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By: Dean Smith
At DAR Constitution Hall in the fall of 2007, Neil Young stomped and roared around the stage during a boisterous electric set. Cluttered with old pianos and guitars, the stage resembled the aftermath of a community theatre production or something out of Sanford & Son. Young blasted through "No Hidden Path" and "Cinnamon Girl" and it was clear that above all else, Neil Young still loves to jam.
His latest album, Fork in the Road (released April 7 on Reprise) features a snarling guitar that grinds and sputters its way through most of the ten tracks. In all but one instance, the lyrics are an economical afterthought - almost Tweets - headlines from a bankrupt land. In the title song he sings, "There's a bailout coming but it's not for you/ It's for all those creeps hiding what they do." Not exactly poetry, but his electric sound has never been about the lyrics (e.g. "Sedan delivery is a job I know I'll keep/ It sure was hard to find"). Stripped of affectation, his blunt lines are spoken by ordinary people.
"Fork in the Road" tells the story of Young's 1959 Lincoln Continental called Lincvolt, powered by hybrid technologies. He plans to drive it to Washington and deliver it to Congress. His altar-egos, "Johnny Magic" and "Joe the Rock Star" (as we learn from the album's website), are secondary to his grumbling axe, which drives the engine.
The surprises include two blues numbers, "Get Behind the Wheel" and "Fork in the Road," the latter reminiscent of the hill country blues style of R.L. Burnside. "Cough Up the Bucks" features the sound of thumping pistons, metal against metal and a mocking chorus that addresses the aftermath of the financial collapse.
The album has a playful theatrics to it. You could imagine "Just Singing a Song" and "Fuel Line" in a Broadway production twenty years from now about alternative fuel sources. The childlike guitar phrases on "Off the Road" haunt the song's dream-like trance. For the thinness of these tracks, he will be soundly criticized, but the 1953 Gibson Les Paul again prevails.
The lone acoustic track, "Light a Candle," speaks to the great beyond and carries a positive message for the future. "Light a candle in the darkness/ so others may see ahead," Neil sings softly on the album's best song, another pristine acoustic gem for the canon.
Fork in the Road isn't one of his vintage works, or even a seminal one. His 40th album feels dashed off and less polished than Living with War, but it's good clean fun. The videos will make you laugh out loud and the guitars will keep you coming back for more. Still cranking it out with a fiery glint in his eye, Young is enjoying every minute.
JamBase | Organic
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