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By: Dennis Cook
This is like a real nice Neil Young mix tape. There's a little Crazy Horse electric turbulence, a splash of This Note's For You style, a folksy nod or two and a whole bunch of VERY earnest entreaties for kindness and compassion in our befuddled modern age. However, there's absolutely nothing on Chrome Dreams II (Reprise) that's gonna displace any of the fixtures in Young's catalog. The title refers to Young's unreleased (though widely bootlegged) 1977 album that similarly wavered between home and conflict, hope and unrest. The rub is there's nothing here that feels especially essential. "Boxcar" is a fine banjo-driven ghost blues, and it's wonderful to hear Young hurt his guitar on "Spirit Road." The celebration of the common folk's power on "Ordinary People" seems a little hollow coming from a cat who's been ugly rich for more than 30 years. Plus, it has an '80s keyboard sting I swear hasn't been used since Dire Straits' Making Movies. Like much of Neil's recent work, Chrome Dreams II often strives way too hard for significance and the lyrics are sometimes a bit clunky and cliché driven. He's best here on the garage band throwaway "Dirty Old Man," where a bunch of, well, dirty old men play dirty old rock 'n' roll. Hey, none of this diminishes what a genuinely nice listen this is. Just don't be surprised if after a few spins you don't reach for After The Gold Rush or On The Beach instead when you get a Neil itch.
JamBase | Spirit Road
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