Customer Reviews

Landing on Water

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

How can you not like this album? This is experimental Neil at his best, trying to tackle something new and infuse it with his own Neilness.

So, you think of the 80s, and you think of synthesizers. New Wave? Synth pop?

Neil puts together this album that is largely synthesizer-driven. Actually, that's not true. This album is primarily driven by Steve Jordan's drums, mic'd in such a way that it sounds like you're in a closet with them. Keyboards are layered on top of the drums, and last... BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST... Neil's trademark tortured distorted guitar periodically cuts through and slaps you senseless.

This album has a LOT of charm to it.

Lyrically:
"Take my advice, don't listen to me..."
"The wooden ships were just a hippie dream..."
An angelic-voiced boys choir singing "Got to fight to control the violent side..."

Samples & sound effects:
Breaking glass as percussion.
Screams punctuating that song "Pressure".
...and DAMN I don't know what they did to those drums throughout the album to make 'em sound so in-your-face, but... DAMN...

DAMN.

You know, it blows my mind that such seminal Young albums such as On The Beach and Time Fades Away are unavailable while the likes of Old Ways and this are still out there...

But don't get me wrong, I really do like this album. In fact, I like it a lot; I think it's the best thing Neil did during his "difficult" years on Geffen. When I first heard LoW, I hated it. Flat out hated it. I was still jonesing for the Neil Young of the Seventies and this certainly did not fit the bill. But y'know, the songs themselves were so strong that I eventually began to play it more and more, beginning with Hippie Dream, one of Neil's best in any decade, on through the shuffling People on the Street, Touch The Night with its choirish BV's, I Got A Problem (rocking and funky, with great guitar), and even the Devo-ish Pressure. This album comes across in a lot of ways like an attempt to revisit Trans, and in my opinion LoW works much better. After my initial reservations, I came to like Young's enhanced electric guitar and Steve Jordan's flat-sounding electronic drums (I mean sometimes they sound like a flat rubber stick on a wood block!) As the years have gone by, I still play Zuma or On The Beach or Tonight's The Night when I get in the mood for some Neil, but once in a while, when I least expect it, I get an urge to pull this one out and give it a spin. I always enjoy it, and I think you will, too, with an open mind.

Of all the 60s legends who took baffling artistic detours through the decade Kris Kristofferson described as "shipwrecked"--Dylan and the Stones come especially to mind--Neil Young's was by far the most fascinating. After responding to the epic success of the "Rust" albums with characteristically unpredictable forays into inaccessible pseudo-punk (Reactor) and rickety folk meanderings (Hawks & Doves), Neil Young journeyed to places few of his fans were willing to go: the electronica dance beats of "Trans" which, we later learned, featured electronically distorted vocals that emerged from attempts at communicating through a computer with his son Ben, a quadriplegic suffering from cerebral palsy.

In retrospect, the 80s are as legendary a period in Neil Young's career as his 70s heyday--not because the music was great, but precisely because it wasn't, culminating in the now-infamous lawsuit filed against Young by David Geffen for making music that didn't sound Neil young enough. Many like to call "Landing on Water" Neil's worst album, but that distinction--if we really must make it--belongs to the morbidly produced "Everybody's Rockin'". While Springsteen and Joel seemed to discover new voices with 50s nostalgia pieces like "Pink Cadillac" and "Uptown Girl" around the same time, Neil's flirtation with similar curiosities reflected, if anything, a voice that had become all but irretrievable.

It could hardly have been a surprise, then, that "Landing on Water" further exemplified the erratic artistic indulgences Young was favoring at the time, with its characteristically grungy licks and riffs laid over a jarring and misguided cacophony of synthesized drums and rhythms. It isn't just that the album sounds dated in 2006; the production is so insular that it was destined to sound dated before the year of its release came to a close. And yet, despite all this, "Landing on Water" contains three essential performances that die-hard and open-minded fans will learn to appreciate. "Hippie Dream"--with its moving eulogy for the bygone days of flower power--is a biting appraisal of an era he helped define, while "Drifter" and "Touch the Night" showcase a Neil Young who almost finds his groove amid the album's synth-laden idiosyncrasies.

These songs are treasures of an artistic vision stretching to fathom the boundaries of its expression, and the ambition of the material it produced at that time is, to my ears, every bit as beautiful as Young's best work. It may not always have sounded great--indeed, it usually strained just to sound listenable. But Neil's refusal to look away from less familiar artistic cravings is exactly the kind of edginess his reputation is founded on, and it is the good fan who understands glories like "Sleeps With Angels", "Freedom" and "Ragged Glory" could not have been possible without the misadventures that preceded them.

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Certainly one of Neil's best recordings, mainly because it's something only Neil could get away with. All the boring old hippy farts who fell in love with him after Harvest will poo-poo this one, but anyone with a brain and a love for experimentation will immediately see its charms.

You have to wonder how he gets the inspiration for this stuff, though. Neil: "I think I'm gonna do a song about havin' a bad news beat, 'cause I got an eye in the sky, right Kootch? Heh, heh, heh. And touchin' the night and stuff."

It's hard to pick a stand-out here. Most will tell you it's "Hippie Dream," but "Bad News Beat" is fantastic, "Violent Side" is prime Neil screaming, "Pressure" is great fun, and whoever played that bass lick to "Hard Luck Stories" is a genius.

To those who think I'm being tongue-in-cheek, think again. This is a top ten Neil album for me, and it rarely ever leaves my car stereo. And to those who are still annoyed by this album, ha, you fell right into Neil's trap.

I may be bias,since i bought this album as kid,so it didn't sound that bad too me,but the terriable reviews are overboard.Try and come up with one 60's or 70's artist that didn't suffer from 80's production and sound.It is one of neil's weaker cd's,up there with old way's and everybody's rockin,but i don't hate any of neil's work.there's some great song's here,hippie dream,touch the night,people in the street,drifter and maybe violent side.Dylan's 80's output was less than great too,so to judge this compaired to neil's classic period is unfair.probably only 3 star's,but someone has to give this one some love.

One interesting thing about Neil Young is that he's never made a tossed-off, unengaged, musically dull album. He's made bad albums, of course, but they're fascinatingly bad because he's come up with some bizarre musical concept and he's making a mess of it.

Exhibit A: "Landing on Water". Three musicians, all playing synthesisers, with pounding drums dominating the mix. Synthesizers often play the bass parts, but several songs have no bass at all. Some sampling: breaking glass, treated voices. A children's choir on two songs. Young's familiar voice and stinging lead guitar sitting on top. Simple, mostly banal lyrics about paranoiacs, phobics, psychotics and other lost souls.

And some of it works - the best stuff is at the start, tracks like "Violent Side" and "Hippie Dream". But the material sags in the second half, until after five thumping, droning minutes of "Drifter", with its duck-quack synthesizer riff, you're relieved that it's finally over.

Funnilly enough for a synth-soaked mid-80's album, this doesn't really sound dated - probably because no-one else made synth-soaked mid-80's records like this one. Another funny thing is that I play this beast a lot more than some of the "good" Neil Young albums like "Comes a Time" or "Harvest". I get a kick out of its half-baked weirdness.

I hated this album when I first heard it, due in large part to the fact that "Weight of the World," the opening track, is perhaps the worst cut on the album. However, I have to agree with the reviewer who said this album has a charm. It's a weirded out charm, but for me, it's there. It's not Neil's best, but the songwriting showcases his ability to write simple catchy songs. "Violent Side" is amazing, especially the coda. Check out "Bad News Beat" with headphones, the synths really make sense. And the lyrics and structure of "Hard Luck Stories" are successful. Really, I think this album would appeal more to non-Neil fans than the hardcore Crazyhorse freaks out there. If you like Kraftwerk, if you like (or have a soft-spot for) Invisible Touch-era Genesis, then this might just be a discovery for you. For Neil fans who want to see the whole picture of his output, then this is a unique and challenging, though admittedly minor, piece to the puzzle.

Another awesome album from Neil Young. A variety of songs based on the times we are living in, and our trials and tribulations. A great addition to anyone's music library.

Not great Neil Young, but one of his most experimental albums. Anyone would have a problem following a string of classic albums, but Neil gives it a good try with this album.It was hard to get used to the synthesizer-heavy sounds, but it grew on me after a few rounds on the CD player. The standouts are "Weight of the World", "Hippie Dream" and "Pressure". If you're not a Neil Young fan, do not start with "Landing on Water". Start with "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" or "Harvest", or better yet "Decade". If you are a fan, try it. It is possibly the cheapest Neil Young album available. It is not for all tastes, though.

No, Landing On Water is not Neil Young's best album. But it is one of his most interesting.

Songs like "Hippie Dream" and "Touch the Night" are among his best 80's stuff. There are also a couple of songs that I generally skip, but overall this is one of my favorite CDs to listen to at night.

I don't know why he is criticized for venturing into synthesized music. To me Landing On Water is yet another example of Neil's ability to make great music in a unique style.

I can't believe this CD is so cheap. What a value! Don't pass this one up.