Neil Young 18: Everybody’s Rockin’

The experiments of Trans didn’t go anywhere, and soon Neil was insisting that country music was all he was ever going to care about henceforth—even more so when his record company, headed by and named after old pal David Geffen, objected after hearing what he’d been recording. Desperate for product that would generate sales, they insisted he put out some rock ‘n roll, so he did—to the letter—tossing together ten short songs that fit right in with the retro style the Stray Cats were then riding. Everybody’s Rockin’ was then tossed into stores in the midst of that phenomenon and sank, justifiably. The selections mix oldies with his own originals, the artist was listed as Neil and the Shocking Pinks, and no one knew what to think.

Two of those oldies start side one: “Betty Lou Got A New Pair Of Shoes” sports a lot of honking sax from the stalwart Ben Keith, miles away from his pedal steel guitar, and “Rainin’ In My Heart” has a great blast of harmonica. Then we get three originals in a row. With clever “cash-a-wadda-wadda” doo-wop vocals, “Payola Blues” reflects both his current situation and insists that record company corruption was alive and well in the ‘80s. “Wonderin’” was revived for the first time since 1970, though he had recorded it as late as 1973; it’s the best song here by far, supported by a herky-jerky, eye-catching video. “Kinda Fonda Wanda” references several girls from song titles, with a surprising R-rated reference in the third verse.

“Jellyroll Man” isn’t much more lyrically elaborate than “T-Bone”, but at least it sounds vintage despite being his own. Neither “Bright Lights, Big City” and “Mystery Train” surpass the originals, but in between is “Cry, Cry, Cry”, which also isn’t much but throws in an unexpected minor chord to mix things up. Finally, the title track makes an unfortunate, dated reference to then-President and Mrs. Reagan.

Throughout the album, Neil pounds a piano, and the familiar rhythm section of Tim Drummond and Karl Himmel keep up. However, at twelve minutes a side, the album should have been marketed as an EP, or at least cheaper. It might have made sense as part of a larger project, perhaps with his other more overt country songs mixed in. But that didin’t happen, so it stands alone. As a genre exercise, Zappa did it better.

Neil & The Shocking Pinks Everybody’s Rockin’ (1983)—2