Zharth's Music Log (Revisited)
Week 109: Equestrian Insanity
(Originally finalized on November 18, 2024)
Preface: If you liked the concept of last week's theme, but are bored of listening to the same old songs over and over again (I get it - even the best songs in the world can become tiring if you overplay them), you might find this week's selection to be more interesting. The subject is the same - long-form electric jams performed by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. But this time, we're venturing into the untested waters of the 21st century!
Monday: Goin' Home [Are You Passionate?, 2002]
Comments: At the turn of the millennium, during a period in which Neil was having some trouble in his marriage, he went into the studio to record an album with Crazy Horse. Unfortunately, that album - titled Toast - was scrapped and left on the cutting room floor for twenty years, before finally being released. Instead, Neil booked Booker T. and the M.G.'s, and recorded Are You Passionate? - featuring his tribute to 9/11, Let's Roll. This track, Goin' Home, was the only recording released on Are You Passionate? that was sourced from those sessions with Crazy Horse - and it shows.
Tuesday: Be The Rain [Greendale, 2003]
Comments: I can't overstate my opinion of this album, and it's hard to describe my appreciation for it in a short snippet. Suffice to say, this is not just one of my favorite Crazy Horse albums, but probably my favorite Neil Young album of all time. It was the first new album I experienced contemporaneously, after discovering the music of Neil Young. And it was the first tour I got to see him on, in person.
Although that would be enough to explain its significance to me, there is the additional fact that this album stands apart among Neil's entire discography, for it is a very special album. Not just a concept album (the concept not surprisingly being environmental activism), it's a rock opera - with its own characters, and a connected narrative from start to finish. But even that doesn't cover the entirety of its unique appeal, because when Neil took it on the road, he constructed a whole stage show with props and actors and everything, to bring the story to life on stage, while the band played the songs.
So you can see why it was so exciting for me. But the best part of all, is that it doesn't just sound great on paper. The music and the story are really good, too! I can't listen to Grandpa's Interview without tearing up. And then when Sun Green comes on, you can feel her anger that she righteously directs toward the sources of corporate pollution. There is a lot of great Crazy Horse jamming on this album, but the closing track most effectively stands on its own, apart from the rest of the album, as the enduring anthem of Greendale. "Next mornin' Sun was up at dawn. She looked around and Earth was gone."
Wednesday: Ramada Inn [Psychedelic Pill, 2012]
Comments: Nine years after the release of Greendale, Crazy Horse reformed, proving that long stretches of time could pass, and the band could get back together without missing a beat. They released two albums in 2012 - the first, titled Americana, being a collection of electrified covers of American folk tunes. It's actually quite good; I recommend it. But Psychedelic Pill was the more traditional album, with as many as three new extended Crazy Horse jams.
The album starts with Driftin' Back, which - coming in at 27 minutes - is, if I'm not mistaken, the longest Crazy Horse jam on record (excepting the sonic composite Arc, recorded on Neil's Weld tour). That said, I honestly find it to be somewhat middling. I realize that most Crazy Horse jams could be described as "rambling", but this one seems to lack any real sense of purpose or direction. The real gems are the other two jams, the first being Ramada Inn, which is infused with a wistful melancholy. It sounds like a road trip - but not the kind where you're headed to adventure. I mean the kind where you're trying to escape from something. But you can't, because it's a pain that you carry with you. Two years after this release, Neil would divorce his wife of 36 years.
Thursday: Walk Like A Giant [Psychedelic Pill, 2012]
Comments: Closing out the album is another 16+ minute song - a top tier Crazy Horse jam that slowly descends into a delirium of feedback, with a 4 minute outro that uses periodic crashes to create the sonic embodiment of a giant's footsteps, and finally concludes with what sounds like a train blowing its whistle as it pulls into the station. It's the most avant-garde experiment Crazy Horse has participated in since Arc - but with far more focus and cohesion. And the first time I heard it, I was watching the band perform it live on stage, in person! Another personal hall of fame moment for me as a music fan.
Friday: She Showed Me Love [Colorado, 2019]
Comments: After their last album together, Crazy Horse guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro retired from the band, and was replaced by Nils Lofgren, longtime member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, who had performed with Neil Young periodically over the decades. In 2019 they released another album, named for the place where it was recorded - and Neil's new home with his new wife. Less furious, and softened with self-deprecating humor, this environmental call-to-action disguised as a love song holds a steady groove for 13 minutes, developing into a trance-like electric meditation by its finish.
Saturday: Welcome Back [Barn, 2021]
Comments: Neil's first post-pandemic release, this album was recorded in a barn out in the country to respect social distancing guidelines. The dominant impression is one of frailty - the first time I listened to it, I was struck with the ominous feeling that this could be Neil's last release ever (thankfully, it wasn't). The horrors of COVID (and, perhaps more terrifying, our inadequate response to it) must have inspired an introspective mood. For a Crazy Horse jam, this song is tastefully restrained - almost quiet. But I mean that in the best possible way; as a result, the notes ring out with more poignancy. Not the longest jam on this list, after its 9 minutes have flown by, you'll find yourself wanting it to go on for 9 more. "Welcome back, welcome back. It's not the same."
Sunday: Chevrolet [World Record, 2022]
Comments: And we finish with another traditional Crazy Horse jam that wouldn't sound out of place in the '70s or '90s, from the band's latest album from just a couple years ago. Other songs on the album embrace the usual themes of environmental activism, and the dark legacy climate change is leaving for our children's children. But this song captures a rare moment in which Neil almost slips up while coveting an old Chevrolet, and catches him harking back to a more innocent era of promise and mobility - instead of isolation and despair - before the writing was on the wall.