- Vinyl
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import
- ASIN: B000091SSF
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
On the surface, everything is wrong with this album. The cover must rank as the worst Neil Young album cover ever, if not the worst album cover ever in the history of rock. The music is almost too painful to listen to, the synthesizers intrusive, the guitars either non-existent or brutally distorted, and Steve Jordan's drums mixed so high it feels as if you are being relentlessly pummelled in the side of the head. Struggle past this initial barrage, however, and things can be allowed to fall into place. At first glance the cover might well be an eyesore, but the statement is sharp. This plane has gone down. Crashed. Almost every song conveys a message of struggle and weariness, a man at breaking point: Weight Of The World, I Got A Problem (with its outrageous scream at the beginning), Pressure. All the tracks are sung against a surprisingly sparse backing, leaving little doubt that there are really only three people at work here. Everything is badly produced and out of kilter. But the irony is that in being badly produced it only adds to the meaning. Guitars that want to scream end up being stifled; the drums, pushed well forward, beat everything else in to the background, only the synthesizers being allowed to let their presence be felt. There is great music here struggling to be heard and memorable moments throughout. Neil yelling, "I've got to fight to control (the violent side)"; the man walking away unscathed from a car accident; the double take in People On The Street. And it finishes with a veiled warning, "I'm just a drifter, I'll stay until you tie me down." Wonderfully awful stuff.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
While it's not his best album by any means, Landing on Water has IMHO much to commend it. Yes, sonically it's of its' time but he does everything better than most others at any given point. The synths, drums and overall compressed sound of many of the tracks make for a vital listening experience that leaves the listener drained at the end of, for instance, Touch the Night or Violent Side. Lyrically Neil is at his most ironic in some of these tracks; 'Take my advice, don't listen to me' in Hippie Dream or 'Got to fight to control the violent side' on Violent Side for instance.
Yes it's different from a lot of his other stuff but that's the beauty of Neil - his range of styles is enormous and most of it is better than anyone else's interpretation of a particular style. Anyone who gives this one or two stars should listen again.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Although i bought my first version of this album in the 80's it's 2006 before i've said my twopence worth, to be honest my opinion now is a lot different now than it was then.
On first listening to this album i said a silent prayer to the memory of the Neil Young i had known and loved and confined it to my box of bad buys to be forwarded to the local charity shop. I never could find it within myself to dump it though - it felt wrong to do it to a loved one. i'm glad i didn't.
It's not an easy listening experience for a Neil Young fan but it's hardly the first album he's released that has required patience. Listening to it now, yes it's dated - some retro things are still just too '80's - but it really does demand your attention. It was released against the backdrop of Neil's legal fight against his previous record company and, in hindsight, could almost be described as an aural reaction against it - many lyrics refer to being free or not conforming to expectations and, in an arty way, this album represents this - the guitars, drums and lyrics are repressed and express the feelings of the artist. In hindsight i now feel this album is a wonderful example of artistic expression. I'm well aware it could be rose-tinted hinsdsight and that absolutely no-one said this at the time but i could swear that Young meant for it to sound exactly like this all along and he wouldn't change a thing.
Consider the context & be open minded - you will enjoy it, eventually.
On first listening to this album i said a silent prayer to the memory of the Neil Young i had known and loved and confined it to my box of bad buys to be forwarded to the local charity shop. I never could find it within myself to dump it though - it felt wrong to do it to a loved one. i'm glad i didn't.
It's not an easy listening experience for a Neil Young fan but it's hardly the first album he's released that has required patience. Listening to it now, yes it's dated - some retro things are still just too '80's - but it really does demand your attention. It was released against the backdrop of Neil's legal fight against his previous record company and, in hindsight, could almost be described as an aural reaction against it - many lyrics refer to being free or not conforming to expectations and, in an arty way, this album represents this - the guitars, drums and lyrics are repressed and express the feelings of the artist. In hindsight i now feel this album is a wonderful example of artistic expression. I'm well aware it could be rose-tinted hinsdsight and that absolutely no-one said this at the time but i could swear that Young meant for it to sound exactly like this all along and he wouldn't change a thing.
Consider the context & be open minded - you will enjoy it, eventually.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Avoid!
Quite simply the worst NY LP ever. Most of his Geffen period output was disappointing but this doesn't reach that level. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Quizzimodo
A Great Album
I liked this a lot back then and I really love it now. There are so many great songs and it's something different, but no worse for being different. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Pete
avoid at all costs!!!
Neil Young's lowest point of his career,the only two positives i can see with this album is A) the cover art is the best thing about the album...and its pretty bad. Read more
Published 12 months ago by lloyd boon
Make it stop.......
For some musicians, entertaining notions of good and bad is an irrelevance, as they never fail to make music that is genuinely interesting and engaging. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. S. L. J. Fox
So much better than I expected
I have been building up my collection of Neil Young albums, I missed out on many first time around, but without doubt the man is one of the greatest singer song writer / musicians... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Brian
Steve Jordan wrecks another one!
THUD!THUD!THUD!
How is it that people rate Steve Jordan to be a great drummer, when essentially
all he does is play EXACTLY the same beat on 90% of the material he's... Read more
How is it that people rate Steve Jordan to be a great drummer, when essentially
all he does is play EXACTLY the same beat on 90% of the material he's... Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2010 by colin
Of course it's strange, but not worse than other NY albums
This record is really strange and it should have labelled "only for fans" on its cover. However, having said that, the album has a couple of very good songs like "weight of the... Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2008 by Claudio
Rock Genius decides to go John Farnham (1986 and all that)
Although a true Neil Young fan and even being won-over by theelsewhere-derided Re-Ac-Tor (New-Wave and not bad New-Wave at that) thisis truly an 80s experiment too far. Read more
Published on 26 April 2004 by Mr. M. B. Powell
Landing on Water
Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, this is a great Neil Young album. The songs are excellent and while the production is very 80's it bears up surprisingly well. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2004
Another brave and starkly different Neil Young masterpiece
Another brave and starkly different Neil Young masterpiece. This album combines synths, over emphasized drums, grand backing singing and the most amazing synth-bass playing I ever... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2003 by A J WADE
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