Neil Young is as unpredictable as he is prolific. Since the ambitious, if ill-conceived, Greendale in 2003, Young has released albums as diverse and uneven as Living With War, Fork In The Road, Psychedelic Pill and A Letter Home.
For every classic such as On The Beach, Tonight’s The Night and Harvest Moon, there’s been an intermittent stinker.
This time he has recorded two versions of the same album, one acoustic and one with an orchestra and big band.
Initially, I wished he’d recorded a third with Crazy Horse, giving Who’s Gonna Stand Up?, Plastic Flowers and I Want To Drive My Car the electric guitar-driven power and glory that their passionate lyrics demand. But after a few plays, the aching Tumbleweed and the heartfelt When I Watch You Sleeping, together with the majestic Glimmer, reveal themselves as powerful enough in their right.
Following the quirky A Letter Home, Young has wrong-footed us once again. Extraordinary – and strangely brilliant.
Robert Beaumont
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