Neil Young 16: Re-ac-tor

Nobody outside his immediate circle knew it, but music wasn’t at the forefront of Neil’s mind in the early ‘80s. He and his wife were busy trying to raise a non-communicative palsy-stricken child. The desperation they felt on a daily basis was reflected in the odd albums that surfaced periodically.

Re-ac-tor has a lot going for it; Crazy Horse, for one. It’s a rock album all the way through, but for the most part it just doesn’t do anything. “Opera Star” uses the F-word for the first time on a Neil album, and “Surfer Joe And Moe The Sleaze” is apparently about two label executives. But “T-Bone” is an awfully nasty trick. It’s the same riff over and over, with the same seven words repeated on top of it for nine minutes. What’s worse, the track starts mid-progress, so you know they’d been playing it a while. “Get Back On It” has a piano, which breaks up the monotony a bit, but it’s still a 12-bar blues, which repeats lyrics. That’s the first side.

“Southern Pacific” offers a little more variety, and as a train song, would work slightly better a few years down the road in the Farm Aid context. “Motor City” revives the jingoism of the last album, but with a little more humor. “Rapid Transit” uses a cool riff and stammering effects so it’s more memorable. But the closing “Shots” is also loaded with effects for a complete assault that is the polar opposite to the acoustic version first heard in the Rust Never Sleeps era. It’s not exactly pleasant.

Another one of the “Missing 6”, Re-ac-tor was allowed to get dusty before finally appearing on CD in the new century. It didn’t help much, and remains one of the least of the Horse’s efforts.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse Re-ac-tor (1981)—2½