Neil Young
Trans

THE REVIEW

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.