•
Rating: With this album from 1982, the path embarked on with the previous 'Re-ac-tor' continues, representing Neil Young's 80s experimental phase. It is also the first in which he leaves his long-standing label Reprise to join Geffen, but it will be a partnership that lasts only a few albums (some made just to honor the contract), indicating the troubled period our artist was going through.
It's definitely the most disorienting album for fans and critics. There is heavy use of synthesizers (also present in 'Landing On Water') and vocoder that transforms Young's dear voice into that fixed and expressionless of an android. The style thus approaches that of Devo and especially Kraftwerk rather than a folk rock or electric singer we were used to. For this reason, many critics and listeners immediately dismissed it as nonsense without caring to understand the meaning behind such experimentation.
Years later Neil will reveal the reason behind it all: he wanted to find a way to communicate with his handicapped son through machines. Let's start with the less experimental tracks and then get to the more "pushed" ones. It starts and ends with standard songs, perhaps leftovers from a previous period, as they seem somewhat incongruous with the spirit of the album. The first one (which also came out as a single), Little Thing Called Love, seems like a kind of very simple rockabilly as banal as it is in the lyrics, yet it can be pleasant. The last one is Like An Inca, continuing the pre-Columbian saga started by Cortez The Killer, lasting 9 minutes, it has an unelaborate structure but for me, it is not boring. Let's continue with Hold On To Your Love, which lies in the middle. In fact, while it's true that Neil sings with a "normal" voice, the song has splashes of keyboard, yet it is a sweet and relaxed song. Then there's the gem of Mr Soul, an old Young classic from '67 with Buffalo Springfield, here revisited in a "Trans" style: fun.
Computer Age immerses us in a sound with anesthetized guitars and synthetic choirs that will also be typical of other songs. A similar atmosphere is found in Computer Cowboy (aka Syscrusher), a modern far west where the new cowboy is the hacker. We R In Control is the mechanical indictment of the global world that controls every part of our lives. All these themes were uncommon at the time (when the first PCs were appearing) and are very relevant today. Sample And Hold talks about a society of virtual meetings (among robots?) where you can choose your partner with the desired parameters (at the beginning, the voices list weight, height, etc.), it is the "robotic" song most well-structured but perhaps too long at 8 minutes. Finally, Transformer Man, the true key to understanding. The lyrics are truly moving and disturbingly filtered. This Transformer is none other than Neil's son, forced into a wheelchair using a remote control to communicate, and the father wishes he could do something for him. Note also the back cover where there is a heart with transistors.
I don't want to be heretical but I would even give it three and a half stars, I know I'm one of the few to consider this album valid, despite everything. In fact, analyzing the lyrics reveals that they are not at all trite and banal, even the melodies are meaningful, as if there were a soul behind the metal of the robotic cowboy.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Computer Age (05:21)
Cars and trucks
Fly by me on the corner
But I'm all right
Standin' proud before the signal
When I see the light
I know I'm more than just a number.
And I stand before you
Or else we just don't see the other
Computer age computer age
Computer age.
Bikes and vans
Fly by me on the desert
But I'm all right
Standing out here in the hot sun
When I see the light
I feel like more than just a number
And I stand before you
Or else we just don't see the other
Computer age computer age
Computer age.
Precious metal lines
Molded into highways
Running through me
So microscopically
Days and nights
Weeks and months and seasons
Rolling through me
So chronologically.
Computer age computer age
Computer age.
I need you
To let me know that there's a heartbeat
Let it pound and pound
And I'll be flying like a free bird
And you need me
Like ugly needs a mirror
And day by day
This horizon's getting clearer
Computer age computer age
Computer age.
08 Mr. Soul (03:15)
Oh, hello Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason
For the thought that I caught that my head is the event of the season
Why in crowds just a trace of my face could seem so pleasin'
I'll cop out to the change, but a stranger is putting the tease on.
I was down on a frown when the messenger brought me a letter
I was raised by the praise of a fan who said I upset her
Any girl in the world could have easily known me better
She said, You're strange, but don't change, and I let her.
In a while will the smile on my face turn to plaster?
Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster
For the race of my head and my face is moving much faster
Is it strange I should change? I don't know, why don't you ask her?
09 Like an Inca (08:19)
Said the condor to the preying mantis
We're gonna lose this place just like we lost Atlantis
Brother we got to go sooner than you know
The Gypsy told my fortune, she said that nothin' showed.
Who put the bomb on the sacred altar?
Why should we die if it comes our way?
Why should we care about a little button
Being pushed by someone we don't even know?
Well. I wish I was an Aztec,
Or a runner in Peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an Inca from Peru.
If you want to get high, build a strong foundation
Sink those pylons deep now and reach for the sky
If you want to get lost in the jungle rhythm
Get down on the ground and pretend you're swimmin'.
If you want to put ice in the lava river
First you must climb, then you must stand and shiver
Brother we got to go sooner than you know
The Gypsy told my fortune, the Gypsy told my fortune,
The Gypsy told my fortune, she said that nothing showed
Well I wish I was an Aztec,
Or a runner in Peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an Inca from Peru.
Said the condor to the preying mantis
We're gonna lose this place just like we lost Atlantis
Brother we got to go sooner than you know
The Gypsy told my fortune, the Gypsy told my fortune,
The Gypsy told my fortune, she said that nothin' showed.
Who put the bomb on the sacred altar?
Why should we die if it comes our way?
Why should we care about a little button
Being pushed by someone we don't even know?
Well. I wish I was an Aztec,
Or a runner in Peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an Inca from Peru.
I feel sad, but I feel happy
As I'm coming back to home
There's a bridge across the river
That I have to cross alone
Like a skipping rolling stone
Like an Inca.
Loading comments slowly
