Le Noise
After an unpredictable decade, the rock vet starts off a new one with a near-solo record helmed by famed producer Daniel Lanois.
Neil Young’s bulletproof status as the other ’60s rock icon you can still depend on—take a bow, Bob Dylan—has become increasingly reliant on albums boasting catchier concepts than songwriting. It’s easy to praise Young for getting fired up about the environment (Greendale), the war in Iraq (Living With War), and…
The old conventional wisdom on Neil Young used to be that he alternated between acoustic folk and full-on guitar skronk with every other album, but 2010’s Le Noise -- the French affection in its title a tongue-in-cheek tip of the beret to his producer Daniel Lanois -- melds the two extremes.
A startling reminder of what Young's capable of...Having endured a long string of albums not so much half-cooked as chucked in a cold over for five minutes before serving, the occasional flashes of promise – such as 2007’s ‘Chrome Dreams II’ - consisting of new recordings of old tunes and half-decent retreads of familiar tricks, many Neil Young fans may by now have given up on any hope of ever witnessing a genuine creative revival.
Neil Young has made a brilliant-66%-of-the-time career by not really retracing any of his previous steps.
Neil Young's latest is frightened, confused, and a bit of an effort. All good signs, says <strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>