Friday, February 10, 2006

"It's alright, ma. It's LIFE and LIFE only."



After reading through some of the stuff on Thrasher's Wheat, I figured I'd mix things up a bit by borrowing a Bob Dylan lyric for the title of this post. (It seems some fans have concocted a sort of bizarre rivalry between Neil Young and Bob Dylan. Check it out here.)

In any event, the subject for today is LIFE (1987). I'm not talking about a grand, philosophical discussion. I'm simply talking about my least favorite album that Neil recorded with Crazy Horse. This album was his fifth and final release on Geffen (not including compilations). In many ways, it would seem that Neil viewed this fulfilment of his contracual obligation almost as a release from prison. [It was pointed out to me that there are 5 "hash marks" (you know, 4 vertical lines, and then a fifth diagonal line drawn across them) right below the cover photo of Neil jamming on guitar. Then, if you'll notice, there are two out-of-focus hands that appear to be wrapped around what could easily be construed as prison bars.]

Here’s the song line-up on LIFE:

Side One
Mideast Vacation (4:21)
Long Walk Home (4:56)
Around the World (5:26)
Inca Queen (7:56)
Side Two
Too Lonely (2:48)
Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll (3:12)
Cryin' Eyes (2:52)
When Your Lonely Heart Breaks (5:16)
We Never Danced (3:37)

"Mideast Vacation" features some fairly bizarre lyrics about family vacations and terrorism (e.g., "They chanted 'Death to America'/I was feelin' like a fight" and "When they burned me in effigy/My vacation was complete"). "Long Walk Home" has a harmonica intro and is basically piano-based, but with crazy explosion sound effects. I suppose they support the lyrics, which include the lines "Giant guns rage" and "From Vietnam to old Beirut". However, they're a bit overdone, perhaps?

"Around the World" is a more upbeat rocker that then shifts into a very mid-'80s mode that eventually gives way to some noisy guitar, then switches back into the mid-'80s mode again and finally descends into vocal effects (and other crazy sound effects) at the end. "Inca Queen" is very '80s keyboard-based with jungle sound effects abounding (to imagine the sound effects on this song, think "Bungle in the Jungle" by Jethro Tull, but more in quantity and less realistic in quality).

"Too Lonely" is very upbeat, and more guitar-driven (there's even a guitar break in the mddle that recalls the Stones' "Satisfaction" in an odd little way). "Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll" contains obvious slaps at Geffen ("We never listen to the record company man/They try to change us and ruin our band" and "We don't wanna be watered down/Takin' orders from record company clowns"), but with the hilariously self-deprecating chorus "That's why we don't wanna be good/That's why we don't wanna be good/We're prisoners of rock and roll".

"Cryin' Eyes" is fairly fast-paced with heavy guitar sound. "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks" has a slow, plodding drumbeat and what sounds to me like a ton of synthesizer sound. There is a decent, dare I even say "bluesy", guitar solo that adds an interesting twist. But, then there is an echo effect on some of Neil's lead vocals that's somewhat cheesy. "We Never Danced" has slow, relatively pretty keyboards, but really odd effects on the backing vocals.

"Mideast Vacation" and "Around the World" later appeared on LUCKY THIRTEEN (1993). I'll have to check to find out if they appeared as original, or alternate versions. "Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll" and "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks" later appeared live on YEAR OF THE HORSE (1997). I'll be interested to find out how they were handled live, as compared to the studio versions.

Bottom line: It's clearly my least favorite album Neil has made with Crazy Horse. There are some interesting songs here. So, it's not completely awful. (Heck, if you could get it on vinyl as a "cut-out" for 99 cents at a Venture store-closing sale like I did way back when, I'd definitely encourage picking it up.) It just has a general overuse of effects (such as echo) for my taste, and is basically stuck in the mid-'80s. It seems to mark an awkward end to an awkward peiod in Neil's career, the "Geffen era".

3 Comments:

Blogger KK said...

Neil and Bob are the two purest artists of our age and you happened to quote Bob at the height of his powers. Here's the rest of the lyrics and I hope that you are able to wonder, as many have, how in the world people like that come up with this stuff.....

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That you can do what's never been done
That you can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

8:32 AM, February 10, 2006  
Blogger haahnster said...

You are absolutely correct, which is why I find it odd that people get hung up comparing the two, or arguing who's better.

As far as "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", the first time I heard that song, I think I pissed my pants. It has what are, quite possibly, the greatest song lyrics ever written. And, my first time hearing it was in the 1980s, 20 years after it was written. I can't even imagine what it would've been like for people to hear a line like "But even the President of the United States/Sometimes must have/To stand naked" in the pre-Watergate era!!!

"He not busy being born is busy dying"..."Nothing much is really sacred"...it goes on and on. What an absolutely phenomenal song.

Glad you checked in.

9:06 AM, February 10, 2006  
Blogger thrasher said...

Hello haahnster,

Yeah, it is kinda weird this whole Bob & Neil rivalry thing. Not sure how closely you followed the whole thing over on Thrasher's Wheat, but the guy who originally posted it, did as kind of a goof. Similarly, I linked to as sort of a goof too. But the Dylan fans seemed to get really unhinged by the whole thing.

Most folks respect both guys. I'm with Neil on him being a B student of Bob and will leave it there.

Btw, I think Mideast Vacation is great! See http://aquariumdrunk.blogspot.com/2005/10/stop-sniffin-that-smokin-gun-neil.html

Stop sniffin' that smokin' gun!

10:15 AM, February 10, 2006  

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