Neil Young put together this compilation album in 1993 as a buy-out from Geffen Records. To Neil's credit, he did some manuevering to create a salable product, at least for his own loyal fan base. Unfortunately, the Geffen years were Neil's least prodigious, and some of Neil's choices for this project are wide open for second-guessers like me and you.
The Geffen years included Young songs copyrighted between 1982 and 1988, one year shy of the landmark 'Freedom' CD (Geffen must not be living right). 'Lucky Thirteen' opens with two songs from his 1983 release 'Trans', 'Sample and Hold' and 'Transformer Man'. While the extended version of 'Sample and Hold' (originally offered on the European import version of the album) is nice to have, 'Transformer Man' can be found on three other Young discs and two video releases. An unreleased composition from the 'Old Ways' sessions, 'Depression Blues' follows, a nice but unspectacular acoustic track. Two tracks from the officially released 'Old Ways' disc are also included, 'Once An Angel' and 'Where Is the Highway Tonight'. 'Once An Angel' is easily the better track chosen from this collection of acoustic country compositions.
Twice on this CD Neil wisely dips into some live material that wouldn't otherwise see the light of day. The 'Old Ways' tracks are split by two live recordings of Neil and The Shocking Pinks on their 1983 tour. Captured live in Dayton, Young offers two unreleased compositions, the rockabilly 'Get Gone', which fits in well with other retro-rockers from the 'Everybody's Rockin' disc, and 'Don't Take Your Love Away From Me', a pure blues-rock number in the same vein as 'After Berlin' from this same time period.
Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. In the mid-1980's, Young produced two of his weakest efforts. From 'Landing On Water', released in 1986, we get the synthesizer driven 'Hippie Dream', which ironically lowballs the era and mindset that spawned Young's own career, with 'Wooden Ships' taking an undeserved broadside, and 'Pressure', which sounds like an adrenalin-laced bad Devo imitation. Young barfed on 'Landing On Water' with 'Life', and despite returning Crazy Horse to the studio, Young remained in songwriting misery. 'Around the World' and 'Mideast Vacation' are only mediocre by Young standards.
Numbers 12 and 13 return to the live recording strategy, and work well. Neil's last official production with Geffen was 'This Note's For You', a quality work that signaled Young's return to form. We're caught by two catchy tunes from the road, the first being the unreleased 'Ain't It the Truth', a song Neil first performed with his band The Squires in 1964. It's a nice little rocker with obvious historical interest for Young fans. We also get a live version of the title track from 'This Notes For You', an energetic protest number skewering commercialism, recorded in the World Headquarters for Commercialism, Hollywood, California and ending up on this all-too-commercial disc for entirely commercial reasons.
If you're into creating your own CD's, it's nice to have these unreleased and live recordings to add to other period pieces. For instance, try tacking the live Shocking Pink's tracks onto the end of 'Everybody's Rockin' to fill out that sparse disc. And if you wisely have not slapped good money down for some of Neil's misguided 1980's products ('Old Ways', 'Landing On Water' and 'Life'), here's your chance to possess proof of your wisdom. It's almost comical to compare this 'greatest hits' package with other Neil Young compilations such as 'Decade' or 'Live Rust', but at the same time Young has found ways to fire up the interest of his followers. Lyrics are included in this, one of the strangest compilations you'll ever come across.
Neil's White Album?
for avid fans and the insanely curious only
