Neil, the forgotten years.
H3@+h | VT | 10/17/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This is actually a collection of some of his less popular 80's material. Songs are drawn from the albums "Trans", "Old Ways", "Everybody's Rockin'", and elswhere. His label had problems with some of these songs not sounding "Neil" enough, and though it's not "After The Gold Rush", it's no doubt still Neil. This disc is definitely short on hits, but "Old Ways" and "Transformer Man" are classic, and there's also the title track, which is a cover of the great old Elvis song. While I might not call this essential, it is the missing link between his classic 70's period, and his late 80's "comeback"."
Strictly album tracks and poorly chosen
Robert P. Inverarity | Silicon Valley, California, United States | 04/10/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"This is an barely passable overview of the Geffen years. It focuses on the wrong albums for the wrong reasons and misses most of the decent material from admittedly spotty albums. The North American compilation of Young's 80s work, Lucky Thirteen, is far superior - it covers more territory (including material from Landing on Water and a pair of great live takes with the Bluenotes), contains rarities and outtakes that usually surpass the album tracks, and works amazingly well as an album on its own. Two of this album's best tracks, Around the World and Transformer Man, are shared with Lucky Thirteen. Buy this compilation only after you pick that one up, and only if you have no plans of picking up the individual albums.
How the songlist breaks down:
From Trans: Little Thing Called Love, Like an Inca, Transformer Man
From Everybody's Rockin': Everybody's Rockin', Mystery Train, Rainin' in My Heart, Bright Lights Big City, Betty Lou's Got a New Pair of Shoes
From Life: Around the World
From Old Ways: California Sunset, My Boy, Old Ways, Once an Angel, Bound for Glory
Trans is three parts synth album and one part terrible hawaii-rock(?) (leftovers from the mercifully cancelled Island in the Sun). This comp selects two of the three Hawaii tracks. Though Like an Inca (an eviscerated version of the unreleased Hitchhiker) is the best of a bad lot, Computer Age or the original version of Sample and Hold would have been much better choices than the execrable "Little Thing Called Love", which sounds like a song written for Sesame Street that its producers rejected for inanity. Augh. "Tranformer Man" is a wonderful song, but it's also included on Lucky Thirteen.
Landing on Water is an acquired taste, but has some good material, and its absence from this compilation is unwarranted. This compilation contains nearly half of the half-hearted country album Old Ways, and not its better half. This album also includes half of the silly fun Everybody's Rockin' album, but not that album's best tracks, Wonderin' and Payola Blues.
In short: look elsewhere first."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1