Customer Reviews

Everybody's Rockin'

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Neil Young has always been a unique and diverse songwriter and musician. Here, again, he swings in an entirely different direction. The end result is an uplifting, fun bouncy trip back to the innocence of the fifties.

I've always respected Neil for his variety and imagination. He is , in my opinion, by far the most talented musician in the field today and will always remain so.

Granted, this is no way close to his past albums with vivid tales and dreamy landscape memoir songs that tend to conjour up images for its listeners. But this album is just pure fun.

A note of trivia: this album was actually an act of retaliation to his record producers at the time. They demanded he cut a certain number of records in a time period. Disgruntled by their greed and "assembly line" approach to putting out music, Neil launched this record as a way to fight back the system. Neil himself did not expect it to be a seller ; rather a financial burden to the record company.

This is why the record is so rare. The record company only produced a limited supply after they listened to the content.

But, beside the fact, this is a nice record. It would make a great addition to that juke box in the diner!

Neil young goes fifties rock 'n roll!

This is wonderful. I am sure that Neil Young had a lot of fun making this and I know that I had a lot of fun listening to it.

The album is a collection of ten songs in fifties rock and roll style. Lots of echo especially on the vocals, syrupy backing vocals, classic twelve bar chord progressions. Added in are occacional bursts of harmonica that sound like sixties Dylan. It's great.

The songs all sound fresh and explore many differet facets of the period. The lyrics range from from the pastiche of "JellyRoll Man" to a strident complaint about the music business in "Payola Blues" all delivered with Neil Young's characteristic vocal range.

You only get 25 minutes of music for your money on this album but I guess that, in that time, Neil Young said just about all that he had to say in this style. More would probably have lead to some degree of repetition.

This album will not appeal to everyone but any Neil Young fan with a sense of humour will enjoy it.

While there's a lot of squawkin' about the content and running time of this 1983 album, it is everything it should be. Nobody raised a stink in 1976 when John Lennon released his 'Rock and Roll' album, covering the early hits that had inspired him in his youth, and there is no reason to do so with this similar effort from Neil. Songs from rock and roll's genesis rarely exceeded three minutes, so only one song in this ten song set does as well. Like Lennon, Neil earned the right to do this, and he does it just as well as his predecessor.

The album opens with two covers. The first is the familiar Bobby Freeman #20 hit from 1958, 'Betty Lou's Got a New Pair of Shoes', and the second James Moore's (aka Slim Harpo) #34 country-blues hit from 1961, 'Rainin' In My Heart'. Both are faithful renditions, the former sounding a bit lackluster, especially for an album opener, but Neil builds on it, so perhaps that's the idea (or it could be that it is just lackluster). Neil's delivery is particularly well-suited to the crying-out-loud overtones of the latter Harpo tune, however.

The heart of the album follows, with Neil penning four great tunes that sound as if they had been born and raised in the late 1950's. 'Payola Blues' is a hilarious take on jumping through hoops to get your record on the radio, featuring a "Cash-a-wad-a-wad-a" background vocal from Larry Byrom, Anthony Crawford, and Rick Palombi that is just great schtick. The fifth track, 'Kinda Fonda Wanda' is similarly tongue-in-cheek, blowing us past the Sue's (Peggy and Runaround) to hail the 'virtues' of Wanda, who always "wanta, wanta, wanta". Sandwiched between is the best number on the disc, Neil's 'Wonderin'. The quartet is rounded out with 'Jellyroll Man'. All four songs are based in a similar tempo that is guaranteed to have you looking to lead your honey by the hand to the dance floor (right after your run your comb through your pomp...).

The remaining four songs are a bit less appealing than the middle four, with Neil's cover of Sam Phillip's 'Mystery Train', a number one hit for Elvis on the country charts in 1955 (and the last single Elvis recorded for Phillips before his contract was sold to RCA) being the best of the bunch. 'Bright Lights, Big City' was a number 58 hit for Jimmy Reed in 1961, while 'Cry, Cry, Cry' and 'Everybody's Rockin'' are Young compostions.

This is probably the most unusual of all Neil Young albums, save 'Arc' (and perhaps 'Trans', which oddly enough preceded 'Everybody's Rockin'). While the album was reportedly a source of contention between Young and David Geffen, and posed a mystery to many of Neil's longtime fans, it represents yet another dimension of Neil's talent. His ability to capture the resonant sounds of a by-gone era is sorely underappreciated. While the covers are good, it is Neil's own writings that give this brief work breadth and depth. And Neil plays up the retro-act to great effect with two-tone shoes and a greasy pompadour, and a low-amp backing band called 'The Shocking Pinks' (featuring Tim Drummond on an UPRIGHT bass, and Karl Himmel on snare).

Isn't it odd how people so often criticize Young for being excessively dour, yet when he does lighten up, it is the critics who play the sour notes? There is a lot of good fun here, quite different from the hard-rocking good fun found on discs such as 're.ac.tor', but good fun nonetheless. And don't worry about the short running time, 30 minutes is right for this. Four stars is right, too.

Upon first listening to this album, I was completly blown away. What Young has captured on this gem of a record is nothing short of brillance. Many people say that it can easily be tossed aside as fodder and that the short length of the album alone makes it not worth the purchase price. But what Young has done is gone back to a magical time in rock and roll. A time when a simple 12 bar blues progression and sweet backup vocals made up rock and roll. Without music such as this, there would be no "rock and roll" as we know it today. No Zepplin, no Beatles, no Floyd, and certainlly none of the bands today. This album pays tribute to that by-gone era and is worth another look.

As a long time Neil Young fan, I purchased this album in the late 80's on vinyl as one of the final pieces to my collection. I love Neil's quirkiness, and I'm a big fan of Trans, and even (at points) Landing on Water. However, this album is essentially a curio for die-hards, and is not something you're destined to play much. I like Kinda Fonda Wanda and a few others, but get this album after you get all others, except maybe Old Ways or Journey Through the Past (if you can find that on Vinyl).

I'd much rather see those old Reprise albums re-released. Particularly On The Beach & Time Fades Away. I think Geffen released Re-Ac-Tor, which is also preferable. One of my all-time favs, "Shots" is on that one....but less I digress....

This is one of Neil's many 80s genre expeditions, and, while the songs are upbeat and fun, has very little depth. Neil released it as a payback to David Geffen, his record company exec who insisted he shelve his country project (which became "Old Ways") and release a more rock album like "Rust Never Sleeps." This is hardly "Rust Never Sleeps," and it resulted in Geffen suing Young for not sounding enough like himself (the latter lost, of course). I've read Neil quoted as saying the above and also as saying that this album is "as good as 'Tonight's the Night.'" Trust me, it's not, and he probably knows it, although who am I to judge. If you find this album on vinyl at a garage sale in good condition, by all means grab it. But whether or not it's worth $$$ is a matter of personal opinion. Mine is that, while I dig the music, that much for a 24-minute album is hardly worth the money.

When this CD was released I was 13 years old. I saw the video on MTV for "Wonderin'" and my older brothers saying "Dang, what happened Neil?!?". However, I was hooked! I ordered it on cassette at the time and fell in love with all the tracks. It was my first exposure to Neil Young. I know this disc takes a LOT of heat but it is obvious it was meant to be a fun disc and tribute to the 50's. What else would you expect when it says "This one's for you Alan Freed"? I always felt this stuff should be the background music on Happy Days.

What inspired Neil to record a CD like this? Stray Cats? Probably not, but I was listening to them at the time as well. (And if you're a Cats you'll enjoy this). Very short at around 25 minutes this CD has original material as well as some fabulous covers. When I found this on CD in 2000, I immediately picked up a copy. "Neil & The Shocking Pinks" is not a transistion record or a "miss". Neil knew exactly what he was doing when he recorded this and it sounds as good today as it did in 1983. Or in 1953! Good clean fun, much better than a lot of the bad influece stuff the media shoves down our throats these days.

I am not one of Neil's biggest fans. My styles of music lean more toward Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and other '50s and '60s artists. Therefore, you can understand why I love this album. It sounds just like the old '50s music, and takes you back to a more carefree, loving and fun existence. The other reviewer was right, the songs on this album aren't very deep, but that's okay. Sometimes all you want to hear is a fun rock 'n' roll song. And for that, this album is a killer.

You know what I don't get? I'll tell you what. '50s rock lyrics. It's not that I don't grasp them, they seem rather pointless to me. Seriously, on "Betty Lou's Got a New Pair of Shoes", they make this big deal about how Betty Lou has more footwear. W00t. Exactly what I wanted to hear about. Betty Lou now has new shoes.. Never liked that song, be it by whoever originally made it or Neil Young. I did like Elvis' "Mystery Train". Come on, it's Elvis! He's the King of Rock `n' Roll! Then Neil got his hands on it. And it croaked on its toilet, so to speak. I've never heard Jimmy Reed's original "Bright Lights, Big City", but Neil's cover is nothing to be proud of. Neither are some of the originals, which include "Cry, Cry, Cry" and "Jelly Roll Man". I can see why he stashed this peculiar rockabilly/doo-wap combo pretty far in his back pages. There are a few upsides, though: it's not an insult like Landing on Water or Life, and some of it is pretty catchy, most notably the hilarious satire "Payola Blues", and the sly rocker "Kinda Fonda Wanda". And it's short, too. So if you don't like it, at least it'll be over quickly.

...It is one of the most fun records I have ever had the pleasure of listening to (again and again!).

... let's talk about this record's real gems. And is there a better way to start an album than with its finest track?! Betty Lou's Got A New Pair Of Shoes features a ballsy lead vocal from Neil and a sax solo that will make your saddle shoes want to kick up some serious dust! Neil slows things down a bit with the balled Rainin' In My Heart before before rocking out with Payola Blues. The song makes reference to Allen Freed and the "payola scandal" of the 1950's. Though paying high-powered DJ's money to play a record may be a serious crime, there is nothing serious about this song. It is pure sock hop fun as the Shocking Pinks sing the backing vocal line "Cash-a-wad-a-wad-a!"

Wonderin', though not the best song, was chosen to be the album's lone single. The song is quite catchy and I remember its MTV video as being a laugh-a-minute! Kinda Fonda Wanda puts the album back on the Betty Lou/Payola euphoria track. Though it sounds as if it could have been recorded in the 1950's, risqué lyrics like "...screwed Runaround Sue" and "...cause Wanda always wanna..." keep the track firmly in the 1980's! Though the next four songs seem to pale in comparison with tracks 1, 3, 4 & 5, do NOT hit that forward button! The Spector-esque wall of sound and assorted echoes will make your chick want to put on a tight mini-skirt and twist the night away! The title track finishes things with a major bang. It features Ronnie and Nancy rockin' in the White House and Neil exclaiming "twit-a-le-de" during at the instrumental break.

I guess to say that the title track "finishes things" isn't accurate. Usually what follows is a repeat performance of the entire CD (or at least tracks 1, 3, 4 & 5). Oh what FUN it is!