Everybody's Rockin' Essex Junction VT

Everybody's Rockin'

Neil Young (Neil & The Shocking Pinks)

Geffen Records, 1983

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/31/1998

As much as the suits at Geffen would have disagreed with me atthe time, it was almost natural for Neil Young to eventually recordan album with more than just overtones of '50s doo-wop music. Butone wonders why Young, himself one of the godfathers of grungemusic, 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 goodold days when my parents had cable and I didn't have the monthlybill for the service. HBO used to have a program on, "VideoJukebox"; one of the featured videos on one episode was"Wonderin'," a wonderful example of how time-lapse photography canbe used. It was a decent song (although not the first taste of NeilYoung I had ever experienced), and I found myself smiling throughit. (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 feetfirmly planted in his musical past, all the while pushing theenvelope with some of his '80s work. But the unheralded gem offthis one is "Mystery Train," a song that captures the spirit of theold days of rockabilly truer than one could imagine. Bringingimages of Gene Vincent and early Elvis Presley to mind, Young plowsthrough this number with gusto, making every note count.

Too bad that not every song on this incredibly short album (theten songs clock in around a half-hour in length) has that kind ofdetail paid to it. "Betty Lou's Got A New Pair Of Shoes" seems tostagnate thanks to a lifeless saxophone line running through thesong, while "Rainin' In My Heart" has the feel to it like it was awarm-up song from the Harvest sessions.