Everybody's Rockin' (1983)
Classic Neil move: After Trans, he pivots again and offers Geffen a pure country album called Old Ways. Geffen is feeling burnt by the failure of Trans and demands a “rock ‘n’ roll” album. So Neil immediately goes into the studio with a new band called The Shocking Pinks and records this 25 minute collection of 1950s covers and new songs written in the same style. It’s pure rock ‘n’ roll, but not exactly what Geffen wanted. It’s generally not a good idea to tell what Neil to do. This is where the “uncharacteristic” lawsuit comes into the story. Eventually Geffen would apologize, but what a wild time that must have been. I’d argue Trans is the bigger departure but I guess the one two punch was too much.
Things kick off with a cover of Bobby Freeman’s “Betty Lou’s Got a New Pair of Shoes,” and Neil’s voice is almost unrecognizable. This is exactly what it sounds like, a 1950s rock ‘n’ roll song with the classic sound, horn section, repetitive chorus. It’s certainly a new sound for Neil. Another cover follows, the slower paced and more blues-oriented ballad “Rainin’ on my Heart” by Slim Harpo. It’s a little sleepy but is followed up with another roller called “Payola Blues,” this time written by Neil and mainstay Ben Keith and dedicated to Alan Freed. Payola is the practice of record labels paying DJs like Freed to play their records and Neil is taking a tongue-in-cheek swipe at Geffen with this one, amongst others on the record.
“Wonderin’” is the oldest Neil original on this album, first written around After the Gold Rush and recorded in a couple versions around then, including this Danny Whitten featuring outtake from 1970. The Everybody’s Rockin’ version is more light hearted with an ironic bent best experienced with the official video from 1983.
“Kinda Fonda Wonda” is a bit of nonsense written with bass player Tim Drummond, which strangely leads into the suggestive and typically 1950s smutty “Jellyroll Man,” a song written exactly like all the other jellyroll-referencing songs from the era it emulates. Probably the most suggestive thing Neil’s written, furthering the act of defiance towards Geffen.
Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City” is a bit laconic, almost paint by numbers for this style of music and “Cry, Cry, Cry” isn’t much better. “Mystery Train” is another train song for Neil, which makes sense, especially around this time of his life, but it’s a very boring and repetitive. The title track wraps up the album and is essentially Elvis “Rock Around The Clock” without much to set it aside, except for a strange reference to the Reagans (more on that later). All in all this album is more of a statement towards Geffen about telling artists what to record.
Top 3:
- Wonderin’
- Payola Blues
- Betty Lou’s Got a New Pair of Shoes
Cut song: Mystery Train
There were supposed to be two more songs on this album, but Geffen was so pissed, he cancelled the recording session. However, Neil played them on tour in 1983 and when Geffen put together a Neil Young compilation in 1993 called Lucky Thirteen, live recordings of these two songs appeared on it. “Get Gone” is a much more 1970s style rock ‘n’ roll song, a bit bluesy, a bit punk, with more distorted guitar and huge drums. “Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me” sounds nothing like Everybody’s Rockin’ and feels much more like a Neil song than most of his output in this early part of the 80s, full of lead guitar lines, a larger sound space, and a great bluesy guitar solo. This would have been a great addition to Everybody’s Rockin’ as the melancholy denouement. It’s one of the little known gems in the discography. A shame it’s never been recorded in the studio.