Landing on Water [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Landing on Water may not be Neil Young's worst album, but it's probably the least noteworthy collection he's assembled. For what turned out to be his penultimate Geffen album, Young rebuffed his regular set of co-producers in favor of West Coast journeyman Danny Kortchmar--seemingly in the interest of honing a more radio-friendly sound. As a result, the singer finds himself bobbing his way through layers of synthesizer fills and Steve Jordan's strident drumming; the whole thing feels like a bland '80s rock soundtrack. None of these songs have even become concert salvage projects--evidence that their composer doesn't hold them in high regard. The one standout here is "Hippie Dream," a scathing death-of-the-counterculture screed inspired by David Crosby's then-life-threatening drug problems: "Another flower child goes to seed / In an ether-filled room of meat hooks / It's so ugly" Young wails, and one can't help but wish the music had half as much bite as the lyrics. --Steven Stolder

Tracks:

Weight Of The World
Violent Side
Hippie Dream
Bad News Beat
Touch The Night
People On The Street
Hard Luck Stories
I Got A Problem
Pressure
Drifter

Amazon.com

Landing on Water may not be Neil Young's worst album, but it's probably the least noteworthy collection he's assembled. For what turned out to be his penultimate Geffen album, Young rebuffed his regular set of co-producers in favor of West Coast journeyman Danny Kortchmar--seemingly in the interest of honing a more radio-friendly sound. As a result, the singer finds himself bobbing his way through layers of synthesizer fills and Steve Jordan's strident drumming; the whole thing feels like a bland '80s rock soundtrack. None of these songs have even become concert salvage projects--evidence that their composer doesn't hold them in high regard. The one standout here is "Hippie Dream," a scathing death-of-the-counterculture screed inspired by David Crosby's then-life-threatening drug problems: "Another flower child goes to seed / In an ether-filled room of meat hooks / It's so ugly" Young wails, and one can't help but wish the music had half as much bite as the lyrics. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Bad ideas don't get much worse than this.......2007-02-23

Okay, Neil with synthesizers and drum machines. Strike anybody else as stupid? Because this, along with Life, is the worst Neil Young album out there. The lyrics are frequently embarrassing (I've Got a Problem; Hippy Dream; Weight of the World; Violent Side; Drifter), and the aforementioned drum machines and such got on my nerves fast. There's not a single song on this mess worth salvaging. Neil's put out some great stuff, but this isn't an example of what he can do. There's not even a memorable guitar solo thrown in. Skip over it.

A Very fun Young adventure.......2006-11-17

I actually really do Love this album, but then I really love it when Young goes exploring and doesnt just do something just to please his Harvest fans. I mean I love Harvest too.but I already have Harvest, so why do I want him to do it again! I didnt even realize he was doing this sort of exploring during the 80s so I only came upon this album recently . whereas in the 60s and 70s I did consider myself a fan of his music, it wasnt until the 90s that I became a real fan of Young himself and all his creations and projects. I just love how he keeps surprising me .The past 6 years in particular and thats what made me start to explore his "missing years" ...the years I wasnt paying attention during the 80s.
maybe because I did go into this Album with the idea that I now know Young to be a musical and technical adventurer I was ready for anything... but even then I was more than pleasantly surprised by it and its now one of my favorite Young Albums.
of course to put that in perspective,I guess I should also add that my favorite Young projects are : After the Gold Rush, Harvest, Rust Never Sleeps { One of my top fave Concerts I ever went to} Zuma, Ragged Glory, Greendale{another favorite concert} and Prarie Wind . Thats not to take anything away from others, but just the ones I tend to go back to most often.
I am so glad to find Landing on Water. In fact I think I need to listen to it again right now..

If you can handel synths, you can handle this.......2006-08-29

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.

Neil's absolute worst.......2006-05-20

Let me start by saying that Neil Young is probably my all-time favorite rock-and-roll artist. I own thirty of his albums and still eagerly await each new release. But this turkey is the only Neil Young album I ever actually sold back used. I can not say a single good thing about it.

Simply put, "Landing On Water" was a ghastly miscalculation by the master. How Neil could have thought that a collection of mediocre songs driven primarily by synthesizers was a good idea is beyond me. And while I have often been pleasantly surprised by some of his more unconventional projects (the Shocking Pinks, for example), my only reaction to this album was horror.

If you want to hear Neil doing something interesting with synths, check out "Trans." Avoid this disaster at all costs!

Hard Luck Story.......2006-02-25

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.

Average customer rating:

Now Playing on Marco Polo

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Soundtracks | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Legendary Film Composers

ASIN: B00006JIAD
Release Date: 2002-09-17

Tracks:

Overture - Malcolm Arnold
'Look Out! It's King Kong Coming!' - Max Steiner
The Next Morning - The Order - Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Prelude - The Scroll & Storm - Victor Young
Death Of Merit - Alfred Newman
Invasion - Landing - Franz Waxman
Campfire - Up There! - Water Trough - Gold Digging - Cave-In - Max Steiner
All About Eve Suite - Alfred Newman

Average customer rating:

Landing on the Water

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000H5TY8M
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Average customer rating:

Bad ideas don't get much worse than this
A Very fun Young adventure
If you can handel synths, you can handle this
Neil's absolute worst
Hard Luck Story

Landing on Water
Neil Young
Manufacturer: Interscope Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Rock | Styles | Music

Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

This Note's for You
Re-ac-tor
Old Ways
Life
Everybody's Rockin'

ASIN: B000054OXU
Release Date: 2000-12-12

Tracks:

Weight Of The World
Violent Side
Hippie Dream
Bad News Beat
Touch The Night
People On The Street
Hard Luck Stories
I Got A Problem
Pressure
Drifter

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Bad ideas don't get much worse than this.......2007-02-23

A Very fun Young adventure.......2006-11-17

If you can handel synths, you can handle this.......2006-08-29

Neil's absolute worst.......2006-05-20

Hard Luck Story.......2006-02-25

Average customer rating:

A period piece...with one major exception

Landing on Water
Neil Young
Manufacturer: Scde
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Country | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005MKFD
Release Date: 2001-07-17

Customer Reviews:

A period piece...with one major exception.......2001-10-23

"Landing on Water" is a very strange album, even by Neil Young's standards. Who else would follow an old-time country album ("Old Ways") with an often cheesy synth-pop album? But it was hardly a commercial move, as there's plenty of screaming lead guitar from Neil, and Steve Jordan's drums are too snare-heavy and loud in the mix to be radio-friendly. At times, it works. But most of the music sounds terribly dated now in the way that most synth-based '80s stuff does, although Neil threw in just enough of his usual rawness and quirkiness that it's still kind of interesting to hear.

And, for the most part, this is a pretty weak batch of songs from Neil, full of trite sentiments, obvious lyrics, and even the occasional nod to the MTV generation (which meant something different in '86 than it does now).

A big exception is "Hippie Dream," a scathing jab at Neil's peers (especially ex-bandmate David Crosby) who succumbed to nihilistic excess and addiction while resting on past laurels. In contrast, moving forward restlessly (and wrecklessly) is Neil's thing: "just because it's over for you doesn't mean it's over for me" is the key line. This song is a standout, a forgotten NY classic, really. Interestingly, it's the track where the synthesizers are least distracting.

Tracks:

Weight of the World
Violent Side
Hippie Dream
Bad News Beat
Touch the Night
People on the Street
Hard Luck Stories
I Got a Problem
Pressure
Drifter

Music Review:

Music Review

Music Review