(Reprise)The veteran rocker and his powerhouse of a band let rip in a barn in
Colorado on Young’s least frustrating album in a while
For a double national treasure, one who could justifiably be claimed by two countries, Neil Young is hardly the most enigmatic of musical elder statesmen. Put together, the Canadian-born American’s last two albums (2019’s Colorado and now, Barn) state exactly where, and how, they were made – in a barn, in this longtime Californian’s recently adopted Colorado. Largely recorded live, both albums pair Young with his most charged powerhouse of a backing band, Crazy Horse.
Perhaps more significantly, Barn is probably the least frustrating new Young album in some time. These are 10 cogent songs about love and life, about the recent past, the years long gone and our future, delivered with verve, emotion and snarls of six-string authority. Infamously, Young’s one-time label Geffen sued this prolific but bloody-minded artist in 1983 for delivering records that “were not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of Young’s previous records”. Laughably, Barn actually fulfils most of those criteria. This is a Crazy Horse record that is both raucous and highly tuneful, saturated with in-band bonhomie.