Comment of the Moment: In Defense of Neil Young's Late-Late Style

"Rockin' in the Free World"

Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Telluride, Colorado - 10/1/16

Photo by thrasher

The Comment of the Moment is from Minke T. who posted a recent comment on CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT: Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Arroyo Seco Weekend, Pasadena, CA, June 23, 2018 on Neil Young's musical shifts and twists:

Off topic: In defense of Neil Young’s late-late style.

I was thinking in what blessed times we live – musically speaking.

Neil Young has given some real great records over the last years, and regularly bestows us with gems from his long and (in)glorious past. Although we meet sceptics here on this highly appreciated site – and of course they have a full right to be disappointed – it is not what I experience. If we listen closely to NY’s output over the last ten years, we see many peaks and few real misses. He has been versatile, adventurous, experimental, but also moving, politically engaging -- and extremely professional. There is such richness in his output that we are left gawking. And yes, there are quirks, in his activism for better sound, his commercial strategies, musically too.

But the series starting with Fork in the Road (yes, folks, I like that album), through Le Noise, Psychedellic Pill (but no, I do not rate that one as high as some do here), and especially Storytone and Peace Trail, is of astounding quality.

In my view his alliance with The Promise, although I applauded it at first, because I grew tired of the sluggish sound Crazy Horse was developing, has not turned out to be very felicitous. On stage The Promise is capable to bring out from NY some of the deep cuts that need a lighter sound (White Falcon style) and a more frisky bounce but on record they are brewing a soup in which the ingredients do not mix well. Monsanto Years was not good (although it contains a few good songs), and The Visitor, although a good notch better, is not entirely satisfying in the end either.

But something else has been fermenting in NY over the last years. Just listen attentively to NY solo or in small company – not the six-man band of The Promise – and you’ll hear what I mean.

The record I keep returning to most is the Solo Storytone album. Although the version with the band and orchestra is definitely a satisfying listen, and I see why NY had so much fun doing it, the solo versions bring out the best of the songs and the man, and is absolutely absorbing. What a sparse, spright, well-crafted, sweet, emotional album that is. The playing is wonderful, the sound very intimate. This is the great lateness that NY is capable of. Put it next to Hitchhiker, one other great record of the last years, and be astounded by the differences.

While Hitchhiker exhales the typical mid-seventies atmosphere of loneliness and despair, the marihuana and booze, the Storytone songs have a lightness, efficiency in expression, and fragility that is extremely moving and captivating. The songs are simpler, the playing almost self-effacing. The production, by the way, is great (get off this Briggs-thing, people).

I have been thinking a lot about late style. The fact is that with the passing of the years the lives of the artists, their capacities, the sources of inspiration and the character of the audience are changing. This urges them to reinvent oneself. With NY’s voice getting thinner over the years and losing its firmness in the higher registers, his strength is in his intimate voice, lower, sometimes almost whispering. The expressiveness is astounding. Listen to a ditty like ‘I want to drive my car’. Despite its simple lyrics and superficiality, and the almost primitive accompaniment, it absolutely grips the attention. This is NY’s late style. Almost every other song on that album can be taken as an example of the density, efficacity of NY’s late inspiration. Tumble Weed, When I Watch You Sleeping, Who’s Gonna Stand Up, let them spin and let yourself be taken in by their minimalist delicacy.

Almost on a same par is Peace Trail, sparsely instrumentated with only bass and drums. Although it has an incidental lesser song (Glass Accident), and the entire album has a more experimental approach in sound and accompaniment than Storytone, its approach is similar. Not the boisterous rock attitude of the Nelsons or the hefty ponderosity of late Crazy Horse, but letting silence work.

Both albums, Storytone Solo and Peace Trail, by the way, have a consistency in tone, performance and atmosphere we encounter in few of NY’s albums. We can only wonder why the critics and larger audiences haven’t paid more attention to these albums. They should be on top of everybody’s lists and range among the alps in NY’s oeuvre.

With his latest album, The Visitor, NY unfortunately moved in another direction. Although the record certainly has its fabulous moments, it fails to enduringly captivate. The sound is not right. I never liked Lukas Nelson’s guitar tone, and his style certainly disagrees with NY’s sound and style. The arrangements are muddy, the tone not consistent. On the good side, Corey McCormick is one of the grooviest bass players NY has worked with, and Micah Nelson brings out an irony and madness that was absent in Crazy Horse (there was humor there, of course, but a much rougher, pre-punk version of it). On the whole, one is left with the feeling something is missing. NY’s ailing voice, also his inner voice, one feels, is drowned out. Lateness needs sparsity and a careful listening, like a whisper.

Lateness is exactly this: knowing how to deal with your diminishing muscularity. It is about compensating strength with expressiveness, beauty with message. It is about digging to the essence. Just think of the artists who not only were capable to sum up their careers in late age, but also achieved great heights by exploring and exploiting their fragility. One artist who has, although in an entirely different vein, fruitfully explored his lateness, was Johnny Cash, who made his best records, solo, under guidance of Rick Rubin. He too was able to dive inward and draw on his immense experience and musicality. Or Billie Holiday. Or Leonard Cohen. This turn inward to one’s basis is extreme.

Although I doubt NY’s ability and wish to do large tours, I am sure he will be capable of giving us great records and explore his lateness further.

Thanks for everything T&T,
Greetings from Europe

Thank you so much Minke for the well made points here on Neil Young's musical meanderings.

Some excellent points. We'll just say this about Neil + POTR, watching them play together up close many times over the past several years, we've rarely seen Neil play with such joy, freedom and abandon. Also, initially, he seeme to really relish the coaching/teaching aspects of his role directing the younger guys. And the feedback together was a delight to behold.

We firmly beleive that in the long run, we'll see and hear some much more interesting stuff as they mature into more than just a backing back for Neil covers, as others have remarked.

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