Trans will always be my favorite Young album, not because it was panned by critics and record label executives who thought he was trying to get out of his contract and later became a cult classic and pretty much the inspiration for most of what we listen to in 2014, but because he wrote the album for his son, who was into computers.
I love trans but I don't know if I'd go so far as saying it was "pretty much the inspiration for most of what we listen to in 2014" since half of it is almost note for note ripoffs of songs from Computer World. Especially this song.
I love it BECAUSE Neil young trying to sound like Kraftwerk just works somehow, and in general I always like his weird misunderstood stuff best (check out Le Noise from 2010, the album's already pretty expensive but the whole movie is on Youtube for free on his channel).
Transformer Man is my favorite Trans song, but this one and the Mr. Soul remake are probably tied for second.
Yeah it's the human aspect that makes me feel the way I feel about it. Most of what Young was emulating was shrouded in anonymity or "weirdness" (don't get me wrong, I love KW) whereas people heard this and they had to come to the realization that the person singing was the same person who wrote "Heart of Gold." It's like this ontological shift, kind of when Radiohead switched styles completely. I'd say I like Autechre, Aphex Twin, most of what they were styling Kid-A off more than I do Radiohead, but Radiohead's very human (android?) presence made it that much more acceptable.
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