Published on Dec 31, 1998
As much as the suits at Geffen would have disagreed with me at
the time, it was almost natural for Neil Young to eventually record
an album with more than just overtones of ’50s doo-wop music. But
one wonders why Young, himself one of the godfathers of grunge
music, wouldn’t hit the target closer to the mark with
Everybody’s Rockin’ / Neil And the Shocking Pinks.
This album first came to my attention back in 1983, in the good
old days when my parents had cable and I didn’t have the monthly
bill for the service. HBO used to have a program on, “Video
Jukebox”; one of the featured videos on one episode was
“Wonderin’,” a wonderful example of how time-lapse photography can
be used. It was a decent song (although not the first taste of Neil
Young I had ever experienced), and I found myself smiling through
it. (Side note: I’ve never seen the video since then.)
“Wonderin'” is one of the highlights of
Everybody’s Rockin’, and shows that Young did have his feet
firmly planted in his musical past, all the while pushing the
envelope with some of his ’80s work. But the unheralded gem off
this one is “Mystery Train,” a song that captures the spirit of the
old days of rockabilly truer than one could imagine. Bringing
images of Gene Vincent and early Elvis Presley to mind, Young plows
through this number with gusto, making every note count.
Too bad that not every song on this incredibly short album (the
ten songs clock in around a half-hour in length) has that kind of
detail paid to it. “Betty Lou’s Got A New Pair Of Shoes” seems to
stagnate thanks to a lifeless saxophone line running through the
song, while “Rainin’ In My Heart” has the feel to it like it was a
warm-up song from the
Harvest sessions.
But Young does manage to keep things interesting, for the most
part. “Jellyroll Man” takes a little time to warm up to, but proves
itself to be a worthy track. Falling into the same category are
“Kinda Fonda Wanda” and the title track. (Fact is, if you’re not
big into rockabilly or you’re not very familiar with this genre, it
will take a little longer for you to appreciate the finer moments
on
Everybody’s Rockin’.)
Of course, this album just marked another one of Young’s musical
phases that he’s gone through his entire career; fifteen years
later, he has yet to do another album in this vein. I kind of hope
that Young has another one in him — though I do hope he learns
from the few mistakes he made on
Everybody’s Rockin’. If anyone could provide Generation X
with a “Rockabilly 101” course that would be fun to be a part of,
it’s Young.