THE REAL NEIL LANDS

“LANDING ON WATER.” Neil Young. Geffen. Coming after an underrated string of oddball genre efforts, “Landing on Water” is being rabidly touted as the return of the accessible Neil, the real Neil, the Neil that gets on rock radio and sells platinum.

Perhaps, but it’s hardly the retreat that that implies, for Young has made yet another album that doesn’t really sound like anything he’s done before . . . thank goodness.

A key difference here: the surprisingly tasteful predominance of synthesizers. Young’s previous flirtation with the machinery (“Trans”) didn’t leave most folks drooling for more. Even here it’s not always what you’d expect--on occasion the soaring synths sound like no one so much as Keith Emerson.

There’s no mistaking the drummer for Carl Palmer, though, because the album features some of the most wonderfully flat, basic, cheap-sounding rock ‘n’ roll bashing heard on such a big-deal project in ages. Figure in the frequent return of Young’s stinging lead guitar, and you’ve got the re-forging of a classic sound.

Neil sounds friendly here, but a little tense, to say the least. “Here comes the night, here comes the anger . . . I got to fight to control it! “ he shouts about his “Violent Side,” like a repentant Rambo.

If the guy really is so pent-up, it’s no wonder he finally made another straight-ahead rock album--when you’re singing country, it can be harder to convey the feeling that you’re about to explode. “Water” isn’t always that compelling, but its mix of old habits and new touches shows Young still capable of giving people what they thought they wanted when it’s not really what they expected at all.