Comment of the Moment: Thoughts on Neil Young's BARN and Chrome Dreams II
by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
After emerging from the hibernation of 2021 due to our "unplanned/forced sabbatical" here at Thrasher's Wheat, we've been trying to re-engage more with the Neil / RUST & TW grain communities.
And after a post attempting to re-invigorate our TW comment threads, we managed to launch a good old fashioned classic comment shit storm with what we thought was an off hand observation.
So without further ado, we reach back to 2021 for some comments on BARN by Neil Young & Crazy Horse on First Impressions: Summer Songs by Neil Young | Old Grey Cat + Rick Rubin Interview w/ Neil Young from Ian; The Metamorphic Rocker:
Labels: @CrazyHorse4HoF, album, neil young
by thrasher@PermaLink: 1/07/2022 10:27:00 AM
18 comments
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I'm not certain this is the ideal place, but mobile app ate previous comments I tried to post on the Barn reactions thread, and I still have a few lingering feelings. As I write, the extended coda of No Hidden Path from CDII, reminding me more than ever of the "all one song" mantra. When I make comparisons or draw parallels between Barn and previous albums or songs, it doesn't mean that Barn can't stand on its own. Neither do I hear the songs being particularly derivative.
If anything, there are "family resemblances" between (for instance) SWA, CDII, and Barn (maybe Abner will dig this particular analogy). Less fancifully, it just means that NY and CH, like many artists, probably revisit and expand on older ideas to see if they can do it even better this time. And I enjoy hearing these echoes.
It may also help, when I relate one album to another, to talk about the precise qualities I'm detecting. Here I direct attention to Dan's previous comments on the track list sequencing of Barn. In my listening experience (which I like to think is not excessively narrow), no one sequences like Neil Young. Maybe it's the old Briggs influence, but even post-Briggs albums have a special way of weaving songs together, drawing out and exploiting the tension points, the push and pull between and within numbers.
Case in point: CDII. Who the hell sequences Ordinary People at the beginning, rather than the climax, of the album? Someone who has Shining Light, Spirit Road, The Way, and No Hidden Path up their sleeve. Colorado front loads She Showed Me Love--and I think it's a bold, fantastic choice.
What I'm really hearing, and trying in my own small way to articulate, are musical and spiritual threads that run throughout all these albums. It's not that Barn requires comparison. Rather, it warrants comparison by way of appreciating the scope of an going 50+ year body of work.
I must take just a moment to address CDII. I keep talking about it elliptically and it's time to spell this out, though I'm sure some will disagree with me. Ordinary People is a landmark--however, No Hidden Path makes the album. It's the foundation, the beating heart of CDII, and, I suggest, one of NY's most important songs post-Y2K. And many of the best moments don't even have words. Just Old Black sawing away, cleaving through the forest of Neil's (and our) dreams. When I listen to this track, I hear a grunge raga. Nowhere near as complex or disciplined as the Indian classical mode, but the rawness is what makes it grungy.
All of which is to say: 1) When I liken Barn to CDII, that's not a slight on either album. And 2)If you haven't listened to CDII in a while, considering giving it a fresh try. At over an hour long, it requires time and some patience but has been, and continues to be, one of NY's most cohesive, rewarding, and--in my view--deeply significant of Neil's newer albums.
If you've gotten this far with me, many thanks and happy 2022 to all! I look forward to NYA3 and--dare I say it?--perhaps even the long-awaited appearance of Toast in the coming months. Peace and cheers!
[ps, on ATTENTION TW COMMENTERS: Thanks and A Suggestion]
We were road-tripping over New Years, so my access to TW was especially spotty... however, I'm just happy that my previous comments have resonated with and inspired a handful of people, especially insofar as folks have actually gone back and listened with fresh perspective to some of the albums or songs we've been talking about.
Nothing's quite as rewarding as knowing someone is actually "hearing" you, even if they are light years away in cyber space.
Per my responses to my recent comments, yes, CDII and other such albums are colored deeply by contributions from Ben Keith, Rick "the bass player" Rosas, Pegi Young... a roll call of absent friends. Of the older songs on CDII, I find Bluebird the most sublime fit with the "new" ones. It sets up a nature/spirituality theme that culminates with No Hidden Path.
Ralph M, of course, contributed drums and backing vox to much of that aalbum. The somewhat unusual combo of Ralph and Rick is, to say the least, effective: have you heard the drum fills on No Hidden Path or the bass on Boxcar? The reason I keep returning to CDII is probably because Barn carries such strong echoes of it. Human Race (a real grower for me) turns the raw angst of Spirit Road up to 11. Don't Forget Love definitely comes from the same family of songs as The Way--ymmv on the absence of any children's choir. And the first time I heard Tumbling Through the Years, I was struck immediately by the arrangement: an almost perfect mirror of The Believer.
For me, the piano songs (Tumbling, Shape of You, Don't Forget) are some of the most pleasant surprises, and an important counterpoint to the heavier, more urgent moments of Barn. This kind of balance marks many of Neil's best (or should I say, many of my favorite?) albums. Song of the Seasons and Welcome Back, among others, will command repeated listening. It seems NY likes to start an album strong and, if possible, end even stronger.
"If heaven had a window where the sun came shining through, like a beautiful bluebird I'd come flying back to you."