Neil Young nearly succeeded in making one of the least accessible albums with his appropriately titled solo work. The album opens with heavy, distorted electric guitars. Just heavy, distorted electric guitars. For some reason Young that it was a good idea to perform songs solo without a band and on top of that play with dense electric tones that sound like they recorded through a direct input. The effect is not very pleasant.
The first songs contain more distortion and generalities than you can (or want to) shake a stick at. In the first two tracks, Young manages to sing two songs without actually saying anything (anything of value, anyway). Not only are these songs bland lyrically, they aren't catchy musically. Luckily, the third track on the album manages to save the ship from sinking with a half-way interesting riff.
The electric fuzz suck-fest is broken up mercifully by "Love And War", the first listenable track on the album. Again, Mr. Young really doesn't say a lot here. His musings are summarized at the beginning of the song: "When I sing about love and war / I don't really know what I'm saying." The thoughtful guitar work on this song and the absence of electric guitars make this song passable.
The listener is dumped back into the heap of slogging leaden guitars with the album's first single, "Angry World". The lyric "It's an angry world / And no doubt everything will go as planned" is the only thing that keeps this song from being total bollocks.
After the autobiographical "Hitchhiker" comes "Peace Valley Boulevard", a sparse acoustic number about America's expansion and the consequences of industrial progress. This is easily the best song on the album in terms of lyrics. Thankfully, the album ends on a fairly strong foot. "Rumblin'" is easily the best of the electric numbers and actually expresses some potent sentiments. It's a shame it wasn't placed earlier on the album. A gem isn't always appreciated when you have to wade through a seemingly endless swamp of dreck to get to it.
Needless to say, I was not impressed with this album at all. Young performs an incredible feat, making an album of only 8 tracks that sounds desperately repetitive. The songwriting is widely uninspired and the production, in most cases, is grating and nearly unbearable. It seemed like Young wrote bland pop songs and then set about stripping away anything that was even remotely appealing.
I understand that Young might be going for a deconstructed rock sound but without the constructive framework of a rhythm section the songs just collapse on themselves, crushed under their own immense weight.
If you're a Neil Young fan, you'll probably want to get this album. If you're not, then I suggest you avoid this buzzing bumbler.
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