Trans (album)
Encyclopedia
Trans is the twelfth studio album
by Canadian musician Neil Young
, released in 1982. Recorded partially and released during his notorious Geffen
era in the 1980s, Trans baffled many Neil Young fans. Some suggested that the album could be a satirical message that Young was trying to send about the direction music was headed in the future. A Sennheiser Vocoder
VSM201 features prominently on six of the nine tracks. While the album was poorly received, some critics point out that the melodies are strong and that the album involves Young addressing new musical movements, as he did previously on Rust Never Sleeps
and later with the grunge
movement.
Originally released as an LP
, the album was re-issued in 1998 on CD
, although not in the US.
, his record label since his debut album in 1968, to sign with Geffen Records
— the label founded and owned by David Geffen
, who had worked with Young as manager of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Young's contract guaranteed him $1 million per album, as well as total creative control over his output.
From late 1980 to mid 1982, Young spent much of his waking hours carrying out a therapy program for his young son, Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy
and unable to speak. Neil disclosed to almost no one at the time that he was doing so, or that the repetitive nature of the songs on both the previous album, Re-ac-tor
, and this one related to the exercises he was performing with Ben. Work on Trans began in late 1981 as a continuation of Re-ac-tor, with the usual Crazy Horse lineup. But then Young started playing with two new machines he had acquired, a Synclavier
and a Sennheiser Vocoder
VSM201. Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro recalled, "Next thing we knew, Neil stripped all our music off, overdubbed all this stuff, the Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, weird sequencing, and put the synth shit on it."
Young's direction was influenced by the electronic experiments of the German
band Kraftwerk
, but more importantly he felt that distorting his voice reflected his attempts to communicate with his son. "At that time he was simply trying to find a way to talk, to communicate with other people. That's what Trans is all about. And that's why, on that record, you know I'm saying something but you can't understand what it is. Well, that's exactly the same feeling I was getting from my son."
Young's first work for Geffen was a group of songs for an entirely different project, Island in the Sun, recorded in May 1982 in Hawaii. According to Young, it was "a tropical thing all about sailing, ancient civilisations, islands and water." Young recalled later, "Geffen thought it was okay, but he didn't think it was good enough."
Instead of recording more new material, Young went back to the synthesizer tracks, actually recorded in the last days of the Reprise contract, and put together an album of songs from the two very different projects, three from Island in the Sun and six of the synthesizer tracks. Young proposed making a video to go with the album that would have clarified what the album was about. "All of the electronic-voice people were working in a hospital, and the one thing they were trying to do is teach this little baby to push a button."
After a year of work, the album was mixed in a hurry because Young was eager to go out on tour, and a last-minute change in the running order is evident in the inclusion of a song called If You Got Love in the track listing and lyric sheet, even though it is not on the album.
Portions of several tracks appeared in Young's 1982 feature length comedy film Human Highway
.
Trans, along with Young's next Geffen release Everybody's Rockin'
, formed the basis of a 1983 lawsuit filed against Young by Geffen on the grounds that he had produced deliberately uncommercial and unrepresentative work.
* Different mixes of these tracks appear on the CD release
covered the song "Computer Age" during their Daydream Nation
era.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by Canadian musician Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, released in 1982. Recorded partially and released during his notorious Geffen
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
era in the 1980s, Trans baffled many Neil Young fans. Some suggested that the album could be a satirical message that Young was trying to send about the direction music was headed in the future. A Sennheiser Vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
VSM201 features prominently on six of the nine tracks. While the album was poorly received, some critics point out that the melodies are strong and that the album involves Young addressing new musical movements, as he did previously on Rust Never Sleeps
Rust Never Sleeps
Rust Never Sleeps is an album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse released in 1979. The bulk of the album was recorded live at San Francisco's Cow Palace, with overdubs added. Audience noise is removed as much as possible, although it is clearly audible at certain points, most noticeably on the opening...
and later with the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
movement.
Originally released as an LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, the album was re-issued in 1998 on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, although not in the US.
Background
In 1982, Young left Reprise RecordsReprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
, his record label since his debut album in 1968, to sign with Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
— the label founded and owned by David Geffen
David Geffen
David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
, who had worked with Young as manager of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Young's contract guaranteed him $1 million per album, as well as total creative control over his output.
From late 1980 to mid 1982, Young spent much of his waking hours carrying out a therapy program for his young son, Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
and unable to speak. Neil disclosed to almost no one at the time that he was doing so, or that the repetitive nature of the songs on both the previous album, Re-ac-tor
Re-ac-tor
Re-ac-tor is the eleventh studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, and his third with Crazy Horse, released in 1981. The album married the electric guitar crunch of the late '70s Crazy Horse sound with early '80s new wave rhythms...
, and this one related to the exercises he was performing with Ben. Work on Trans began in late 1981 as a continuation of Re-ac-tor, with the usual Crazy Horse lineup. But then Young started playing with two new machines he had acquired, a Synclavier
Synclavier
The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
and a Sennheiser Vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
VSM201. Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro recalled, "Next thing we knew, Neil stripped all our music off, overdubbed all this stuff, the Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, weird sequencing, and put the synth shit on it."
Young's direction was influenced by the electronic experiments of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
band Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, but more importantly he felt that distorting his voice reflected his attempts to communicate with his son. "At that time he was simply trying to find a way to talk, to communicate with other people. That's what Trans is all about. And that's why, on that record, you know I'm saying something but you can't understand what it is. Well, that's exactly the same feeling I was getting from my son."
Young's first work for Geffen was a group of songs for an entirely different project, Island in the Sun, recorded in May 1982 in Hawaii. According to Young, it was "a tropical thing all about sailing, ancient civilisations, islands and water." Young recalled later, "Geffen thought it was okay, but he didn't think it was good enough."
Instead of recording more new material, Young went back to the synthesizer tracks, actually recorded in the last days of the Reprise contract, and put together an album of songs from the two very different projects, three from Island in the Sun and six of the synthesizer tracks. Young proposed making a video to go with the album that would have clarified what the album was about. "All of the electronic-voice people were working in a hospital, and the one thing they were trying to do is teach this little baby to push a button."
After a year of work, the album was mixed in a hurry because Young was eager to go out on tour, and a last-minute change in the running order is evident in the inclusion of a song called If You Got Love in the track listing and lyric sheet, even though it is not on the album.
Portions of several tracks appeared in Young's 1982 feature length comedy film Human Highway
Human Highway
Human Highway is a 1982 comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo...
.
Trans, along with Young's next Geffen release Everybody's Rockin'
Everybody's Rockin'
Everybody's Rockin' is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1983. The album was recorded with the Shocking Pinks , and features a selection of rockabilly songs . Running 25 minutes, it is Young's shortest album...
, formed the basis of a 1983 lawsuit filed against Young by Geffen on the grounds that he had produced deliberately uncommercial and unrepresentative work.
Side one
- "Little Thing Called Love" – 3:13
- "Computer Age" – 5:24
- "We R in Control" – 3:31
- "Transformer Man" – 3:23
- "Computer Cowboy (aka Syscrusher)" – 4:13
Side two
- "Hold On to Your Love" – 3:28
- "Sample and Hold" * – 5:09 (CD - 8:03)
- "Mr. SoulMr. Soul"Mr. Soul" is a song written by Canadian rock musician Neil Young, and first recorded by folk rock band Buffalo Springfield and released on their second album, Buffalo Springfield Again...
" – 3:19 - "Like an Inca" * – 8:08 (CD - 9:46)
Personnel
- Neil Young – Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, guitar, bass, Synclavier, electric piano, vocal
- Nils LofgrenNils LofgrenNils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
– Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, guitar, piano, organ, electric piano, Synclavier, vocal - Ben KeithBen KeithBennett Keith Schaeufele , better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer...
– pedal steel guitar, slide guitar, vocal - Bruce PalmerBruce PalmerBruce Palmer was a Canadian musician notable for playing bass guitar in the folk rock band Buffalo Springfield.-Early years:Palmer was born and raised in Toronto Ontario, Canada...
– bass - Ralph MolinaRalph MolinaRalph Molina is an American musician, best known as the drummer for Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse.Born in Puerto Rico, Molina has been a member of Crazy Horse since they were formed in 1962 as Danny & the Memories. He has remained throughout the band's many personnel changes, and has...
– drums, vocal - Joe LalaJoe LalaJoe Lala is an actor and voice actor, notable for his dubbing of Kun Lan of the video-game Killer7.He also played drums and percussion on 32 gold and 28 platinum albums. His credits include Blues Image, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, and many...
– percussion, vocal - Frank SampedroFrank SampedroFrank "Poncho" Sampedro is an American guitarist and member of the rock and roll band Crazy Horse, known mainly for its longtime collaboration with singer-songwriter Neil Young....
– guitar, stringman - Billy TalbotBilly TalbotBilly Talbot is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of Crazy Horse.-Music career:Born in New York City, Talbot started his musical career singing on street corners at the age of 14. He moved to New Jersey with his family the next year, and by 17 he had moved to...
– bass
Covers by notable artists
American alternative rock band Sonic YouthSonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
covered the song "Computer Age" during their Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in October 1988 by Enigma Records in the United States, and by Blast First in the United Kingdom....
era.