doesn't have the mad theatrical scope of Diamond Dogs or the formal audacity of Station to Station; at times, it comes off as an artist trying very hard to demonstrate how unpredictable he is." Nevertheless, Wolk also praised the fact that "while there had already been a handful of disco hits on the pop charts, no other established rock musician had yet tried to do anything similar." Ultimate Classic Rocks Jeff Giles gave the album a positive review, saying "it remains a beloved bright spot in a discography with more than its share". As a whole, Perone finds that Young Americans lacks the musical cohesiveness of its predecessors and Station to Station, while some of the tracks, including "Across the Universe", "Can You Hear Me" and "Fame", act better as standalone tracks. Nevertheless, he commends the record's musical accessibility and concludes: "[The album] would better balance [Bowie's] fascination of more exotic characters with his observations about more widely universal characters better than any of his pre-Young Americans albums." Buckley considers Young Americans to be one of Bowie's most influential records and writes that it brought fans of both glam rock and soul together in the wake of the disco era. Pegg similarly states that "By jumping on the Stax/George McCrae bandwagon" with the album, "Bowie had undertaken the first significant excursion into Black Soul by a mainstream white artist," and paved the way for other artists to engage in similar styles. Sandford adds that while many British rockers have tried and failed to experiment with black musical styles, Bowie was one of the first to succeed. In the UK, artists who would follow in Bowie's footsteps were Elton John (with his single "Philadelphia Freedom"), Roxy Music (with their single "Love Is the Drug") and Rod Stewart (with his album Atlantic Crossing). Pegg writes that Bowie's foray into soul and funk would influence numerous bands in ensuing years, including Talking Heads, Spandau Ballet, Japan and ABC. Spitz writes that Young Americans was also Bowie's first album in three years to not feature Ziggy Stardust, but Bowie himself. By not featuring Ziggy, Bowie showcased maturity, which Sandford believes was his ticket into the US market. Indeed, the album turned Bowie from "a mildly unsavoury cult artist to a chat-show friendly showbiz personality" in the US. Biographer Paul Trynka states that although the album as a whole is inconsistent, it nevertheless at the