It's actually somewhat notable that Neil Young has recorded on only one record label for almost his entire career - Reprise. What I only just learned is that the label was created by Frank Sinatra and later sold to Warner Brothers. In 1976 almost all of the artists signed to Reprise were transferred to Warner's main label except Sinatra, who would effectively have Reprise as his own vanity label.
Oh, and also Neil Young, who simply would not leave. He is rumored to have protested the phase-out decision until apparently giving in after 1981's
Re*Ac*Tor. Signing with Geffen Records, where he was promised artistic freedom, Neil embarked on what is often regarded as the most bewildering and out-of-character phase of his career. Electronica, rockabilly, straight-up country, and even New Wave got a workout at Neil's hands - and David Geffen would not be pleased, suing Neil in 1983 for making 'unrepresentative music'. Well, whatever, Dave. You don't know what you had in 80's Neil, and we're going to examine two of those gems -
Trans and
Landing On Water.
So in 1982 Neil started work on a new album for Geffen. Originally, the album was to be a Crazy Horse backed effort with a hard rock sound, but Neil made major alterations to the album with synths and a vocoder. As a result, the album took on a bizarre, nigh-upon-robotic sound. Personnel included all the Crazy Horse regulars - Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank Sampedro; as well as Neil buds Nils Lofgren and Ben Keith, and session men Joe Lala and Bruce Palmer.
What I Liked:
Well, I can't really get too enthused or descriptive about the instrumental performances; it's all masked by a digital filter, really. But even so, it's very nicely melodic. Neil can still write a tune, even when he's pushing buttons on a machine. The vocal timing is good, and it alone could make the album; and even with the vocoders, Neil's typically plaintive delivery still calls to my ear, especially on the heartbreaking 'Transformer Man' and the thickly-veiled-digi-lust of 'Sample And Hold'. Best yet, the almost-unintelligible lyrics, if your ear is keen enough to pick them out, often deal with communication, especially the vain efforts to communicate with those that can't receive the message. And here, incidentally is the core of Trans and the reason that 'Transformer Man' is such a tearjerker: Trans was Neil's attempt to express his frustration and all the time and energy and soul spent trying to communicate with his son, Ben; who is handicapped due to severe cerebral palsy. Neil, despite using the seeming coldness of of electronic instruments, captures an amazing range of emotion; other themes he touches on are, presciently, cybercrime; the explosion of technology at the time (which enabled him to make the album!); and, in a sense, nostalgia reimagined, if you consider the cover of 'Mr. Soul'. Of the handful of non-electronic songs on the album, 'Like an Inca' is the best, being a surprisingly interesting counterpoint to the powerful display of technology that the core of the album represents; instead it idealizes the ancient kingdoms of South America. The main villain, however, is The Bomb, rather than the internet. Best songs? Everything except the first track on each side.
What I Didn't Like:
Bizarrely, Neil includes three songs from an aborted album inspired by Hawaii. These are the outliers, and despite bookending the electronic strangeness, they sound far more out of place here than Trans itself does in Neil's catalog. 'A Little Thing Called Love' and 'Hold On To Your Love' - despite being well-executed, they sound empty and somewhat vapid, for Neil material. 'Like An Inca' is good enough to escape this problem, but goes on longer than necessary. And the key takeaway about the album's failings is that you need to know the story in order to fully appreciate it. That's not a failure of the music itself; even Neil had trouble getting the full message across, in a sadly ironic turn of events.
In Conclusion:
A surprisingly classic album, despite it's oddities, with a genuine story behind it and solid songwriting to boot. Neil diehards should give this one a second look, if they haven't yet, and anyone who likes electronic music should check out this as a footnote, if nothing else.
In 1986, Neil released an album that began with a failed Crazy Horse session in 1984 and was completed by Neil as a solo album. Fully embracing New Wave, Neil made a disc almost as bewildering as Trans, and this would be his next-to-last release for Geffen.
What I Liked:
It's less robotic than Trans...or not. The performances are all fairly cookie-cutter, but well-done. It's extremely polished, and it's not really suffering from that approach. On a couple tracks there's a choir providing some backing vocals, and Neil sounds pretty good both singing and playing. The songs are generally well-written, and tuneful; Neil can't keep his own feelings from leaking onto a record either, despite how much a product of its time Landing On Water might sound like. I like how Neil can still bring a hard rock crunch to some of the songs, despite the New Wave backdrop. He handles pop well enough while he's at it. Best songs have to be 'Weight Of The World', where Neil distills New Wave to its essence; 'Bad News Beat'; 'Touch The Night', and it's TV news aesthetic (and music video); 'Hard Luck Stories'; and 'Pressure'.
What I Didn't Like:
Probably the general sterility of the album. It's not a complete failing, but it doesn't let Neil break out and pull all the stops; he's kind of restrained. It's like he's holding himself back. (Perhaps a wise move, since Freedom and Ragged Glory came out in '89 and '93 respectively?) Some of the songs get a bit pointlessly sugary, like 'Violent Side' (!) and 'Hard Luck Stories', while others have an overly analyzed feel to them, almost autistic or blindly accepting. In general, the shorter (and comparatively more spontaneous) the song, the better, I'd say: case in point, 'Drifter', the album's mediocre closer, seems to drag, and does, at 5:05, the longest on the album. Last but not least is the only thing that could have truly broken the album for me, and that would be Neil's voice; but in this instance it's this particular context in which it appears. He's not the ideal New Wave lead singer.
In Conclusion:
I'd recommend this to fans of Ric Ocasek's solo career; as Neil takes the same approach on this disc. Neil diehards should at least hear this once; casual fans should wait. If you need 80's music for something, it would be hard to place this album as anything but a product thereof.
