I guess reactor is a better consistent rocker, but i wish he'd kept those synth bass noises onboard as part of his rock music sound, sounds that he used sparingly and appropriately (cf: typical synth-only music)
perhaps i should check out "Weight of the World", even if landing on water seemed very light-weight when i heard that (again years ago)
the heavy synth really adds something to the rock sound i think when as here it's added to the conventional rock'n'roll arsenal and not merely substituted for good bass playing (since said substitution often seems to translate to bad bass-paying, emulation)
please someone recommend some rock music that does that (ie real rythym section of bass and drums (not drum and bass machines) plus synth oomph)
― george gosset (gegoss), Friday, 26 December 2003 05:59 (twenty years ago) link
I'd say try some Chrome and mid-period Six Finger Satellite (Severe Exposure especially).
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 26 December 2003 18:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 27 December 2003 05:01 (twenty years ago) link
― retort pouch (retort pouch), Saturday, 27 December 2003 08:16 (twenty years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 28 December 2003 22:27 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 28 December 2003 22:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Sunday, 28 December 2003 23:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 02:08 (seventeen years ago) link
I like Little Thing Called Love, like a faster, happier version of 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart':
Only love puts a tear in your eyeOnly love makes you hypnotiyizedOnly love makes you chooseOnly love brings you...the bloooz.
― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 10:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― I know, right?, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:06 (sixteen years ago) link
― Jiminy Krokus, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:58 (sixteen years ago) link
― jaxon, Monday, 14 May 2007 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link
― M.V., Monday, 14 May 2007 17:34 (sixteen years ago) link
― sanskrit, Monday, 14 May 2007 18:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Charming in many ways, especially from a 20 years-after-the-fact hindsight view (the same way it's entertaining to watch Clockwork Orange and think about its view of what those in the early Seventies thought the future [which is today] would look like).
― Tinky-Winky, Monday, 14 May 2007 18:54 (sixteen years ago) link
― filthy dylan, Monday, 14 May 2007 18:59 (sixteen years ago) link
― I know, right?, Monday, 14 May 2007 19:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Listening for the first time - this is a very timely album.
― I am using your worlds, Wednesday, 22 July 2009 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
this album's great! kinda marred by the inclusion of the non-synth/electro stuff though. so unnecessary.
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
but I adore "Like an Inca" though. I've listened to it more often than "Cortez the Killer," I think.
― Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
(I guess that one's non-synth besides the two-note synth motif in the chorus)
― Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
It is Neil Young's best album.^^^^belongs in the challops hall of fame ... not even in Neil Young's top ten best albums, though you could make a case for it being the best of the 80s, maybe. it is pretty fascinating overall -- is there an example of another major 60s rock artist trying something so weirdly daring in the 80s?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 22 July 2009 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
i fixed a facebook quiz so that i could get this as my 'what neil young album are you'
― like totally gr80 to the max (jaxon), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Is Human Highway ever going to get rereleased? If they put it on BlueRay, that would be the thing pushing me into buying a player.
― I X Love (Abbott), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:27 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't know about a re-release, but if you just need a copy you can e-mail me @ dr.carl.sagan at gmail
― ian, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:35 (fourteen years ago) link
You kick ass.
― I X Love (Abbott), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:40 (fourteen years ago) link
haha, enjoy ....
― tylerw, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:43 (fourteen years ago) link
or rather, "enjoy"
just remembered that the non-LP single version of Mr Soul was better than the one on Trans. Never checked to see if it was available. I remember it as being a denser/louder sound. Anyone know if it's out there as MP3, bonus track .. ( I could search, I guess.)
― dave225, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:50 (fourteen years ago) link
I've seen Human Highway before & I totally enjoyed it.
― I X Love (Abbott), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Underrated half-assterpiece. The half that's good is my favorite Neil Young I've ever heard.
― Nate Carson, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 01:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Trans is so fucking good. Especially loud.
harmonies on Sample & Hold are godlike.
― Jamie_ATP, Wednesday, 29 February 2012 11:13 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, seriously, "sample and hold" owns. juiced up severed heads with sweet harmonies or a kinder gentler skinny puppy
― brimstead, Sunday, 19 April 2015 08:09 (nine years ago) link
Rated #20 (out of 35) in this piece of click bait. FWIW I like Trans a lot; would certainly make the bottom half of my top 10 Neil records.
http://www.stereogum.com/1445091/neil-young-albums-from-worst-to-best/franchises/counting-down/attachment/trans/
― Bloody Snail, Sunday, 19 April 2015 09:09 (nine years ago) link
Listening to this in full for the first time (on slightly hissy O.G. VINYL that I've actually had for a long time) after dipping into Shakey again, and being intrigued by the perverse idea of Neil using the Synclavier to do note for note replacements of Crazy Horse backing tracks. The non-electro songs would've been at quite at home on a mythical early 80s CSNY album (or Daylight Again, if S & N went to Y instead of ringers and the then at death's door C).
I wonder how pissed Geffen got when he heard ZZ Top's Eliminator, which dropped a few months after Trans and used electronics in similar ways, and realized how horribly right this project could have gone.
― "Damn the Taquitos" (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 2 January 2016 01:00 (eight years ago) link
I'd call it Unjustly Not Ignored. But I know it has lots of defenders.
― clemenza, Saturday, 2 January 2016 01:57 (eight years ago) link
After I got done with Trans, I put on a vinyl copy of The Bridge tribute (which I think scored in the same haul about 7 years ago). The Sonic Youth "Computer Age" was nice, but I get the feeling they could've picked anything from the Young catalogue and it would have come sounded exactly the same as that cover.
― "Damn the Taquitos" (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 2 January 2016 05:16 (eight years ago) link
In case anyone cares, a whole raft of recordings from the Solo Trans tour have just been upped on D1mead0zen.
― Maresn3st, Saturday, 5 October 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
He wasn't terrible in the 1980's.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 13 November 2020 01:19 (three years ago) link
he's reissuing Eldorado!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 13 November 2020 01:23 (three years ago) link
no fan need own this travesty, in which Young and the International Harvesters treat country like Sid Vicious did “My Way.”
Lol, nice.
― the colour out of space (is the place) (PBKR), Friday, 13 November 2020 01:27 (three years ago) link
haha yeah, for my money his worst album
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 13 November 2020 02:37 (three years ago) link
the unplugged cast-off recording of "sample and hold" is well worth finding. "hold on to your love" is one of those great, lyrically simple songs of his that i would hope older takes exist.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 13 November 2020 06:58 (three years ago) link
trans
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, 25 March 2021 15:26 (three years ago) link
i buy used copies of this vinyl on the cheap whenever I see it with the intention of handing them out to bring new members into the blessed Trans fold.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 25 March 2021 15:35 (three years ago) link
Well. I wish I was an Aztec,Or a runner in PeruI would build suchbeautiful buildingsTo house the chosen fewLike an Inca from Peru.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 25 March 2021 15:46 (three years ago) link
I read about "Razor Love" in Shakey, but I couldn't find the original
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:22 (three years ago) link
yeah I don't think it's ever surfaced, tyler would know for sure but i've never seen anything
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:23 (three years ago) link
assuming if you got love went all the way through mastering if it was listed on the cover art
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:24 (three years ago) link
I kind of prefer the shorter version of "Sample and Hold" to the 8-minute CD version, would be good to have both easily available.
― a sad robot dancing alone in the corner of a suburban disco (Matt #2), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:30 (three years ago) link
I first knew sample and hold and transformer man via the lucky thirteen comp
― brimstead, Friday, 26 March 2021 16:32 (three years ago) link
me too! that was a cool comp back in the day esp when that era was largely unknown (to me at least)
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:33 (three years ago) link
it's amazing that the catchy, accessible, occasionally moving (now unintentionally retrofurist) electronic stuff is what people took issue with on this album considering how dire the more traditional stuff is (the first track, my god). if had been all synth based it would be great rather than pretty good
― nothing (Left), Friday, 26 March 2021 17:29 (three years ago) link
Been saying the same for years. As I understand it, the electronic stuff was recorded first but I don't think there was enough of it for an entire album.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 26 March 2021 17:39 (three years ago) link
... typographic mistake. The album is actually called TRAINS
― StanM, Friday, 26 March 2021 17:42 (three years ago) link
i don't think the trad stuff is that bad, but it's obvious the real meat of the album is the trans-ass trans tracks
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 26 March 2021 17:45 (three years ago) link
Like An Inca is great, the rest of the non-electronic tracks not so much
― a sad robot dancing alone in the corner of a suburban disco (Matt #2), Friday, 26 March 2021 17:52 (three years ago) link
we know you'll be satisfiedwhen you energize
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Friday, 26 March 2021 17:57 (three years ago) link
As stated, the opening track is terrible.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:03 (three years ago) link
"Hold On to Your Love" is nice though, if a bit wet.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:04 (three years ago) link
because i love thematically messy albums, i have to say that —while i love trans quite a lot and consider it one of the last hurrahs of truly classic neil— it could be improved by adding 'wanderin' from everybody's rockin' because why the hell not.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:10 (three years ago) link
the wiki for trans says "After a year of work, the album was mixed in a hurry because Young was eager to go out on tour (documented in the home video Neil Young in Berlin), and a last-minute change in the running order is evident in the inclusion of a song called "If You Got Love" in the track listing and lyric sheet, even though it is not on the album.[3] Portions of several tracks appeared in Young's 1982 feature-length comedy film Human Highway.[11]"
i've never seen human highway, so i'm not sure if this means that portions of songs that were ON trans were featured in human highway or if some of the cut songs were?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:16 (three years ago) link
I had that Berlin vhs, it’s great - don’t know what happened to it ☹️
― jammy mcnullity (wins), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:25 (three years ago) link
Nils Lofgren is wonderfully hamming it up in that Berlin performance iirc
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 26 March 2021 18:37 (three years ago) link
that i know is supposed to be re-released
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:40 (three years ago) link
I rented it from Netflix in the mid '00s.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:42 (three years ago) link
ha me too. nils' interpretive dancing is unforgettable
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:49 (three years ago) link
Ditto!
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 26 March 2021 18:54 (three years ago) link
if you got love has been bootlegged for ages — kind of a Santana groove meets "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong" haha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2xasVHiL6s
The synth "Razor Love" has never shown up as far as I know.
― tylerw, Friday, 26 March 2021 21:28 (three years ago) link
I'm pretty sure the Human Highway film doesn't contain any unreleased Neil songs.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 26 March 2021 21:42 (three years ago) link
i find this a middling album because it's not cohesive for the reasons as noted by a bunch of people above. although i actually don't mind "a little thing call love" and I love "hold on to your love"
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 26 March 2021 21:50 (three years ago) link
Didn't Human Highway have the Devo/Neil synth version of Hey Hey My My?
― brutalism is a piss-stained multistory car park in stockport (Matt #2), Friday, 26 March 2021 21:51 (three years ago) link
I'd consider that a Devo cover with Neil guesting, not an unreleased song?
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 26 March 2021 21:54 (three years ago) link