Neil Young's TRANS: An Underrated Masterpiece, or Justly Ignored?

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"i've been trying to get to you,
just like an inca in peru"
?

bob snoom, Sunday, 22 June 2003 13:22 (twenty years ago) link

An Inca in Peru would surely stand even less chance than Neil himself at communicating w/his disabled son; what a heartbreaking lyric.

Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 22 June 2003 13:33 (twenty years ago) link

underrated, but no masterpiece. im a big neil young fan, to me theres little better than seein the big man up there with Ol' Black under his arm.

Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Sunday, 22 June 2003 14:17 (twenty years ago) link

Ridin Mort!

Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 22 June 2003 14:23 (twenty years ago) link

i just slung it on for a listen. "computer cowboy" that's good. his rhythm section are funereal

bob snoom, Sunday, 22 June 2003 16:22 (twenty years ago) link

for more about Young's adventures with vocoders, Kraftwerk, etc, check out McDonough's Shakey. He gets into it in microscopic detail and Young talks directly about the connection with his son. Strange and moving stuff.

popeye, Sunday, 22 June 2003 17:31 (twenty years ago) link

the shakey book is pretty much a must have for anyone wanting to learn about young. sure it can ramble, but depth-wise its unequalled, its not over-reverential (although the writer is clearly in love with his favorite young albums). good summer reading.

did anyone else see neil young solo on his european tour, with his new "greendale" material? i saw him twice, and it was very good. the second time especially, cos i was more familiar with the new material, theres some potentially good stuff on there, although i think some of it will work better when played with the band on the album (which is ralph and billy of crazy horse for the most part from what i hear, which is promising news). im gonna see him when im in the lazing around in the US next month too, at concord CA.

Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Sunday, 22 June 2003 17:38 (twenty years ago) link

There are some good songs on Trans, but the beats are pretty weak when you compare it to Kraftwerk.

Some of these tracks if remixed by Drexicya (RIP), Two Lone Swordsmen, Adult. or someone similar could be quite good and could perhaps become somewhat popular. The songs themselves are better than most techno/electro pop song matierial.

Neil Young had some cajones to even make a record like this one, no wonder David Geffen thought he had flipped.

earlnash, Sunday, 22 June 2003 17:59 (twenty years ago) link

six months pass...
"computer cowboy" has been my favourite track for the last three weeks -- i remember hearing tracks from Trans on the radio as a kid, but i just got the album the other day

while "sample and hold", "we R in control" and "computer age" seem like compotent if slightly boring yet tongue-in-cheek rock-disco "crossover" attempts,
"computer cowboy" is such a very well constructed song, with great noises as well as the vocoder, lyrics that could be applied to George W Bush (see also "we r in control"), and a nice momentum, build up of tension, and noise
(it seems playing the track may destroy speakers on some stereo systems, reminding me a bit of that "oomph" i'd have more likely expected of some throbbing gristle).

i wonder, could anyone recommend any contemporary "dance music" or "rock music" that is as well-constructed with respect to noise, 4-on-the-floor and those "oomph" dynamics ?

george gosset (gegoss), Friday, 26 December 2003 05:37 (twenty years ago) link

I like Trans a lot, but Re Ac Tor is better.

Sean (Sean), Friday, 26 December 2003 05:41 (twenty years ago) link

i like the stubborn element to "shots" and "t-bone" (which is also nicely absurd) -- don't like those pop song beginning each side so much though

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

george gosset wrote: please someone recommend some rock music that does that...

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

Has anyone seen the Trans Tour DVD/video? Not exactly Neil's finest hour...

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 27 December 2003 05:01 (twenty years ago) link

You're insane. Neil is on fire throughout that concert. I suspect you couldn't see past the (admittedly horrible) lime green '80s clothing he's got on.

retort pouch (retort pouch), Saturday, 27 December 2003 08:16 (twenty years ago) link

Or perhaps it was Nils Lofgren and his horrible headbands, I dunno...

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 28 December 2003 22:27 (twenty years ago) link

I was hoping he'd just combine all of his 80s experimentations into one band... Neil And the Shocking Pink Transbluetones

donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 28 December 2003 22:31 (twenty years ago) link

You'd be leaving out the CSNY revival.

Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Sunday, 28 December 2003 23:01 (twenty years ago) link

two years pass...
"We R in Control" sounds like Kilroy was Here-era Styx, albeit with better chord changes and ugly guitar breaks.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 02:08 (seventeen years ago) link

'but it has some pretty solid (and even touching) songs. '

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 eye
Only love makes you hypnotiyized
Only love makes you choose
Only love brings you...the bloooz.


Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 10:13 (seventeen years ago) link

eleven months pass...
Thank you to my friend who told me about this album, I'm not that into Neil Young, but Transformer Man is so beautiful, it's really lovely melody getting strangled by the vocoder. *shudders*

I know, right?, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:06 (sixteen years ago) link

"Sample and Hold" is the best thing on the record ... that album is brilliant songwriting mixed with a poignant concept (past, present future through the prism of his son). Makes me forgive the analog vocoder shit. I'm endlessly fascinated it.

Jiminy Krokus, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link

the vocorder stuff is the best part! my biggest complaint w/trans is that he didn't go synth pop enough...i wish there weren't the bet hedging trad songs....but it's still a great record.

M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link

I'll agree that it doesn't go far enough; some tracks are underwritten. "Like an Inca" should be the epic song of this period, the nearest rival to "Rockin' in the Free World" several years later, but it's not weird enough: it sounds like Thomas Dolby hired to put synth touches on a Santana number.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link

It is Neil Young's best album.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 14 May 2007 16:58 (sixteen years ago) link

i love it, but that's going a bit far

jaxon, Monday, 14 May 2007 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Underrated, not a masterpiece.

M.V., Monday, 14 May 2007 17:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Neil Young:Trans::Martin Scorsese:King of Comedy

sanskrit, Monday, 14 May 2007 18:13 (sixteen years ago) link

i think i needed spaces in there, but you know what i meant

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).

Wait a minute! Today is the future? Then what the hell is tomorrow?

Tinky-Winky, Monday, 14 May 2007 18:54 (sixteen years ago) link

This is a good album with some great songs but I actually like Everybody's Rockin more. Wonderin' is such a beautiful song and it has a beautiful video.

filthy dylan, Monday, 14 May 2007 18:59 (sixteen years ago) link

It sounds like its from some really good 80's cartoon video. Like one of those weird ones you'd get on old VHS bunged in with My Little Pony.

I know, right?, Monday, 14 May 2007 19:10 (sixteen years ago) link

two years pass...

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

five months pass...

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"

tylerw, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:43 (fourteen years ago) link

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

two years pass...

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

three years pass...

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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link

eight months pass...

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

love the extended mix of Mr Soul on the Sample & Hold single

nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 25 March 2021 16:19 (three years ago) link

It's almost hard to imagine people hating on Neil's vocoder vocals now that processed vocals are so ubiquitous in popular music. Like, Transformer Man sounds downright quaint now. He'd have to type the lyrics into a computer and build up the songs 100% digitally rather than just processing analog inputs if he wanted to make a futuristic statement these days.

BrianB, Thursday, 25 March 2021 16:28 (three years ago) link

such a good album

justice 4 CCR (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 25 March 2021 16:49 (three years ago) link

cis crusher
cis crusher

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 26 March 2021 00:36 (three years ago) link

said it before and I’ll say it again- if you haven’t heard the “sample and hold” castoff from his mtv unplugged session yr missing out

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 26 March 2021 01:05 (three years ago) link

sample and hold is sick, industrial

brimstead, Friday, 26 March 2021 02:30 (three years ago) link

satisfaction guaranteed

brimstead, Friday, 26 March 2021 02:31 (three years ago) link

the archives release i want the most is the "real" trans - the all synth album that was eventually turned into the existing trans where the more traditional rock songs were taken from the scrapped 82 album "johnny's island"

neil is releasing johnny's island, i hope that clears the way for the complete trans.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-johnnys-island-1121757/

it's supposed to contain my most desired neil unreleased track, an all-synth version of "razor love" which ended up on silver & gold, this would sound so amazing w/sequencers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNCAQQaNP8

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:13 (three years ago) link

omg want

I like signing up to dead sites (sleeve), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:16 (three years ago) link

also interestingly, on some of the first pressing of trans there was a song "if you got love" that was cut so late in the process that it's actually on the back cover tracklist, that song has never been heard either as far as i know

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1779/8843/products/trans3_1024x1024.jpg

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 March 2021 16:20 (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 satisfied
when 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

I had that Berlin vhs, it’s great - don’t know what happened to it ☹️

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


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