Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s newest album Greendale is not only a great album, but a musical rock-novel.
It is centered on a fictitious family in small-town California dealing with problems in today’s society. Young hits the subjects of AIDS, hippie dreams, personal freedom, activism and environmental issues.
Young’s voice is still his distinctive sound, but he belts out more soul than ever before.
The Green family that his lyrics describe throughout the whole album expose corporate America and attack the media and police.
His album gives listeners a buzz, saying “love is power.”
This buzz is matched by the rhythm created by drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot. They use blues as their foundation, but incorporate that distinctive stimulating sound that only Crazy Horse can create.
The entire album is a big story, so the songs have trouble standing alone. There are a few exceptions.
“Bandit” is a beautiful acoustic song you may have heard on the campus radio station, 91.1 WMSV. This is his freshest single that is very relative to anyone with a distrusting or troubled soul. He leaves us with hope with lyrics such as, “Someday you’ll find everything you’re looking for.” This may just be your cure to a broken heart.
This is a drama created to tell a strange story-Young himself has admitted to not fully understanding it either.
Overall, however, Greendale keeps you intrigued and makes powerful- if not a little na‹ve-political statements.
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