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Prince, Neil Young and “satan/death” music????? I know, it’s sooooooooooo fucking hard to believe. We’ve been getting some good snow in March and April. The last couple days a nice storm came through our lovely state. I dig it. Prince digs it too. Here’s a great ballad off the Parade album. See if you can find the references to Satan and sacrifice in the lyrics. Sorry for the awful picture staring back at you too.  This is going to double as my pick of the week and a review. Real shocking huh? I was really looking forward to this release. Especially after the turd sandwich named “Fork in the Road” was served up to me by Neil Young. I’ve got to hand it to Bob because he really has his shit together. Together Through Life is a continuation of the live sound Bob has been successfully capturing since Love and Theft. It’s great to have Mike Campbell playing guitar with Bob again. I’m not much of a fan of the Stu Kimball/Denny Freeman live playing. David Hidalgo’s accordion adds a cool flavor to the proceedings. Mellow songs like L&T’s “Sugar Baby” and “Ain’t Talkin’” from Modern Times are non-existent. That’s O.K., “Beyond Here Lies Nothing”, “I Feel A Change Comin’ On” and several others more than make up for what’s not on there. Basically, if you liked Love & Theft and Modern Times like I did then you’re going to dig TTL. I’ll definitely be pulling it off the shelf from time to time. There’s no clunkers on the album to interrupt the flow so it’s a good one to cruise around in the car with too. Nice work Bob! I recently had Thrasher over at his Neil Young blog Thrasher’s Wheat ask this question… It’s pretty obvious to me but maybe not so much to some others. It’s what separates Neil Young from annoying “singer-songwriters” like James Taylor and Jimmy Buffett. He made this:  as well as this:  He made this:  as well as this:  He made this:  as well as this: 
From playing with Devo to booking Sonic Youth to open the show and piss off his dinosaur fans Neil has never shied away from experimentation. Neither will I. If it sounds good and Satan is involved that’s fine by me. Same with Jesus. I’ll rock out to Glass Harp or Johnny Cash singing about Jesus or Bob Dylan preaching hellfire and damnation. If it’s good, I’m there. Now….back to Satan.  O.K., not exactly a quick trip to see a concert. But chances are if you live in Montana and you’re into seeing live music then you have driven somewhere out of the way to see a show. Not sure if I’ll be making this one either but I recommend it to those who can. I really looking forward to getting the new Bob Dylan after the disappointment of the new Neil Young. I haven’t heard any of the Bob because I’d like to hear the album in it’s entirety with no preconception. There’s a good chance I’ll have it tomorrow and I’ll get a review up shortly thereafter. If not I’m sure I’ll find some Satanic black metal to tide me over. Rebekah Del Rio had been singing Roy Orbison’s “Crying” acapella in Spanish for years when David Lynch asked her to perform it for a television show pilot. Nothing happened with the t.v. show but Lynch loved the performance so much he put it in Mulholland Drive. I love to play this song on the show and crank it loud. What a phenomenal voice. Silencio…  I really didn’t give this album the attention it deserved when it came out last year. I might have played one or two tracks on my show but then the album disappeared from the rotation. I think some of that noisy Japanese stuff got in the way. Luckily for Mr. Kozelek, April comes around every 12 months and this album gets a new chance at recognition. April is a little more subdued than Ghosts of the Great Highway but the second record of all original Sun Kil Moon music slides right in that springtime groove. I’m going to rectify my mistake in passing it over so quickly last year and bust out a few tracks the next handful of shows. This track is “The Light” with some patented Kozelek/Neil worship guitar. Woke up with the Hawkwind tune (You Shouldn’t Do That) I played on Friday night in my head. Fuckin’ hippies. Caustic Resin-You Lie
Before it’s release Pitchfork called Fork in the Road “potentially bat shit”. Consider it—potential fulfilled. Not since Re*ac*tor has Neil put out an album largely made up of cro-magnon rockers. After listening to it twice I felt like my IQ dropped a couple dozen points. Not that the subject matter is stupid. The Linc-volt, Neil’s eco-car is actually a pretty cool concept. It’s just that the simple bar room riffs and mindless lyrics of most of the songs can get brain numbing. The album as a whole reminds me of a cross between Re*ac*tor and This Note’s For You but sonically in the style of Greendale and Living With War. Whereas Greendale is a cornerstone release in Neil’s catalog and Living With War finds a way to override it’s dumbness with passion, FITR is mostly just plain dumb. The wilder side of Old Black makes a very brief appearance on “Just Singing a Song” and the gem of the many clunky rockers is the title track. The best song on the album, “Light a Candle” is one that can stand with other great songs from throughout Neil’s career. Lyrically it evokes “Thrasher”, and the arrangement avoids simplistic riffing. Amazingly, Neil manages to crap out a “T-Bone”-esque song with the very repetitive tune “Cough Up the Bucks”. Sorry Neil, didn’t really need the first “T-Bone”. “Off the Road” is a weird ballad written to his eco-car–and not in the endearing “Long May You Run” way but in a way where I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pegi take a sledgehammer to his precious ride. If I was a teacher I’d give this album a D+. It’s not a total failure and the eco-car concept isn’t a bad idea. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that his car makes for very good music. Try again Neil. |
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