Neil Young
Trans
1983
Who could guess that a Canadian folk-rocker and a vocoder could make such sweet, sweet love? The offspring of this odd couple, Neil Young's Trans, is a spacey departure from the rest of his discography. With its strange, hokey, science-fiction aesthetic, much of the album could easily serve as a soundtrack for Barbarella or Lost in Space. Listening is like sliding into a trippy time-warp.
Still, there's a lot more here than gimmicks and voice modulation. Through satire and revelry, Trans explores complex and conflicting attitudes toward technology at a time when it was progressing in leaps and bounds.
Trans gains allure through its solid New Wave sensibility, but its thematic nuances are what ultimately merit repeated listening. Be prepared to experience a whole new Neil Young.
