful in the US; reaching the Top 10 in the Billboard charts, with the song "Fame" hitting No. 1 the same year. It peaked at No.9 in Australia, No.2 in the UK and Top 10 around the world.
This is an extremely rare PROMOTIONAL PRE-RELEASE ADVANCE MEDIA REVIEW COPY of the 1999 Japanese CD ISSUE OF YOUNG AMERICANS. Released in a jewel case with sixteen page booklet and folded sheet with lyrics and information in Japanese as part of the "David Bowie Series" printed on the obi strip.
THIS IS AN EXTREMELY RARE STILL FACTORY SEALED JAPANESE FIRST PRESSING PROMO CD FROM 1999! I CANNOT FIND ANOTHER ONE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD AT THE TIME OF MAKING THIS AD.
ONE OF THE JEWELS OF MY COLLECTION. I personally love all the Japanese issues above the rest of the world, not only sonically but for the fantastic packaging. I have another non promo copy of this CD and it sounds awesome. As a collector the most important thing is rarity. There aren't many of these around, and I can't find another PROMO COPY of this anywhere else in the world that is mint, brand new like mine.
As the years go by, these albums are going to get harder and harder to find as CD production is falling every year. It won't be long before rare CD's are selling for more than vinyl. CD's don't wear out, vinyl records do. I grew up with vinyl but the only thing I miss are the covers.
OUT OF PRINT JAPANESE PROMO PRESSING. Toshiba Japanese promo CD's are the most sought after by collectors like me because the stamping and numbering on the inner ring of the CD means they make a separate glass master just for promo samples. This means only one metal master stamper is produced instead of the father-mother-stamper method for regular CD's. This means SUPREME QUALITY, or the best it possibly can be as an exact copy of the original master without any data loss in production.
I love collecting Japanese CD's, they are generally superior quality to the rest of the world on every level in my opinion. All the JAPANESE CD's I own are the best sounding in the world with very few exceptions!!
IT IS BRAND NEW STILL FACTORY SEALED. Has been packed away in storage for over 26 years!
Tracklisting:
01. Young Americans
02. Win
03. Fascination
04. Right
05. Somebody Up There Likes Me
06. Across The Universe
07. Can You Hear Me
08. Fame
For the serious collectors, afflicted with “must have” disease:
THE JAPANESE DAVID BOWIE 1999, 24bit Digital Remaster Series
* Each CD has a number on the spine(listed below), when the CD’s are stacked in the correct order, side by side. “DAVID BOWIE” appears across all the spines with a small picture of David to signify which album it is at the top of each spine. Although these CD’s were a global release, only the Japanese series had this exclusive artwork.
01. TOCP-65305 Space Oddity
02. TOCP-65306 The Man Who Sold The World
03. TOCP-65307 Hunky Dory