Computer games

Press, 10 March 1983, Page 14

Computer games

NEIL YOUNG “Trans” (Geffen GHS2OIB).The one thing that can be said about Neil Young is that he is never predictable. . “Trans” looks like being one of Young’s best albums, even though it is hard to handle at first.

Side one opens with “A Little Thing Called Love,” a raunchy country rocker with nice slide guitar and effortless vocals from Young, and side two’s debut is “Hold on to Your Love,” a slower, pop song.

Sensibly, the openings have been conventional, because what comes after is a shock. Young is playing computer games with drum machines, synthesizers and vocoders — he is the “reactor” to the trend towards computerisation.

At first these “games” are not nice — especially Young’s raspy vocals being mixed by a vocoder, but in spite of that there are some superb songs. The two to stand out are “Transformer Man,” which, it has been suggested, is a rework of Kraftwerk’s “Computer World.” “Transformer Man” It is a simple song, the vocoder almost making the lyrics indecipherable. “Sample and Hold,” about a

lone person ordering a mate from a computer bank, a kind of fantasy escaping reality, in which the music is reminiscent of some of the grinding gutsiness of “Rust Never Sleeps.” The surprise is the rework of the Young’s old Buffalo Springfield song, “Mr Soul.” is transformed into a heavier, jagged, electronic song, with slight vocal distortion.

. But the best is last. “Like an Inca” is a 9min 43sec quality song, along the lines of “lake a Hurricane,” or “Cortez The Killer,” a return to South American images. The song shares the computer tracks concern for man’s ability to distort his nature — in this case it is the bomb. The music, particularly Nils Lofgren’s lead work, makes it worthwhile as Young sings “Gypsy told my fortunehe said that nothing showed.”

Young’s backing band, a combination of Crazy Horse, plus extras, is in great form.

CHRISTOPHER CROSS “Another Page” (Warner Bros 23757-1). I’ve been living with this album for three weeks now, but until recently it wasn’t much of a relationship. Initially, “Another Page” came across like background music, and certainly

it does have an unobstrusive quality. , But what really sparked my interest in it was the fine musical arrangements from some leading West Cohst session musician and artists, and a string section that is subtley used without being schmaltzy. Christopher Cross won a Grammy in 1980 as best new artist of the year for his debut album, although these awards don’t seem, to have as much pull in New Zealand as the Oscars do. For this reason there seemed to be some hesitation here about what all the fuss over Cross was about — particularly from the heavily MOR-oriented-awards ceremony. Cross regards his own songs on “Another Page” as “more personal, more romantic, and more emotional” than some of his earlier work. Certainly, ballads like “Think of Laura” and “Talking in my Sleep,” are, with their delicate arrangements, but the more objective songs, “Deal ’Em Again” , and “All Right” (the single), stand out for their rock approach. “Another Page” is a kind of album that needs to be given another chance. The quality is there. Just take a listen.

-NEVIN TOPP

music word

nevin topp