The Comment of The Moment is on the new album "World Record" - Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse by The Metamorphic Rocker:
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Thoughts on World Record (unsure where to post at this stage, so they end up here).
After finally having the chance for uninterrupted, close listening, I find Dan's initial take right on. Funnily enough, I last listened to the album while dog-walking, inadvertently mirroring Neil's theme of creating the music while walking. Maybe this is the best way to experience the album, while on the move. Admittedly, this means one doesn't necessarily have access to hi-fi audio equipment while listening. Nonetheless--if FITR is driving music, these are walking songs.
I doubt anyone can add much to scotzman's account of Chevrolet. For me, however, the first nine songs fit together so completely, so organically and symmetrically, as a unit of music that by the time we get to Chevrolet, my most powerful impression of the album has already occurred. Much as Chevrolet is a creature unto itself, side by side by side with the rest of World Record, it feels like icing on the cake, gilding the lily--in the best possible way.
Although the 3LP/2CD configuration is questionable on a couple of levels, my assumption is that Neil (for sound artistic reasons) wanted Chevrolet to stand on its own. That is certainly the effect of putting it on a separate disc, especially when the preceding songs fit together in such an organic way. (One or two indy bands have curated music this way and called it a "double EP", incidentally.)
As usually seems to be the case for me, there are a couple of particularly wonderful songs that others are inclined to overlook. I'm thinking of Overhead and The World (is in Trouble Now). The former is a pure burst of sunny enthusiasm of the soul. The latter, with its shuffling rhythms and bluesy, lurching pump organ, has a different kind of immediacy, an earthy, angsty jumble of impressions that ends up wrestling with existential fears and fundamental questions:
"Because the earth has held me so, I never will let go--I never will let go..." I interpret this as the will to live, the desire to act, even in the face of the inevitable. Songs like this one, Break the Chain, and I Walk with You (Earth Ringtone) deal with liminal spaces between life and death. I Walk with You is the most refined, but The World (is in Trouble Now) is my favorite, perhaps because of its precipitous rawness.
On I Walk with You, for instance, I don't know how anyone can listen to the lumbering, swampy, sawing guitars and not feel the weight of the song. That's without even getting into the words, which should speak for themselves (the mix does occasionally bury vocals but when in doubt, the lyric sheet is your friend).
"Walk with me now to the ends of the earth and you'll see what the damage can be... the end of wars/the price of life/the cost of care/the toll of strife."
The best moments of World Record, like this one, show a mutuality between words and music, where each component makes the most of the other to create a meaningful whole. At the least, I challenge anyone to really pay attention to the words without concluding that some major statements are being made. The primary one being to "love earth and your love comes back to you."
Lastly, despite some comments to the contrary, I don't think it takes special effort to get this experience out of Neil's recent music. At least, no more effort than is required to listen to any music closely, with attention to the whole as well as individual parts.
Thanks for much for the CotM Meta Rocker. Good concluding points. We made a similar response on the The Old Grey Cat review about reaction to WR: "So open your ears and heart, and give World Record a listen" is really the only way to approach Neil.
More on Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse "World Record":
- INTERVIEW: Neil Young Embraces Imperfection | The New Yorker
- Rick Rubin and Neil Young Discuss Life, Inspiration, and Craft | Broken Record
- Neil Young Talks World Record, Harvest 50th Anniversary, Elon Musk, Joni Mitchell & Climate Change | Zach Sang Show
- All About Making Neil Young & Crazy Horse "World Record" | Rusted Moon
- REVIEW: Finding the Way into Neil Young's "World Record"
- Comment of the Moment: "World Record" by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse
- Rick Rubin & Neil Young Tease Their New Music For Jack White
Great review……and after several trips through World Record, my favorite individual track is definitely The World (is in trouble now). I don’t think Neil has ever sounded more open musically than on this track. I also think that the idea of separating Chevrolet was completely intentional as well. What really elevates this record for me is the combination of freedom and experience, both lyrically and musically. There isn’t a moment of pretense, nor a sense of ego. This is just a master painter at ease in his element.
ReplyDeletePeace 🙏
All the Rusty reviews of World Record were excellent, Thanks to you all.
ReplyDeleteYour bro, Alan in Seattle
Chevrolet is a knockout!!!!
ReplyDeleteBe The Rain
6.8.55
It started with World Record, then Bill Bentley followed on NYA. Now it's here with Ma or Pa Rainey. I think I like it.
ReplyDeleteDionys
17.4.65
Great stuff in this comment of the moment. I still have not listened to the whole record in one sitting. Chevrolet is about much more than "the environment" as reviewers like to say (not the above comment, which is excellent). Neil is singing about history, time and memory, all three at once in a mix.
ReplyDelete