Neil Young – Landing on Water Review

Any artist hoping inspiration strikes when looking at a document on the brace position is in deep trouble. Neil Young was at the time of Landing on Water, but the excess of the studio and the loose leash held by Geffen Records is somewhat to blame. Their desire to let Young create with the freedom of time and financial security meant there was little risk involved. Young could fiddle away with this genre or that sound for as long as he saw fit. It led to a series of atrocious pieces of work, including the mediocre Trans and the sole hit protest his label, Everybody’s Rockin’. Neither are exactly benchmarks in Young’s discography. Nor is Landing on Water, a fascinating piece for those who wish to hear the effects of claustrophobia, rather than experience it for themselves. Young has been open about the lack of success which appeared with Landing on Water, and preceding album, Everybody’s Rockin’. A rough time in the studio and the agony of piecing Landing on Water together sounds as though it has sliced through Young’s confidence.

You can hear that stress in opening song Weight of the World. Young sounds lost, personally and professionally. The repetition of “I was alone for all of my life,” backed by a littering of typical 1980s production noise, makes for quite the dissonance. Here is a man sharing the stresses of performing and writing, matched not by a subtlety to the instrumentals, but a machine-like sound. Had Young pushed that sound a little further, then the contrast of his emotive lyrics and the cold industrial instrumentals would have been the core to Landing on Water. It’s never anywhere close to bad, but Landing on Water sounds too familiar. There is no friendliness there, instead, Young uses the sound of familiarity to sneak in a few further jabs at his label. They wanted contemporary sounds, they got it. A personal protest sprawling across roaring moments like Violent Side, a fantastic moment where Young sounds off with a “fight for control”. 

Sully Sullenberger would have stuck the landing better than Young does here. But then the evacuation manual Young found himself reading on a fateful flight while contemplating his career feels more like a cry for help than anything to be deemed artistically sound. He was fighting with his record label from the very first release, and even when trying to satisfy them, he cannot bring himself to be a version of the past. He may return to the contemporary country sound, but his desire to push on, to meddle with the present, is what prevails. Landing on Water is far better than its reputation would suggest, though. It is a stretch better than Trans and even with its synthpop focus, there are moments which hold firm with Young’s songwriting flair. This complete change to his sound now sounds like the rest of the junk releasing at the time. But for a moment in history, and still to this day, it marks a huge departure from Young’s usual sound.  

Bad News Beat and Touch the Night makes for, at the very least, interesting listening. Young manages to provide a fresh focus for the synth beat and drum machines of the time. His interest in the contemporary sound feels genuine, but it also has that looming relevancy to contend with. People On the Street sounds like a sluggish, Synclavier-reliant anthem for the people without the heart which often features on Young’s work. Young succeeds in making a catchy synthpop album, but at what cost? His interest in the tech of the times is what guides Landing on Water, a bumpy ride with a few moments where Young convinces us this new sound is safe.

But parts of the album still sound desperate as Young tries and fails once more to reinvent himself as a face of contemporary music, or at the very least, a man whose rock roots have not been yanked out to wane and rot in the harsh 80s lights. Drifter is a sign of hope, a man who wishes to go down with his ship. A wish that, by the sounds of Landing on Water, is granted. Landing on the Water has Young pursue an interest which he is clinging to as he sees it as some sort of professional salvation. Neither label or listener could have cared any less for it, and unfortunately so. There are a few golden moments to be heard as Young tries fitting the sound of the times into his overly ambitious swipe at the label.