Comment of the Moment: "Landing on Water" by Neil Young - "Incredibly Underrated"
Much discussion recently by those who think that Neil Young's 1986 album Landing on Water is incredibly underrated. And less so by those who don't agree.
The Comment of the Moment is by TopangaDaze:
"Take my adviceThanks for the thoughts TopangaDaze! As you say, LOW is: "engaging, fun, pleasant, thought provoking songs touching on fear, anxiety, internal and external doubt competing with an overriding humanity through some despair." What more could you ask for in a Neil Young album?
Don't listen to me"
But, believe me when I say that Landing on Water is a good to very good to great album. I loved it when it initially came out, and it has only grown on me over the years.
I've always considered it the key central album in Neil's 80s work. It delineated and defined a significant turning point in Neil's mindset and recorded output. With it, we find Neil writing and singing catchy hook based melodic tunes while seeking public acceptance. Following the albums that came immediately before it, LOW was a solid effort finding Neil getting his feet firmly beneath him again while his head was still spinning with doubts. He was slowly escaping from his personal and professional musical mind chamber with introspective thought provoking lyrics of the time, augmented and at times dominated by overtly commercial studio synth pop production.
To me, it's the one album in Neil's career where he was truly trying to be commercial (be it seriously or as a statement of sorts). Jordan and Kootch were at the top of the 80s commercial rock/pop spectrum in '86 and they offered up the "standard" pop sound of the time, backing up and at times dominating Neil's lead.
Every song on the album has redeeming value. There are melodies, lyrics, vocals, and effects throughout that are catchy, thought provoking and curiously and endlessly interesting.
I'll never understand why people think the album is bad. It's a diverse yet cohesive work. Yes, it has a definite "dated" 80s sound to it, but again, that was largely Neil trying to be commercial, relevant and provocative, not ornery or defiant. The accompanying videos find him to be in a more sarcastic character based tone, but the album in its entirety is remarkably consistent.
Hippie Dream is an absolutely terrific song lyrically, and musically it has a boiling punch to it. But "the wooden ships--were a hippie dream, capsized in excess, if you know what I mean"...
Touch the Night combines angry screeching guitars, with a nice accompanying innocent chorus with very good vocals and matching catchy lyrics.
People on the Street, Weight of the World, Violent Side, I Got a Problem, Pressure, etc...are all engaging, fun, pleasant, thought provoking songs touching on fear, anxiety, internal and external doubt competing with an overriding humanity through some despair. The synth pop keyboard drumming dominance of the 80s is in full force, and it has always drawn me in, not away from the music.
Overall, I understand that we as fans all have our version(s) of Neil and his music that we are most closely drawn to. Clearly his 70s output is the "traditional" sound that elevated him to fame and has for the most part kept him there. His 80s work has largely been criticized and ignored, but there's value throughout, and Landing on Water is central to his "lost" decade. Neil was reaching out and finding his way back towards the mainstream, and quite successfully in my opinion.
"Take my advice
Don't listen to me"
and always remember, it's
"a victory for the heart every time the music starts
so please don't kill the machine, don't kill the machine..."
More on whether Neil Young's 1986 album Landing on Water is "incredibly underrated".
Labels: album, neil young
by thrasher@PermaLink: 2/22/2017 06:18:00 AM
20 comments
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Just looked at the initial Rolling Stone review from our old friend Jim Farber.
Seems pretty spot on to me (because he largely echoes my thoughts), but he has a better ear than I do and he writes much more eloquently:
September 25, 1986
After a series of musical one-night stands, Neil Young is finally getting serious again. His previous three albums were just dalliances — in electronic (Trans), rockabilly (Everybody's Rockin') and country (Old Ways) music — none of which were terribly meaningful or deeply felt. This time, however, Young has committed himself to a sound that's truly new. He's working with electronics again, but while Trans used conventional computer dance beats surrounded by thick, slick synth effects, Landing on Water keeps its electronics in the garage. Instead of using technology to go high-tech, Young creates a rinky-tink synth sound, which is set off by surprisingly sparse, crisp arrangements.
On this record, Young has axed Trans's vocoder, which made him sound like a singing microwave. There are also more of his raw, bleeding guitar leads. But what's really jarring is the sound of Steve Jordan's drums. They're mixed way up high to exhilarating effect. In "I Got a Problem," the drums are compellingly brash, and in "People on the Street," it sounds as if Jordan could kick through the speakers at any moment.
Young lightens things up with the pop touches in "Violent Side" and "Hard Luck Stories." To insure his patented irony, the happiest pop melodies are married to some of the album's direst lyrics. Young may kick off the LP on an optimistic note, casting off the "Weight of the World," but the rest hits like a hurricane. Of course, Young writes bitter songs best, but while it's nice to hear him confronting life again after the relative complacency of his last two LPs, his spare lyrics are not the album's forte. None has the flaky invention of his finest, and the most interesting seem to reduce the whole Sixties movement to a "Hippie Dream."
But what Young's lyrics lack in character, the music makes up for in freshness. True, Landing on Water doesn't have the sweep of Rust Never Sleeps or Tonight's the Night, but it's definitely his most consistent LP of the Eighties. More important, Young has found a way to give his sound a healthy new shot of neurosis.
Thanks TopangaD for posting here and on original thread.
Very interesting to go back and re-read this review. Also interesting to call LOW a return to form after Trans, Everybody's Rockin' and Old Ways. It just shows how much a departure those albums were considered to be. Kind of like the ditch albums of the 80's.
For what its worth, here's how I rank Neil's eighties albums:
1) Freedom
2) Hawks & Doves
3) Landing on Water
4) Life
5) This Note's for You
6) Reactor
7) Old Ways
8) Trans
9) Everybody's Rockin'
In retrospect, the decade certainly had some low points, but overall it's a credible 10 year artistic statement worthy of note.
My 2nd-5th choices (H&D, LOW, Life, TNFY) could easily be shuffled around, but I consider them all fairly strong works.
My bottom choices are wildly inconsistent, but each still has at least 2-4 worthwhile good to great songs, but clearly Trans and Everybody's Rockin' belong in their own unique head scratching category.
"Take my advice
Don't listen to me"
Cool Topanga: Here's mine..
1. Freedom of course.
2. REACTOR
3. Trans
4. Landing on water
5. Hawks and Doves
6. Old Ways
7. This Notes For You
8. Everybody's Rockin'
9. Life
Maybe I have Life so low because of the disappointment factor?
Innaresting list AF!
I've pulled REACTOR out of the dust bin every year or two, but I've never been able to get into it. It just seems so sloppy and "lightweight" to my ears. In fact, it probably should flip places on my list with Old Ways, but I'll keep it at #6 for now due to the CH factor.
Personally, I always liked Life (just like Landing on Water). Good crunchy melodic tunes throughout (to my ears).
Hawks and Doves moved way up on my list in the last few years. Initially I hated the album and only listened to it around 5 times. Then in the not too distant past I listened to it again and started to really appreciate it. Some very well written songs (Captain Kennedy, Lost in Space, the Old Homestead), and some fun, catchy, pithily "patriotic" electric country tunes.
"Take my advice
Don't listen to me"
1. Eldorado
2. Reactor
3. Freedom
4. old Ways for MISFITS
5. Trans
10 = Life, H&D, This Note, Low
I'm not counting Everybodys Rocking cos I threw it out years ago
I do totally agree with Topanga that LOW is often unfairly written off. It's certainly well worth a listen, if you haven't bothered with it at all due to it's reputation as being a disaster.
But at the same time, I don't think the albums higher up the food chain are going to be losing any sleep. Landing On Water is clearly not the God-like creative masterpiece Zodiac works very hard to convince us it is on the previous thread.
I can't really get onboard with the idea that Landing On Water is a GREAT album, simply because the songwriting is only sporadically good, the performances are unremarkable and the production/song arrangements/sound quality are all often poor. Just like all the other eighties studio albums, except Freedom. There's some good ideas, for sure, but there's just too much working against them for any of them to really succeed. For instance, listen to just how much better the Bluenotes sound on Bluenote Cafe compared to the studio record This Notes For You, with better songs and much better production.
The problem on LOW isn't so much the stereotypical eighties sound; it's the poor attempt at the stereotypical eighties sound. It's the incredibly tinny sound quality and the absence of thrill or impact. It all falls flat, sonically. Worth noting that it wasn't actually meant to turn out like that; it wasn't some kind of artistic statement or whatever. A few more great songs would perhaps have made it easier to ignore the sub-standard sound quality.
Listen to Neil thrashing away at his guitar on "...but the wooden ships!" parts of Hippie Dream. Clearly the guitar wants to be angry, it wants to rattle you, it wants to grab you by the throat (like the version on Earth successfully does). And live in the studio, it probably did. But on record, buried under a poor mix, it timidly knocks on the door and asks to come in, feeling very distant, both sonically and emotionally. And I think the rest of the album suffers in much the same way. Distant and flat, it just doesn't really sound that good. Which is why I don't often listen to it, despite some good songs and some exciting sounds.
(Incidentally, Neil's most impresive-sounding album of the eighties was also the one he chose not to even release (until 27 years later): Bluenote Cafe. Typical.).
Scotsman.
Valid points Scots.
I'm realizing that "sound" doesn't matter much to me, or isn't recognized by me (if at all). To my ears, there's nothing timid about the guitar or the song Hippie Dream as it appears on Landing on Water.
The sound throughout is fine, but what really strikes me about the album is that there isn't one song on it that I consider to be bad. Every song has a sense of melody and rhythm. The lyrics vary from light, fun and airy, to deep and dark, but there's a sense of playful joy throughout. Be it the choruses, the innerwoven affects (both subtle and in your face) and the occasional release of Neil's screaming vocal.
Don't get me wrong, Landing on Water isn't one of Neil's true classics, but it's much better than the critics and most fans think. As soon as the first notes of Weight of the World starts, I find myself smiling and singing along, and that feeling doesn't stop until the last note of Drifter fades away. Every song is "catchy" or "fun" or "relatable" or "telling" or "playfully quirky" in "typical" Neil fashion.
A simple question: When listening to the album, do your feet start to tap, does your head involuntarily bob and weave, do your fingers reflexively snap, does your inner voice sing along? For me, it's yes, yes, yes and yes.
Now, regarding Bluenote Café, I'll have to listen again, but my previous listens have left me somewhat underwhelmed. Neither the material nor the sound stands out to me.
__________________________________________________________________________
Andy, Andy, Andy: First, I'll give you credit for mentioning Eldorado. I toyed with including it, but chose against it. It's definitely a raw sonic full frontal assault that seemed to come out of nowhere (ok, New Zealand), and it's place at the top of your list won't be questioned by me.
I'll also grant you some latitude regarding your ranking the bottom 5 albums together as all equally bad, but...
But, REACTOR ahead of Freedom? I'll keep an open mind and encourage you to share a few details "defending" your opinion.
"Got Mashed Potatoes, ain't got no T-Bone"...
Great thread! I've always felt the 80s albums were unfairly maligned, and with the exception of (most of) Life, I actually like all of them to some degree. Just never could get in to Life. A few years ago, I spent several months living in and driving around Australia. I had picked up LOW, Trans, and Chrome Dreams II [I guess this was 2007....] on CD when I was first there, just for something to play in the car. They got quite the workout, and I have to say that I especially got a better appreciation for LOW. The drum machines surely date it, but overall, the songs are really quite good (man, if only Neil wrote that kind of stuff over the past decade!!). As to the other 80s albums, I've always quite liked Trans - why the hate toward that album is beyond me, with such standouts as Like an Inca and Computer World. And Re-ac-tor is one of my favorite Neil albums. Shoot, man, what a bunch of great songs! Shots is outstanding, and T-Bone - to me, this song captures the essence of Crazy Horse. Just elemental, man. And really, though dismissed lyrically, to me, that's the story of our most recent presidental election. "Got mashed potatoes. Ain't got no t-bone." Exactly. The rest of the decade contains all kinds of interesting stuff - and if I'm in the mood, Old Ways, or Everybody's Rockin' or H&D are all just right....they don't often make the turntable, or MP3 player...but they are all fun in their way. Freedom, of course, is the standout, but for all that, a little overproduced, imho.
Cheers,
Charlie
Topanga: what model of speakers or headphones do you tend to use to listen to your music?
There should definitely be a substantial difference in sound quality between Landing On Water and most of Bluenote Cafe, for instance, with the latter having a fuller, more realistic sound, with deeper lows and brighter highs, more of a sense of space and warmth and physical impact. Like the difference between a 2D and 3D image.
If you are listening on cheap ear buds or TV speakers then the difference will surely be less noticeable. But play Bluenote Cafe on a half-decent set of speakers at reasonable volume and you might as well be there in the live audience, the sound swimming around your head, the bass rumbling in your stomach. It's a thrilling and very realistic representation of a live performance. Whereas I think the studio album This Notes For You has the same one-dimensional and lifeless sound as featured on the other eighties records; there's no sense of excitement or drama to it.
Cafe also has some great songs - I'd argue that Crime in The City, Ordinary People, Bad News, Don't Take Your Love and Twilight are better than most of the songs on LOW, with some awesome instrumentals by Neil and Steve Lawrence. I think he could have used a better running order though; there are too many similar tracks towards the middle of disc 1, which to my mind causes it to drag a bit.
Re: the guitar on Hippie Dream, a good performance, but the way it is mixed, it just sounds very small. It is buried so far under the drums that it loses all impact, and the mix sucks out most of the mid-range, where the sense of presence and depth lives in a guitar. There's little sense of cohesion between the instruments and vocal, a lot of individual parts that don't really glue together. It is one of the better songs and performances on the record though, I do love the sense of eeriness it creates. The Earth version is no sonic masterpiece either (and I actually prefer the more understated performance of the original), but it does suceed in conveying those dramatic sections with a lot more authority; when it needs to, it punches hard.
I agree that some of the Landing On Water songs are quite catchy!
Scotsman.
I won't rank the '80s albums right now. To be honest, some of them (Old Ways, This Note's for You) I haven't listened to recently enough to feel comfortable judging. I do have to say that, in spite of what Andy may tell us, I could never bring myself to toss out Everybody's Rockin'. Payola and Kinda Fonda Wanda amuse me too much, plus I'm a sucker for the whole '50s R&R/rockabilly aesthetic.
Trans, for all its shortcomings, is likely my favorite of the Geffin albums and after that, it may actually be LOW. Maybe it would have been Life at one point, but LOW has pushed ahead lately. A few of the songs are more interesting and, honestly, LOW's production may be over the top, but Life just sounds kind of flat to me; overly pristine and echoey for garage rock, while at the same time being undistinguished for the most part... lifeless, ironically enough. Long Walk Home, a genuinely good song, gets special mention for rising above the off-putting production, which I can only describe as the sonic equivalent of too much hair gel.
I have to say that, for me personally, Hawks & Doves and Reactor rank below most of the Geffin albums. Much of the time, the substance just is not there and while the Geffin albums often have the appeal of Neil intentionally venturing out on a limb to try something fresh, the two pre-Geffin '80s LPs just sound like an artistic loose end, especially following the Rust period. H&D is dusted off primarily for Little Wing, Old Homestead, and Lost in Space. LOS is actually one of my favorite Neil songs... ever. And I generally enjoy side 1 of H&D, but now that I can make my own mixes, I rarely listen to the entire album in one go.
Same for Reactor. Unless I really just want to hear some crunchy Crazy Horse, and even then there are usually better choices. The album's got a nice guitar sound, but not much else. I wish I could say Shots is enough to bring it back from the brink, but actually, the one that's made it into one of my custom mixes is Rapid Transit. It actually fits with some of Neil's other more adventurous '80s material and conveys the idea of quickly and sharply moving from one musical idea to another.
If I'm in the mood for a really unusual ride, I occasionally play Lucky 13. It's one of those odd pieces I picked up when I gathering Neil items I had initially missed, and I'm glad to have it. To be sure, an interesting survey of Neil's more wayward years. All you can really do, as the record itself suggests, is to "Sample and Hold". Plus, I really like the graphic design of the insert, which show what seem like scores of song titles, some of which wouldn't be officially released for decades. Some are probably still locked away in the Archives. For a difficult personal period characterized by critically maligned recordings, one hell of a lot of songs seem to have come out of Neil's lost decade. Maybe the "lucky thirteen" are the thirteen songs chosen above all the others to be highlighted on the compilation.
One of these days, perhaps I'll put together a mix of what I feel are the more interesting and/or successful moments from H@D through Life. Call it Misfits. Shocking Pinks, Trans, Back to the Country, Mashed Potatoes--throw it all into one tub and see how it floats: a rapid transit journey from the old homestead to lost in space. The farthest reaches of manic artistic experimentation beckon.
@Topanga--I find myself agreeing about the guitars on LOW. I wouldn't say timid, at least not in performance. If there is any timidity, it's in how the guitar parts are sometimes buried in the mix, subservient to the synths and beats. Which, yeah, can be excessive--but at least the overall sound of the album presents something new and different.
On Bluenote Cafe, your mileage may vary (mine does), but Don't Take Your Love Away from Me absolutely grabs me by the throat and doesn't let go. Ain't it the Truth is a fun one; I occasionally find myself amending the lyrics: "Ain't it the truth? Gin and vermouth". I'm Goin' has attitude and I enjoy some of the other performances (Sunny Inside, On the Way Home, Bad News, Ten Men). For me, it's an album that works not necessarily because the songs are all that wonderful (some do stand out), but because the best songs are presented in a context where they thrive musically. As a studio album, this might not have as much weight (see This Note's for You), but the big band in a live concert setting gives some of the songs a shot in the arm.
Ian: As I describe above, I wasn't talking about the core performance of Hippie Dream but the way the sound is captured on "tape" for us to hear. Which, you know, is kind of what recorded music is all about.
Spot on comment about Bluenote Cafe. And as you mention, it's not just a fun listen: there are some great songs too. Remember that it is a very long album (well over two hours), but strip it down to a forty-five minute studio-type album and it would make a strong record in any one's book. E.g. Bad News, Twilight, Don't Take Your Love, This Note's For You, Ordinary People, Crime In The City, Fool For Your Love (not in that order). Add a couple of more upbeat tunes and that's a full-length cohesive album that sounds better than any of the previous eighties albums. Though I'm glad he gave it the full-length treatment as an Archive release.
The thing is, Neil's not just a songwriter; he's also a performer, a creator of records. This record has some great songs, but it also features superb performances and it does "sounds like God" (quote: Neil Young) if you crank it up on decent headphones or speakers. It's the complete package.
I'm surprised there wasn't more excitement when it was released. Perhaps fittingly, it kind of slipped under the radar, in the shadows. For decades this album was talked about in hushed tones by fans. And yes, it suceeded in reaching those high expectations, dodgy running order aside. I can only assume they all died of old age. Or more sensibly, were too busy enjoying themselves listening to the album that they forget to tell anyone about it!
Neil on Bluenote Cafe (in 1990): "There's another record of the Bluenotes that's really great. No one's ever heard that. It's a double live album. And it's really great. I love it. It's music no one wants to hear! Except for a few people."
And when Poncho was asked in 2014 which unreleased Crazy Horse recording he'd like to be released, his answer wasn't a Crazy Horse album at all. It was Bluenote Cafe. Rick Rosas told me a couple of years before his death that he too was looking forward to this record. I don't think he ever got to hear it. But his bass playing is fantastic on it. He'd told me that his "style has always been less is more", and it's that approach which allows a ten-man blues band to punch with the intensity and excitement of a power trio.
As it is, Bluenote Cafe is a Performance Deries release that captures a truly awesome masterclass of live performance. So you can't go wrong, really.
Scotsman.
Re: the mixes on Landing On Water.
There is a misconception that the record actually turned out the way Neil wanted it; that the fashionable production and buried guitar sound was some sort of deliberate artistic statement on his behalf. Neil himself contradicts this notion. As he recollects:
"I'm in LA. I don't like LA that much, (and) I'm making a record with studio musicians. These guys are great but they don't know me that well. The record company said, 'that's the way you've got to do it.' I'm thinking 'pretty soon I'm not going to be with this record company anymore.' So I had some songs, I went in and played them, and there they are".
Neil explained the album cover and title with: "they were all trying to get their rafts out of the doors, AND FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS. It didn't look as if they had a chance. I kind of felt like that myself".
The picture Neil consistently paints of these sessions is one in which he had little interest in making this record (he hints in contemporary interviews that he wanted to make a guitar-heavy rock record), he had little chemistry with the other musicians ("they don't know me that well") but was essentially instructed to make it by his record company ("That's the way you've got to do it"). He did so with little enthusiasm or sustained concentration ("I went in and played them, and there they are"), before moving on and immediately dismissing the record as a "piece of crap, let's be honest about it" as soon as it was released.
Scotsman.
I always like REACTOR with Opera Star, Surfer Joe and r r r r rapid transit. It all works for me...T-Bone and Shots! Freedom for me runs out of steam and I know it's regarded as one his finest moments but falls away badly half way through.
An Evening with Neil Young Performing Landing on Water in its Entirety. Id Cough Up the Bucks for that One. Second Set pick another 80's record. I think it would really sell. He would never do that. Hes that shark that's gotta keep swimming.
So many great comments here. Glad folks enjoyed the Landing on Water wayback review. Many thanks to all for the conversations. Once again, demonstrating that Neil fans are some of the most knowledgeable music fans out there.
With Neil on sabbatical, we're scrounging through the TW Archives. Fun stuff and nice to re-visit the back catalog --- wide & deep.
Hippie Dream and Weight Of The World was the whole lp to me . it could have been a great 45 and no need to go any further to make ME happy . But like anything , there will be those who think its the greatest / its the worst . In my case , it was just another album I dont need to hear very often .
Scotsman,
I don't personally have an issue with the sequencing of Bluenote Cafe, and I'm rather exacting about such things. If anything, I find disc 1 a little tighter than disc 2, where the spoken interludes start to accumulate. However, I wonder how it plays on vinyl; i.e. where the side breaks are. That could make more sense of the running order. There's so much material on the album, though, I have taken to putting the previously unreleased tracks in a playlist of their own: 1. Welcome to the Big Room 2. Don't Take Your Love Away from me; 3. Hello, Lonely Woman; 4.Soul of a Woman; 5. Doghouse; 6. Bad News Comes to Town; 7. Fool for Your Love; 8. I'm Goin; 9. Crime of the Heart; 10. Ain't it the Truth?
Given the length of some of the cuts, this gives you 1 CD or two LPs. I keep tinkering with it, sometimes including either version of OP for a full account of the Bluenotes.
Ian:
The official running order has been chosen to be (almost) completely chronological. He chose the versions he wanted, and put them in the order they were played in. With a couple of tweaks (to keep On The Way Home in the encore). Bearing in mind that this almost certainly isn't the running order that was planned in 1988.
And mostly it works okay, but the problem I have with disc 1 is too many of the lighter weight, cheap and cheerful numbers towards the middle of disc 1. Individually, these songs are great fun. But too many in a row just exaggerates their weaknesses and draws attention to their similarity.
During the live show, a moodier mumber like Coupe De Ville or One Thing would break them up, which I think is the more effective presentation. By the time Bad News arrives towards the end of disc 1, it's almost like a person finding water in the middle of the desert. Even a fan of this material like myself finds himself switching off mentally during the run of songs from Hello Lonely Woman to Married Man. It didn't have to be that way, as I actually enjoy those songs.
Likewise, the whole point of the Jones Beach version of Crime In The City included here was that it followed a quiet acoustic set of After The Goldrush and Days That Used To Be. And so the contrast in sounds and attitudes was enormous and bracing. Here, out of context, it follows another long story song, and is robbed of much of it's impact. Likewise, the huge reverb-laden sound of I'm Goin' is followed by a very dry version of Ordinary People, which makes it sound.a little flat in comparison. Seperate the two out and it might work better.
For another playlist, you could try a version that also includes a few of the previously released songs. It could be even better. Bearing in mind that Neil's original plan for the 1988 version would have also included some repeats from This Note's For You.
Scotsman.
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