"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".