S/D: Neil Young's Geffen-Era Records

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Ok, so this isn't the man's best period -- it's actually, quite definitively the worst. But there's gotta be something worth rescuing...right?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The only album from this period I've heard is Trans and there is some cooool Devo-type shit on that (plus this song called "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" that sounds like brain-dead Lindsey Buckingham and is kinda cute becuz of it). If I saw Lucky Thirteen cheap I'd probably buy it.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I rather like all of "Trans" (although I think that the CD has a different mix of "Sample and Hold" which isn't as good as the original album version). "Life" has a few moments (eg: "Inca Queen", "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks") and is probably the only other Geffen-era record I could stomach all the way through were I to hear it now.

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm damn curious about the allegedly garish "Landing On Water" but wholly unwilling to pay money to find out how it sounds.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" = Queen
A Little Thing Called Love = Neil

Save also:
"Like an Inca" (Trans)
.. a few moments from Everybody's Rockin' (Not stellar Neil, but decent music...)
Some dull moments, but not completely useless: Life.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Funnily enough, the first thing I ever heard by NY was "Wonderin'" off Everybody's Rockin' -- needless to say, at 10 y/o, I wasn't terribly impressed (and that was one of the best songs off that piece of shit!).

I think you gotta give props to the "This Note's For You" video -- his music may have largely sucked during this era, but NY was pretty ahead of the game on this front.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

"Landing on Water" REALLY sounds like its time (1986) -- Linn drums, glossy/wanky synths, digital guitar effects. With different production it could have been a passable record, but go for "Trans" if you want to hear Neil with electronics all over the place.

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:31 (twenty-two years ago)

'This Note's For You' is not a Geffen album, although it could easily be mistaken for one, given it is basically a genre exercise (although a relatively good one), and it came just after he left Geffen (after 'Life).

For my money, 'Landing On Water' is easily the worst of these albums, in fact, the worst of ALL of his albums. All of this material sounds pretty decent live though (including the excellent stuff from the 1983-84 tours that was really overproduced and/or ruined on record), so if you can dig up some live boots, that's where the real gems are at. The original 'Old Ways' material live was excellent...

― Hutlock, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:41 (twenty-two years ago)

So, Hutlock, are you arguing that it's just the production that's the problem w/ this stuff?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 18 August 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Not all of it, but a lot of it. 'Landing' features some of the worst, most banal lyrics ever committed to tape, for instance, but the lame-ass big-drum production doesn't help matters either. But I still don't think there's a good album underneath all of that. 'Trans' though, probably, and 'Old Ways' and 'Everybody's Rockin' definitely.

― Hutlock, Monday, 18 August 2003 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

is Eldorado Geffen era?

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Monday, 18 August 2003 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

No, he was back on Reprise by then.

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Monday, 18 August 2003 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Geffen Era" = Trans, Everybody's Rockin, Old Ways, landing On Water, Life plus the Lucky Thirteen comp, which featured a Geffen Greatest Hits, so to speak, plus four unreleased tracks -- most of which are from albums that Geffen turned down at the time. Go figure...

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

... oh, and Lucky Thirteen also featured a live take of "This Note's For You" -- which was released on Reprise! How the hell did that happen?!?

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)

If I had to guess, some publishing thing...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, even if it was sung over a gated drum set, these lyrics from "Hippie Dream" on Landing On Water -- supposedly an indictment of Mr. Crosby. Rough stuff:

Take my advice
Don't listen to me
It ain't paradise
But it used to be
There was a time
When the river was wide
And the water came running down
To the rising tide
But the wooden ships
Were just a hippie dream
Just a hippie dream.

Don't bat an eye
Don't waste a word
Don't mention nothin'
That could go unheard
'Cause the tie-dye sails
Are the screamin' sheets
And the dusty trail
Leads to blood in the streets
And the wooden ships
Are a hippie dream
Capsized in excess
If you know what I mean.

Just because it's over for you
Don't mean it's over for me
It's a victory for the heart
Every time the music starts
So please don't kill the machine
Don't kill the machine
Don't kill the machine.

Another flower child goes to seed
In an ether-filled room of meat-hooks
It's so ugly
So ugly.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

One shining diamond in a giant pile of dung.

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Life is the best to my ears, even if it does have some of the 80s production remnants that plagued Landing On Water. "Mideast Vacation", "Inca Queen", and "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks" are good tunes, and "Prisoners of Rock and Roll" is a great one - he's doing it occasionally on the current tour, and I've heard Yo La Tengo cover it back in the President EP days.

The Life tour was excellent.

Old Ways isn't the worst record in the world if you like his country side. There are a few tunes that would make great covers.

― southern lights (southern lights), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree with your assesment of Life. Definitely the best of the bunch... Crazy Horse can make up for a multitude of sins.

If you can find live boots of the material from the so-called Old Ways I (the one that Geffen initially turned down), it totally smokes. Would have been the best of those albums by far.

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Monday, 18 August 2003 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I kinda like Landing on Water, if only for "Pressure" and "I Got a Problem," wherein Neil breaks out of the oppressive '80s canned sound and conjures a little urgency (on the former) and freaks out a good bit (on the latter). And I kind of have a soft spot for Trans, especially "Sample and Hold." Reading about some of the whys and wherefores behind it in re Neil's son in Shakey probably made me like it a little more as well.

Has anyone seen that concert video he taped in Germany on the Trans tour. I think it may have been called In Berlin; I remember seeing it on HBO, of all places. Anyhow, he did this song at the end (just "Berlin" according to AMG) that I remember more than any other song from that video--or any of the Geffen albums. And I don't believe it was ever released any other way.

― Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 18 August 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

In Berlin is available on DVD (in the US at least). It is pretty wild stuff. The outfits are unbelievably bad 80s. I believe there are skinny ties involved. I also think Neil sings the whole show through a headset, or at least the parts that require the Trans vocoder. There is some really good stuff on it. The Trans stuff is simultaneously really interesting and really hard to watch live. The rest of the songs are inconsistent.

― southern lights (southern lights), Monday, 18 August 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Trans is brilliant, one of my fave Neil records! The other four, with the exception of like two songs from Everybody's Rockin' and "Hippie Dream" from Landing on Water, just blows. Young got too into style during this period and forgot to craft songs. He did as Old Ways purely as a "fuck you" to David Geffen after Geffen 1. sued Young for making non-commercial music and 2. after Geffen's label rejected an album that basically was Harvest 2, with a mix of rock and country.

― Chris O., Tuesday, 19 August 2003 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

trans roXors all u trans hatas r soooooo gay!

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 01:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I like at least something about every single album Neil has made. Then again, i hold him up as the bastion of everything good about music, a reason to play guitar, a reason to collect records...at least that's how it was for me. In my house, Neil will always be king.

That said, Landing on Water is pretty much unbearable. Life has it's moments, Old Ways is quite great (almost as good as Comes A Time), Everybody's Rockin' actually has a few decent songs (and is, on the whole, a better genre exercise than This Notes For You) and Trans is a song or two short of a masterpiece. Dude is just misunderstood. Lucky Thirteen, however, is crapola.

Reading the lyrics to "Hippie Dream" above, tho, out of context, you gotta admit, the lyrics are pretty cool.

― roger adultery, Tuesday, 19 August 2003 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Was "If You Got Love" ever released? It was supposed to be on Trans, but for some reason it didn't get on. I never heard the story of why it was left off. Not sure that I've ever heard the song either..

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 10:49 (twenty-two years ago)

what's so bad about old ways? i've never heard it but thought it was considered a return to form, in the style of comes a time.

― j fail (cenotaph), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"Berlin" (the song) was only released on that video, and in fact, that show was the only time it was ever played. "If You Got Love" is only on boots, as far as I know. It was on several early acetates of Trans, and even appears on the cover of early LP pressings. It was dropped at the last minute because Neil thought it was "Too Wimpy." It would have been track 2, side one. Frankly, it sounds quite a bit like "A Little Thing Called Love" to me...

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Old Ways as it is isn't all that bad a record really, I'm just saying that the original versions that Neil wanted to put out were even better. As it is, he kind of split the ideas into two different albums (Old Ways and Everybody's Rockin) and neither entirely succeeded. The Old Ways that came out was more of a straight-up country album, like Waylon and Willie style. Not really like Comes A Time at all...

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Landing on water is certainly mired in the production and can be pretty painful, but I've always wanted Neil to redo "weight of the world" without all the cheese and slather on plenty of the crazy horse.

― nick ring (nick ring), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Neil Young's TRANS: An Underrated Masterpiece, or Justly Ignored?
Dukin' it Out: Post 1980 Neil Young -vs- Post 1980 Lou Reed

I think come to mind.

Trans is a great album where the more "Neil Young" it got the worse it sounded. Wondering I am willing to admit isn't his worst song but the album Everybodies Rocking is horrid. This Notes For you is a stab at bar blues and can be tossed aside, though the video is pure comedy gold. Banned by MTV, it later wins an MTV video award.
Landing On Water has some horrid lyrics and typical 80s production which means you could ignore it easier then destroy it. "Touch The Night" I think was the only single or decent song. Life is a little odder suffering from the same faults as Landing On Water but with more bite. A silly song about the middle east that Bush would love "Mideast Vacation" and the wonderful chorus of 'Prisoners Of Rock And Roll' are all I remeber from that album. I think that tour was "Third Best Garage Band In The World Tour", I don't know why he followed it up with a blues album but oh well.
I think sadly This Note is apparently Reprise, as is the truely horrid Reactor and the Hawks and Doves which is where the decline started. I don't think I've ever heard Old Ways but I recall a video for a bad country song he did with Willie Nelson which I may be dreaming of.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

From AMG for those asking earlier:
"The European CD release replaces the original 5:09 take of "Sample and Hold" with the 8:04 alternate take later used on the Lucky Thirteen compilation.) "

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

truely horrid Reactor
Blasphemer.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Got mashed potato?

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Re Ac Tor is quite good (in a neanderthal kinda way) but just pre-Geffen.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Hawks & Doves and Re Ac Tot are both really good. I will admit "T Bone" is a major misstep, but "Shots" is great! "Rapid Transit"....

― roger adultery, Tuesday, 19 August 2003 23:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Reactor is definately one of my fave NY lps. "T Bone" is great. Great production and album cover too.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I'm listening to "Lucky Thirteen" now (the only Geffen-era album I own is Trans). "Hippy Dream" is a GREAT song, bad production and everything.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 15 May 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

Alfred it seems you're onto my train of thought once again. I've been meaning to dig up a Neil Young thread, actually, or start a new one. I want to know if someone can recommend me some Neil Young that has lots of electric guitar freakouts. I love a good portion of the Weld album, and heard an electric version of "Cinnamon Girl" on the radio maybe a week ago and I just really liked the *sound* of it. I always thought he had just done that song acoustic, or maybe I was confusing it with Radiohead's cover. Anyway. Recommendations if you have them, please.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 15 May 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

I can't recommend "Zuma" enough: no one else in the mid '70s was writing terse pop songs with coiled electric feedback. It's got that live warhorse "Cortez the Killer," a sprawling guitar extravaganza, and "Barroom Blues," "Drive On," and "Don't Cry No Tears."

Do you own "Rust Never Sleeps"? Probably his best album (which is saying a lot). "Live Rust" is a surprisingly compelling live album.

The out of print "Time Fades Away" has a cupla good jams: the title song, "Don't Be Denied," and "Last Dance."

I don't own "Rea-ctor," but most of the tracks supposedly feature Crazy Horsre at their most endearingly brain-dead.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 15 May 2005 13:50 (twenty years ago)

some Neil Young that has lots of electric guitar freakouts.
His hardest rocking album is 1990s Ragged Glory. I haven't listened to it for maybe ten years but I quite liked it at the time. There is not so much distortion in the Weld sense but still it's quite a rough diamond. Leaning slightly towards heavy blues-rock. The songs are pretty long if I remember well.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Sunday, 15 May 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

seven years pass...

this looks interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKH_FR-FioA

― tylerw, Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:09 (thirteen years ago)

I'm bummed Lucky Thirteen isn't on Spotify (neither is Trans or LOW, but I own those). Pretty fond of the '80s stuff outside of Rockin', Old Ways and Note's For You - and Neil's done his part to defend the international harvesters with a promise - would love to hear the outtakes and remixes on 13.

― da croupier, Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:13 (thirteen years ago)

also can i say how fun it is to refer to Landing On Water as LOW, for that respectful Bowie-ish vibe

― da croupier, Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:14 (thirteen years ago)

I'm glad you mentioned a few of the period highlights in your tumblr recap a few weeks ago. "Prisoners of Rock and Roll" shoulda been on LT.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:14 (thirteen years ago)

i'll admit part of my obsession with "one star albums" at the moment is to find other '80s has-been albums as surreal as LOW

― da croupier, Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:16 (thirteen years ago)

try Stevie's Rock a Little!

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:28 (thirteen years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0PlwVPbM5k

I just now watched this (I don't think I'd seen it before) and was knocked over by how much Beck's whole persona for several years in the 90s was based on Neil in this video. Even kind of looks like him if you squint.

― Bout to go Jethro TULL on that ass (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 27 October 2012 05:01 (thirteen years ago)

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