Neil Young combines emotion and environment in his latest collection.
Neil Young only occasionally reveals his private life, but in July he filed for divorce from his wife of 36 years, Pegi, and is now with actress Daryl Hannah: "A purely poisonous predator," according to David Crosby, effectively ending any CSN&Young reunion.
So - aside from Who's Gonna Stand Up,
about fossil fuels and fracking, songs about cars and travel metaphors, and a swinging, Dylanesque Say Hello to Chicago - 70-year-old Neil is considering old 'n' new loves.
On the sorry-but-not Like You Used To there's veiled regret ("some day you'll see me as you used to do") with a bitter twist ("I got my problems but they mostly show up with you"). But as always there are inane images (Tumbleweed's "your inner beauty is a peace sign to me"), sentimental rubbish ("out by the car our snowman's melting, nothing can bring him back now") and sentiments which could be self-pitying or courageous candour: "So many people don't understand what it's like to be me, but I'm not different from anybody else ... "
Actually Neil, you are. We can't make a double disc about this stuff: one with orchestras (92-piece, 60-piece) and a swinging big band (think This Note's For You in 88); the other the same songs solo at piano or on guitar, ukulele, etc.
On the latter - the better of the two - the slinky I Wanna Drive My Car comes with whispery, veiled menace. Say Hello to Chicago and Like You Used To have a similarly slow, bluesy quality. Even the cringe-inducing Tumbleweed sounds cute on ukulele, and it's impossible not to be affected by When I Watch You Sleeping - despite its teen-smitten poetry - for the unadorned simplicity.
