Review of the Moment: Dreamin' Man

The Neil Young Review of the Moment is from Jambands.com by Brian Robbins:

I know it doesn’t sound like much of a risk now; to the majority of listeners, Dreamin’ Man will simply be a well-recorded collection of live tunes that you know most of the words to – from what turned out to be a very successful studio album. We’re expecting to hear those chiming 12th fret harmonics between lines on “Harvest Moon” when we listen to it now (and Young really does pull it off beautifully) – but try, if you will, to imagine what the average person in the audience back in the spring of ’92 thought the first time they heard him do it. Same thing with the signature lick of the title track – we’re prepped to hear that little run now, but it didn’t mean the same thing the first time that Young dropped out on the rhythm to play it all those years ago.

But, you don’t have to play “Imagine If …” to enjoy Dreamin’ Man, either. You can ease back in the rocker and savor Young’s acoustic guitar work (percussive, yet melodic; making some pretty intricate stuff sound so damn casual … as the late Jay Bennett once called it, “beautiful slop”). Listen to the break on “Such A Woman” and nod to the stark beauty of Young’s harmonica against his piano. You’ll miss “Old King” just as if he was your dog – and know that the song had to be played on the banjo … just the way Young plays it.

Thanks Brian!

Also, see more reviews and commentary on Neil Young's Dreamin' Man.

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