Rating: 3/5
Review:
Mixed, but some decent stuff
My reaction to this album is similar to that of several
other reviewers: it's not as bad as some recent stuff by Neil Young. After the dreadful Monsanto Years and the
painful A Letter Home, I realise that's not saying a lot, but some of this is
actually pretty decent.
Neil has obviously had some rough ideas, gone into the
studio with a few people and rattled off these tracks; the result is a slightly
shambolic album with the sense of a couple of good songs trying to be heard. The title track, for example, is rather a
touching song with a decent tune and good lyrics which Neil actually sings in
tune almost all the way through (something of a rarity these days). One or two others qualify for a similar
description, and you can't doubt the overall message which has been coming from
him loud and clear for some time now.
Even in the better songs, though, some of the lyrics are really pretty
ordinary and downright clunky in places.
There is also some dross, frankly.
I know Neil Just bangs out stuff and doesn't care much whether it works
or not because he's already on to something else, but the long-suffering listener
has to endure it and Texas Rangers and a couple of others really are tests of our
endurance.
It's not a good sign when my main response is relief that an
album isn't as terrible as I'd feared, but there's enough here to warrant three
stars and to suggest that decades-long Neil Young fans like me might want to
give it a try. Treat it with caution
(and I suspect you'll find yourself being selective about what you play
subsequently) but I can give this a qualified and tentative recommendation.
