Neil Young Albums ReviewsIn 2004 Rustie, Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova posted a series of articles on his experience listening to all of Neil Young's albums in chronological order. Here is one in the series. For a complete listing, see Albums in Order reviews.
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:51:36 -0800 (PST) Here is the message I get from Neil when I listen to
Everybody's Rockin': Lighten up, everyone. Have some fun.
I think I was exposed to the music Neil made with the
Shocking Pinks in just the right way. I saw my second Neil
Young concert on January 25, 1983, the Solo Trans tour.
That one was a solo acoustic tour with a few Trans tunes
performed solo or accompanied by tape loops, etc. My third
Neil concert was later that year in Dallas on July 15.
This time, it was very similar to what I had seen in
January; solo acoustic, lots of new tunes and some
well-performed old classics. Good show. But it also had
this build-up which included the character Dan Clear
acting as MC and Neil playing it up for a time-warp thing;
you know what I mean if you attended one of these shows or
have seen the Solo Trans video (which was actually shot at
a Shocking Pinks show.) Anyway, after giving us a full
show with everything one could expect from a Neil Young
performance, he did a bonus set with the Shocking Pinks.
Neil was really into playing this character and leading
this band through a 50's sounding set. I know it's not now
nor was it then anything most people including me expected
from Neil, but I tried to go with the flow. And the songs
could be fun if you'd just let it.
The album came out a couple of weeks after the Dallas
concert. Some things I like about the album: It
successfully recreates the sound of 50's rock records.
Neil's singing is excellent. There are some great covers,
like Mystery Train and Rainin' In My Heart. Neil has some
good self-penned songs such as Payola Blues and Cry Cry
Cry. And one those mysterious songs listed in the liner
notes of After The Gold Rush shows up on this album!
Wonderin' played here as a doo-wop number. And it works,
works for me anyway. I remember seeing the video for this
and thinking it was hilarious.
And I do like to pop this album in now and then; not all
music has to be intense and serious. This one's light and
fun.
I very much enjoyed listening to Everybody's Rockin'
today.
Mike - Expecting To Fly
From: Mike Cordova
To: rust@rustlist.org
Subject: Albums in order: Everybody’s Rockin’
For more of Expecting To Fly's reviews, see the Albums in Order series.
Neil Young Archives - Thrasher's Wheat