Neil Young 17: Trans

Obviously needing some kind of inspiration, Neil signed a new contract with onetime associate David Geffen, and went off to Hawaii to start a tropical-flavored album, supposedly to be called Island In The Sun. Halfway through he changed tack and revived work he did with synthesizers and Crazy Horse, ending up with a hodgepodge of a mess supported by players cherry-picked from previous bands. The resulting Trans suffers from contemporary sheen that sounded dated as soon as a year later, as well as Stephen Stills percussionist Joe Lala way high in the mix of the songs he’s on.

“Little Thing Called Love” is a congenial stab at a Neil Young song that shouldn’t work—though a little acoustic riff that would be the basis for “Harvest Moon” appears at the end of each chorus—but it’s put here to prepare us for what comes next. “Computer Age” has some cool chords amidst the techno effects, but the Vocodered vocals fail it. “Transformer Man” is the highlight of the album, with operatic vocals that actually enhance the melody, but it’s stuck between the laughably bad “We R In Control” and “Computer Cowboy (AKA Syscrusher)”, which at least has decent guitar.

While pleasant, “Hold On To Your Love” is too close in title and feel to the first song (as well as to “If You Got Love”, which made the first album jackets but jettisoned at the last moment) and doesn’t inspire any need to hear the rest of the abandoned Island project. “Sample And Hold” makes its point early—it’s literally about computer dating—then beats it senseless for five minutes. The remake of “Mr. Soul” sounds like a demo to see if his new equipment worked. “Like An Inca” takes back the original tropical idea and mixes it with his Aztec infatuation, this time riding a riff for eight minutes with too much conga.

To appreciate where he was coming from with the whole computer idea, we must consider that the album was a reaction to living with a child who couldn’t communicate in the traditional fashion. But that wasn’t made plain at time, nor does it make Trans any easier to enjoy today. Fans were perplexed, critics were nasty, and his new record company was already getting nervous.

Neil Young Trans (1982)—2