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LISTEN TO IT #51: DO YOU LIKE AMERICAN MUSIC?
I’ve been a Neil Young fan for a long time now. He’s my favorite elder statesman/grumpy old man of rock. That said, like anyone who’s been around as long as he has, his records can be hit-or-miss affairs, not least because, well, let’s admit, you can only recycle the same three chords so many times in 40 years.
So every time he releases a new album, I approach with reverent caution. And as his new album is titled Americana – a term that makes the editors of Uncut go gaga, and consequently makes me extra wary – and is actually an album of traditional 19th century standards like “Oh Susanna” and “Clementine”, I was thinking this one was going to fall into the “miss” category.
Boy was I wrong.
The songs may be traditional, but Young’s take on them is anything but. Trust Young to rope in Crazy Horse and play them Crazy-Horse style – loud, loose jams with rough-sounding guitars and a general sense of foreboding and doom.
Listen to this take on “Jesus’ Chariot (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain)”, which sounds less like a guy awaiting the arrival of his beloved (which I always thought it was about) and more like the arrival of the Apocalypse.
It’s a good selection of songs too. “God Save The Queen” (the anthem, not the Sex Pistols song) is an interesting choice as well – Uncut didn’t see the point, but Young makes the connection between the original song and its transformation into an all-American standard. In other words, Americans took a song about royalty, stole the music and rewrote it into a celebration of the land that rejected the Crown and kicked it back to Blighty.
How American can you get?
Reportedly there’s another Young/Crazy Horse album coming out this year, but this will be hard to top.
When she comes,
This is dF
So every time he releases a new album, I approach with reverent caution. And as his new album is titled Americana – a term that makes the editors of Uncut go gaga, and consequently makes me extra wary – and is actually an album of traditional 19th century standards like “Oh Susanna” and “Clementine”, I was thinking this one was going to fall into the “miss” category.
Boy was I wrong.
The songs may be traditional, but Young’s take on them is anything but. Trust Young to rope in Crazy Horse and play them Crazy-Horse style – loud, loose jams with rough-sounding guitars and a general sense of foreboding and doom.
Listen to this take on “Jesus’ Chariot (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain)”, which sounds less like a guy awaiting the arrival of his beloved (which I always thought it was about) and more like the arrival of the Apocalypse.
It’s a good selection of songs too. “God Save The Queen” (the anthem, not the Sex Pistols song) is an interesting choice as well – Uncut didn’t see the point, but Young makes the connection between the original song and its transformation into an all-American standard. In other words, Americans took a song about royalty, stole the music and rewrote it into a celebration of the land that rejected the Crown and kicked it back to Blighty.
How American can you get?
Reportedly there’s another Young/Crazy Horse album coming out this year, but this will be hard to top.
When she comes,
This is dF