Neil Young Landing On Water & The Geffen saga

[@stephenrostkoski837]

The best thing about Landing On Water is the clever videos made for many of its songs. The last Geffen album is Life which I think is the best of the era.

[@ivandenisovich4636]

I bought the single from Everybody's Rockin' when it came out. I loved that song Wondering and the humorous video.

[@candelise]

Danny Kootchmar is the guy all over the Jackson Browne, Carol King, James Taylor famous records. Don Henley too and various others.

[@edwardrussell5989]

Glad you liked landing on water. For me it’s a howler.

[@Whytemonkee]

I saw Neil Young on the TRANS tour at MSG . Fantastic Show. First Half Traditional acoustic 2nd half was electronic Trans Album

[@BradRushing]

I saw the show in Houston. Loved it.

[@darrenkrivit6854]

Saw a show on that tour, very cool having the acoustic & electronic Neil ✌️

[@georgesclauzero849]

His follow up album to this, Life, is absolutely amazing. Not a dud song on it. The best track is Prisoners Of Rock'n'Roll where he takes a swipe at "record company clowns". Inca Queen, Too Lonely, We Never Danced - all classic Neil Young songs. I bought this album when it first came out and played it endlessly. It is still one of my "go to" Neil Young records that I play most frequently. The absolute best of his Geffen records in my humble opinion.

[@ChromeDestiny]

Shows from the '86 - '87 tour are worth hearing, lots of radio broadcasts and soundboards and a way to hear Landing On Water tracks without the same type of production.

[@davidritter2662]

Hi, John. I'm surprised that Randy Newman does not appear to be in your collection. I think you would love "Sail Away".

[@benmeltzer]

Thanks for this great review. Yes, the bass is synth bass. The following album isn't This Notes For You. It's Life, which is the last Geffen album.

[@smeringtonweeps2717]

80's Neil Young is ripe for rediscovery, Life (1987) has some great tracks

[@andrews527]

Neil's 1980s collection, Lucky 13, is a great starter.

[@roywatson8133]

is best geffen album i say

[@BradRushing]

Neil released one more album on Geffen, 1987's "Life" with Crazy Horse. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(Neil_Young_%26_Crazy_Horse_album)

[@johngalt5411]

IMHO Landing is his best Geffen release, I still love it!

[@roywatson8133]

life is better from 1987

[@edwardmulholland7912]

I’ve not heard this one. One only album from the Geffen years that I have is “Everybody’s Rockin” - I think I’m one of the few who loves that album! Maybe because I have a bootleg of the show from Seattle when Neil is touring ER. Fantastic show where Neil sings songs on his own then it builds up slowly, he sang songs from “Trans”, “Old Ways” which was still unreleased, some oldies and then after a break The Shocking Pinks come on and rock the place! I like it when Neil is having fun. I’ll definitely check out “Landing on Water”, it sounds interesting. Cheers.

[@davidskidmore4189]

I love that Everybody's Rockin album too.

[@paulsontag9233]

Great topic John! I've always been fascinated by the Neil Young/Geffen saga. Geffen had high expectations for this partnership considering Young's CSNY band mates to be washed up has beens but thought Young was still a vital artist. I came across Trans and Old Ways recently at thrift stores and got to listen to them for the first time. Was very pleasantly surprised at how good they were!

[@Cbcw76]

This was the era where Neil Young told us "My fans will buy absolute junk." I was very impressed with Neil's opinion, followed it up with TRANS.

[@BradRushing]

I am one of those outliers who loves Neil's Geffen years. I frequently find myself loving when music artists branch out and explore other styles. For instance I am also one of the few who really loves George Harrison's "Extra Texture" and Led Zeppelin's "In The Through Out Door" is my favorite album of theirs.

[@vinylshawn4757]

I also have Neil Young in my collection and have not explored quite a few records. The Geffen era fits in that category. A great artist like Neil Young , Geffen should have realized to give him free rein. Great review , I will stream this one if it’s available to stream.

[@PartTimeBuddhist]

I say Neil's "I'm messing with my audience" albums are a more enjoyable listen than Dylan's "I'm messing with my audience" albums.

[@jazzthunder50]

i think an album called Life. followed. this one ! It was last Geffen album

[@ChromeDestiny]

Very good too, shows signs of his comeback on Reprise imo.

[@tyronewhitehead2737]

Enjoyed thatJohn I too found that Fascinating.

[@Raydahr-5]

Life was Youngs next album and came out in 87. That was his last on Geffen. Not half bad either.

[@pourlefun]

The comment about the album being claustrophobic hits home. A friend bought this back in the day and I listened to it once... and I've never been back. I hated the vibe. To this day, I think it's the only Neil studio album I've never owned. I even had a cassette copy of Trans back in the day. I guess I gave this album the finger (we only use one in Canada).

[@danny1959]

Geffen sued Young for deliberately making uncommercial music.

[@TerryTutor-cv3hh]

It was actually better than that. The lawsuit actually said that Neil Young was being sued for " deliberately making un-Neil Young type music." Neil wanted off Geffen and went to these great lengths to achieve this. Good for him.

[@danny1959]

@ I admire anyone willing to fight the corrupt music industry.

[@therecordchanger4038]

Maybe I should revisit this one. I bought it when it came out, and dismissed it after several spins as the worst album Young ever made. And until his decline in recent years, that was my opinion about it. Might sound different to me almost 40 years later. Then again....

[@trevordixon1427]

Greatest

[@petejp1]

I've been a Neil Young fan since 1976-77, and i remember when these albums came out. I have to say I was pretty shocked when i heard trans. The vocals were very strange, and even the music was different from anything Neil had done before. Then the shocking pinks came out and it was another strange album. Old ways was kind of a lackluster country album. Landing on water was cold sounding with synth bass and loud drums. On life, neil brought back crazy horse but the songs were just average. That 5 album run with geffen was bizarre to say the least. Listening to them now, they sound better, but they are far from Neil's best and still rank pretty low in his catalog. I think these albums would benefit from a remix. Knowing neil, i doubt we'll get them.