Another <\/i>new Neil Young album, this is his third in three years (fourth if you count the miserable live Earth<\/i>). And, in keeping with 2015\u2019s The Monsanto Years<\/i>, it\u2019s one that addresses current issues and politics in the way folk-rock has always done. <\/p>\n
Indeed, it would seem that Young is keeping this spirit alive, although musically he seems content to tread similar ground again and again, finding only miniscule variations on his trademark shambolic, ragged rock sound. The band is a power trio, with a couple of hired hands taking over drum and bass duties, but it\u2019s obviously Young\u2019s show front to back.<\/p>\n
Musically, at 10 songs and 38 minutes, this could have been released in 1974, 1990, or 2016 and you wouldn\u2019t know the difference. Lyrically, Young touches on current hot topics like the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy (and, as of this writing, subsequent victory for the American Indian protestors, thankfully), Islamophobia in America, the treatment of protestors across the land by police, the inability of the working man to retire with any sort of financial cushion, political responsibility for the future, and the struggle of the baby boom generation to grasp the point of some of today\u2019s technology. <\/p>\n
As with most of his recent albums, dating back to 2006\u2019s Living With War<\/i>, the songs seem hastily composed and recorded. More thought is put into the message than into the songwriting, making it so that you don\u2019t remember much of the actual melodies when the album is done. By design, I suspect, the album is meant for right now, affirming one of folk music\u2019s original and strongest intentions. But this immediacy doesn\u2019t leave many long-lasting pleasures; there\u2019s nothing like \u201cOhio\u201d or \u201cRockin\u2019 In The Free World\u201d that will resonate long after the current news cycle ends.<\/p>\n
About half the record is solid, albeit a bit cranky-old-man and full of random amped-up harmonica solos that sound like a demented badger being run through a food processor. The best songs are the longer ones \u2013 the title cut and \u201cIndian Givers\u201d \u2013 while \u201cTerrorist Suicide Hang-Gliders\u201d smartly makes its point in less than three minutes and \u201cGlass Accident\u201d is one of those lyrics that could be a metaphor for picking up the pieces as a country, or as a person, or as a partner. <\/p>\n
Things go off the rails with the irritating \u201cTexas Rangers,\u201d the overlong talk-story of \u201cJohn Oaks,\u201d and the incoherent narrative \u201cMy Pledge,\u201d which has some interesting ideas but throws in random history references and never really gets to whatever the pledge is. And when I say \u201cTexas Rangers\u201d is irritating, it\u2019s downright awful, a wince-inducing embarrassment that should be forgotten by all involved. The closing \u201cMy New Robot\u201d also has an interesting premise, but it dissolves into computerized voices asking for a password, then simply pulling the plug. Again, this may have been by design, but it\u2019s unclear what this design is, and the song simply comes off as annoying as a result.<\/p>\n
Still, Young continues to play, showing himself an observer of the news in solidarity with protestors of all types and a restless spirit who refuses to retire, play the hits, or do \u201cspecial appearances\u201d once every three years on the Today show or whatever. The drive is admirable \u2013 nobody does shambolic self-effacement like Neil Young \u2013 which makes Peace Trail <\/i>fitfully entertaining and politically relevant, if hardly one that will be remembered next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5692],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-44712","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-neil-young","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44712"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44712"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}