NEIL YOUNG

NEIL YOUNG
TRANS (1982)
320 KBPS

It was so unexpected of Neil to turn out an album like this, and it was even more surprising that it was so entertaining, wedged as it was between his rockabilly album Everybody's Rockin' and his defiantly country album Old Ways. The updated, vocoder-laden version of Mr. Soul wasn't so great, but many of the other songs score bulls-eyes using this vocal device, most notably, Transformer Man, Sample and Hold, and Computer Age. Not all of the songs are Kraftwerk-influenced, either; the opening track, Little Thing Called Love, is a very upbeat and effective track with good "regular Neil" vocals and an excellent guitar line, too. My favorite song is the epic album-closer, Like an Inca, with the memorable line "Who put the bomb on the sacred altar?" It was a signpost album of the 80's.

1. Little Thing Called Love
2. Computer Age
3. We R in Control
4. Transformer Man
5. Computer Cowboy (AKA Syscrusher)
6. Hold on to Your Love
7. Sample and Hold
8. Mr. Soul
9. Like an Inca