I picked up Neil Young's newest, Fork In The Road this past Tuesday, and still, after two whole days to digest it, haven't a clue what to think about it. At first, I thought it pretty much sounded like a mix of Greendale and Living With War. The repetitive blue rock of Greendale, mixed with emotionally topical Living With War mixed together doesn't on its surface sound like a compelling record.
Maybe it's not.
As I said before, I haven't yet made up my mind. First of all, the politically naive politics of Living With War were quite off putting, but Fork In The Road, while equally naive, is much more adventurous and far less dogmatic. Essentially, Fork In The Road doesn't sound like a collaboration with Michael Moore. At the very least, the lyrical content of Fork In The Road isn't tripe Young will be ashamed of releasing a few years down the road.
The topic of Fork In The Road is Neil Young's project car, the Lincvolt, a classic car Young has spent gobs on, converting it to a fully battery operated vehicle. The lyrics shift throughout the album, covering Neil's ideas on energy policy, the thrill of driving, as well as a few few lyrical diversions. In general, the energy policy lyrics feel forced and unnecessary. Neil is at his best on this record when when he's describing the allure of cars, speed, and the road. Ultimately, the idea of an old jalopy powered by batteries is much more compelling than some boring little Japanese Hybrid, so I appreciate Neil's desire to "go green" without abandoning he American desire to travel across country in a big car, ala Kerouac. Of course, the idea of spending, probably a million dollars retrofitting an old car to run on electricity, probably generated at a nuclear power station or something, just highlights th silliness of the whole "green" fad, but I digress.
The most notable exception to the car theme, is "Light A Candle". The track also stands out as the only acoustic number, starting off with Neil along on acoustic, and later adding a really gorgeous pedal steel. The lyrics start off well enough, but then seem a little too...something. I can't really put my finger on it, but the song seems a little too, communally driven to get too excited about. The lyrics start off:
Instead of cursing in the darkness,That of course, is a nice enough sentiment, and the imagery, while fairly straightforward, is compelling enough, the song then falls into using we too much, and talking about changing history...together. Maybe it's the antisocial side of my coming out once again, but idea of the collective masses coming together to change history and all of that is about as exciting as watching a weeks coverage of a political convention. Ages, Kingdoms, and Interest Groups come and go, often repeating the same patterns, but Neil Young only happens once, and I'd like to hear what's inside of him, instead of hearing what he thinks about the news of the day. If I want that I'll tune into Hannity or Olberman. I understand Neils passion for what believes is right, but I don't think his passion makes for great records. Even though a record like Fork In The Road dosen't even come close to records like After The Goldrush or Zuma, I'll be listening to it for a while, because it's Neil Young and I love to hear him fiddle with the Bigsby and use that bizarre voice of his.
Light a candle for where were goin,
There’s something ahead, Worth fighting for.
You sing, "Just singin' a Song, Won't Change the World", on the song titled with the same lyric on the new record. To that I say, stop trying to change the world with your song's Neil, and just sing already!
