Trans Tracklist
Released on December 29, 1982, Trans is one of Young’s most controversial records due to its electronic sound and the prominent usage of a vocoder; both those aspects alienated many fans accustomed to the classic country-folk-rock sound of the Canadian songwriter.
“Trans” Q&A
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What inspired Young to make this album?
Neil Young told MOJO magazine that it was his handicapped son who inspired most of the album,
The life of both [Re-ac-tor] and the one after it – Trans – were sucked up by the regime we’d committed ourselves to. See, we were involved in this programme with my young son Ben for 18 months which consumed between 15 and 18 hours of every day we had. It was just all-encompassing and it had a direct effect on the music of Re-ac-tor and Trans. You see, my son is severely handicapped, and at that time was simply trying to find a way to talk, to communicate with other people. That’s what Trans is all about. And that’s why, on that record, you know I’m saying something but you can’t understand what it is. Well, that’s the exact same feeling I was getting from my son.
