Closing the Books on the Geffen Era

As careful readers of this blog already know, Neil Young released five albums with Geffen Records in the 1980s. All five have been individually reviewed previously: TRANS (1982) on January 16, 2006; EVERYBODY’S ROCKIN’ (1983) on January 19, 2006; OLD WAYS (1985) on February 9, 2006; LANDING ON WATER (1986) on February 17, 2006; LIFE (1987) on February 10, 2006. So, reviewing Neil’s Geffen compilation, LUCKY THIRTEEN (1993) is redundant, right? Wrong! As the true Neil fan knows, “There’s more to the picture than meets the eye.”

This disc comes with a tag line on the front: “Excursions Into Alien Territory”. It completely fits the TRANS-era cover photo of Neil with wicked wraparound shades and vocoder. However, it also hints at the presentation of re-worked and previously unreleased material. Here's the "Lucky 13":

1. SAMPLE AND HOLD (8:04)
2. TRANSFORMER MAN (3:19)
3. DEPRESSION BLUES (4:07)
4. GET GONE (5:06)
5. DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE AWAY FROM ME (6:16)
6. ONCE AN ANGEL (3:54)
7. WHERE IS THE HIGHWAY TONIGHT? (3:04)
8. HIPPIE DREAM (4:26)
9. PRESSURE (2:46)
10. AROUND THE WORLD (5:28)
11. MIDEAST VACATION (4:22)
12. AIN’T IT THE TRUTH (7:38)
13. THIS NOTE’S FOR YOU (5:34)

“Sample And Hold” has always been my favorite of the vocoder songs from TRANS. Here, however, is an “extended remix” of sorts, actually a different recording of the song with Crazy Horse in 1983. The more I listen to this, the more convinced I become that this extended version is superior to the original album version. “Transformer Man” is the second-best vocoder song from TRANS, and is presented here in original form.

“Depression Blues” is a previously unreleased song from the original OLD WAYS sessions from 1983. It might well be better than any of the songs that ended up on the official OLD WAYS release. It certainly fits the pure country style of that album. I like the lyrics, “Goin’ back to school/Savin’ up my tuition/Gonna rewrite all the rules/On the old blackboard”.

EVERYBODY’S ROCKIN’ is skipped all together, replaced instead with two longer Neil originals recorded with the “Shocking Pinks” live at Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio on September 18, 1983. “Get Gone” has that familiar, Bo Diddley-type of rhythm to it, with some great lead guitar by Neil. “Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me”, complete with horns, perfectly foreshadows the Neil & The Blue Notes album that was to come five years later. Neil plays an absolutely wicked blues lead guitar, with a strong vocal performance as well.

“Once An Angel” and “Where Is The Highway Tonight?” are taken directly from OLD WAYS. Waylon Jennings is featured on the latter of the two. I probably would’ve chosen the title track “Old Ways” in place of “Once An Angel”. But, who am I to question Neil’s selection of his own songs? These two certainly give the flavor of the album OLD WAYS.

“Hippie Dream” and “Pressure” are pulled right from LANDING ON WATER. Again, they definitely give the listener a representative sample of that album’s sound. “Hippie Dream” is probably my favorite from L.O.W. “Pressure” could easily have been replaced with a different song, but is interesting for its reference to “Max Headroom” if nothing else.

“Around The World” and “Mideast Vacation” are from LIFE. I get the inclusion of the latter. But, “Around The World”, I would definitely have replaced with “Prisoners Of Rock 'n' Roll”. Perhaps Neil was making a peace offering to Geffen by leaving it out. By the way, I know big-time Neil fan “Thasher”, who operates the “Thrasher’s Wheat” website, is a fan of the line “Stop sniffin’ that smokin’ gun” from “Mideast Vacation”. The song is an intriguing political statement to be sure. Some would say it borders on prophetic. Others would say it borders on psychotic. Listen, and you can be the judge...

“Ain’t It The Truth” and “This Note’s For You” are live recordings with the Blue Notes line-up, right after the Geffen era had ended. “Ain’t It The Truth” is a song that Neil allegedly first recorded with the Squires way back in 1964. The version included here was recorded live at The Agora in Cleveland, OH on April 23, 1988. “This Note’s For You” here is nearly three times as long as the way-too-short album version, with plenty of extra stinging guitar solos by Neil. It’s a freakin’ amazing version here, if you ask me. It was recorded live at the Hollywood Palace. There were two shows each on April 13th and April 14th of 1988. There’s no way for me to know from which of the four shows this was taken. However, Neil can be heard saying “We’ll be back in a little while…” at the end, which probably rules out the early shows on both dates, as the set lists for those shows on the Sugar Mountain website list this song dead last. Anybody have any tapes of the late shows?

Bottom line: If you EVER had ANY inkling of wanting to sample any of Neil’s so-called “genre albums” of the '80s, then LUCKY THIRTEEN might be just what the doctor ordered. Or, if you’re like me, and already have all of his '80s albums, it’s still worth it for the alternate tracks. In particular, the two live songs each with the Shocking Pinks and the Blue Notes make this a great investment in my humble opinion. “Live music is better,” I’m certain I’ve heard that before!!!

PS – The CD booklet makes no less than six specific references to the Neil Young Archives and four references to the Neil Young Archives Video Collection. And, that doesn’t include all the song titles printed in the background behind the lyrics and liner notes (including unreleased song titles such as “Soul Of A Woman” and “So Tired”). Well, Neil, it’s been 13 years since these references were printed. Will we finally see these alleged Archives this year? Could 2006 be a “Lucky 13”?!