Soothing Soul Suckers

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!

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.