Album Reviews

Subtlety was not in Neil Young’s game plan when he sat down to write the tunes here, probably in a burst of creative energy born of frustration with the war in Iraq and other Bush administration activities over the past few years. Young’s moved quite a ways since his romance with the Reagan administration.

Look, conservatism’s appeal to the individual spirit is both laudable and attractive. It sucked me in to the Goldwater movement and Barry’s still a personal hero of mine. Too bad what he started has been hijacked by frauds.

This collection of straightforward fuzz tone-rich, tuneful rockers, occasionally backed by a large gospel choir, is as basic as graffiti but sometimes that’s the best medium for the message, and that’s the case here, as it was when Neil wrote to the point: “four dead in Ohio.”

It doesn’t get much more direct than “Let’s Impeach The President,” which was presented as a sing-a-long during last summer’s memorable CSN&Y concert tour. At New Jersey’s PNC Center, most people applauded wildly and sang along, though there was a smattering of boos. I don’t know how it went in the red states!

In “The Restless Consumer” Young implores “don’t need no more lies,” applying it to both consumerism and the war. Yes, these are obvious sentiments on an album of obvious preoccupations, but thanks to Young’s always juicy/raspy fuzzed Gibson, Chad Cromwell’s straightforward drumming and a great recording (which I think is all analog, at least for the LP version) the tunes both entertain and provoke.

Yes, this is a straightforward, painfully didactic collection, but it rocks and I think over time it will be seen as a crystalline distillation of the frustration felt by millions of Americans. This isn’t the complicated ‘60’s and ‘70’s, after all.

Once upon a time “The Volume Dealers” better known as Young and Niko Bolas could be counted on to deliver excruciatingly bright, probably blow-driven, unlistenable sound. Here there’s plenty of volume but it’s leavened with clarity and quality, especially in the way the drums have been recorded.

A short, direct punch to America’s midsection from an outraged Canadian-born artist that will gain stature over time as a concise summary of a stupid time in a country populated by a complacent majority.

So crank it up and sing along to “Let’s Impeach The President.” It’s cathartic!