Living With War

Neil Young

Reprise, 2006

http://www.neilyoung.com

REVIEW BY: Benjamin Ray

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 07/31/2006

Post-grungers and hardcore fans aside, there's probably not a huge audience left for Neil anymore. Yet since the release of this album, he's been all over rock radio, both American and Canadian. Part of it is the everlasting appeal of songs like “Ohio” and “Cinnamon Girl,” but the other part is that Neil explicitly wrote a political record for America circa 2006, one that will fade in 10 years but that is a killer soundtrack for today.

Much like “Ohio” was a reaction to the Kent State shootings, Living With War is a reaction to everything wrong in America today, and Neil takes no prisoners, taking potshots at corporations, the lack of leaders, the war and the general apathy that has settled over the population -- to the point where the Bush administration can get away with just about anything and we as a people just shrug and move on.

But Neil doesn't, and over ten songs vents his frustration and patriotism, often in one song. He's righteously angry and isn't afraid to drop names, yet the songs transcend a political screed because they're so heartfelt, full of the folk spirit that fueled some of the great protest songs of the past.

my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

“The Restless Consumer” rides a wicked two-minor-chord minor groove detailing the mindless consumerism of the average American. Neil sings the verse and chorus but pauses between the two to yell “Don't need no more lies.” It's a spine-chilling moment reminiscent of a punk rocker, not a 60-year-old aging hippie; would that other aging hippies still had this level of willingness to speak out. The best lines in the song: “How do you pay for war and leave us dyin' / When you could do so much more, you're not even tryin'.”

Any conservatives out there who are blindly pro-Bush will not listen to this record, and that's fine. Neil doesn't really care. This is one man's opinion of where the country is headed, done on his terms -- and recorded in three days in a burst of creativity. The album suffers a bit because of this – not only is the sound quality subpar, but a few of the songs sound very similar to each other, using the same tempo, same beat and same way of singing. It makes one wonder what sort of masterpiece Neil could have created had he devoted a little more time to this; on the other hand, with more time there's a good chance the righteous anger and passion would have been smoothed out. It only took Marvin Gaye a week to record What's Going On, among the best protest albums of all time.

Other standouts are “Lookin' For A Leader” and “Let's Impeach The President.” The former is a somewhat upbeat tune (for Neil, anyway) optimistically thinking there is a leader among us -- he name-drops Colin Powell and Barack Obama. foreshadowing the 2008 election -- and says “Someone walks among us and I hope he hears the call / And maybe it's a woman or a black man after all.”

The latter song is the big firestorm here, as evidenced by the plain title. Set to a jaunty New Orleans horn section, Neil happily lists off reasons to impeach George W., reasons such as lying about the war, domestic spying, hijacking Christianity to get elected and hiring criminals. It's basically CNN set to music, and there are so many good lyrics that I can't print them all, but basically Neil embraces the theme that if you're not pissed off, you haven't been paying attention.

Strictly musically, this is the most electric and alive record Neil's released in a while, his best since Freedom. However, it's marred by the dubious sound and the similarity of the other tracks. Still, for someone who deeply loves America and deeply hates the direction it's going, this is hands down one of the best protest albums of the last 20 years, and for Neil fans it's worth buying simply because it captures the old spirit that he hasn't had for quite some time.

Rating: B

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


Comments

 








© 2006 Benjamin Ray and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Reprise, and is used for informational purposes only.