Tonight I decided to present another album which I've had the pleasure to listen to live, Neil Young's "Psychedelic Pill". Wonder whatever happened to random selection? Me, too. It'll be back, I guess... Seeing Neil Young live (and with Crazy Horse, no less!) had been a dream of mine for quite some time. So when he played Amsterdam's huge Ziggo Dome, I rushed to buy a ticket for the cheap seats. I'll have to admit that, although the aural part of the concert was very rewarding, his stage act verged on the ridiculous: huuuuge speaker-towers and some kind of pantomime with the road crew and band members dressed as mad scientists, for chrisshakes! This is my advise to you, if you ever go to a Neil Young concert, take one of those sleeping masks with you, put it on and immerse yourself in the music! You don't believe me? Listen to his classic "Live Rust" album, isn't it one of the best live albums ever? Now watch an excerpt from the live dvd, have you ever seen anything sillier? Spinal Tap, you say? OK, maybe yes, but still a close match... Back to the album: I don't know what to make of the title. Does it suggest the album was made under the influence of hallucinogenics? Or that music is itself a hallucinogenic? I'm inclined to think the second. Well, if music is a trip then this album is a transatlantic one: New York-London with return. Am I exaggerating? Take the first song "Drifting Back" as an example. Its duration is over 27 minutes. Just like during a flight, you have time enough to take a nap and when you wake up you feel like you're passing through the same clouds as before. If you loved those long songs like "Cortez the Killer" and "Like A Hurricane", this is more (way, way more) of the same. Sonically, it's the best Neil Young and Crazy Horse album for 20 years and many songs could become future classics. Yes, they do sound like you've heard them before, but what do you expect from a dude that's been around for 50 years? I, for one, am content when he can echo his old self, which is what he does here - with the novelty of the absolutely epic duration of some songs. "Psychedelic Pill" is a short song that sounds like an effect-laden "Cinnamon Girl", while "Ramada Inn" is a 16-minute epic of dueling guitars. "Born in Ontario" and "Twisted Road" are rather short and nostalgic country. "She's Always Dancing" is another long song with sprawling guitars and "For the Love of Man" a ballad that provides a change of pace before the album's highlight, 16-minute "Walk Like a Giant", a song with a great melody, good backing vocals, whistling, lots and lots of guitars and romantic lyrics about the end of hippy dream: "I used to walk like a giant on the land/Now I feel like a leaf floating in a stream...Me and some of my friends/We were going to save the world/We were trying to make it better/We were ready to save the world/But then the weather changed/And the white got stained/And it fell apart/And it breaks my heart/To think about how close we came/I wanna walk/Like a giant on the land...". Great song, but it overstays its welcome by adding 4 minutes of pure noise. And, as further anti-climax the second cd (yes, it's a double album) closes with a useless "alternate mix" of "Psychedelic Pill". An extra torment is the lyrics booklet. Quite nice of them to include one, but did it have to be so small? (it's about the size of an old cassette tape). I'm near-, not far-sighted, but I still have to really strain my eyes to make out the words. I'd like to see Neil try to read it! Had this album been a single cd of about 50 minutes, it would definitively go to the top of my list. But whoever said that "you can't have too much of a good thing" obviously hasn't taken up that offer for unlimited spare ribs for €15,99. If you have, then you know what I'm talking about: sometimes less is more. So, despite all my praises, I'll give the guys just *** stars...
**** for Ramada Inn, She's Always Dancing, Walk Like a Giant
*** for Driftin' Back, Psychedelic Pill, Born in Ontario, Twisted Road, For the Love of Man
** for Psychedelic Pill" (Alternate Mix)
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| Neil Young & Crazy Horse in Amsterdam: The view from the cheap seats |
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