A Neil Young Primer #3

[jazzy_dave]

Mirror Ball was reviewed by Wire back in 1995. They said -


There appears to be no end to the current Neil Young renaissance. I suppose the germ of this particular release was his astounding live performance at the MW awards a few years back accompanied by Pearl Jam when he managed to cook up a musical storm while staggering about the stage like some deranged old hippy.

Pearl Jam provides the backing on this new album which should confound the critics: the man who can do no wrong with the group who can do no right (if you take the standard British rock press view). In fact, all the material on Mirror Ball was written by Young with the exception of some of the lyrics to "Peace And Love" written by Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam provides some of the tightest electric backing that Young's ever had. The feel of Mirror BaII is very different from his last consistently electric studio session Ragged Glory, and from last year's patchy Sleeps With Angels.

From "Song X" through to "Big Green Country", the opening pace is unrelenting, streamlined and direct. There's precious little of the wandering, feedback-drenched soloing of Ragged Glory, but a pounding sense of defiance and a sort of melancholy euphoria evoked by the combination of the gloomy, metaphysical lyrics with the whipped-up garage thrash of the music. The sound is dense and 'live': in other words, unreconstructed rock with few frills. With "Truth Be Known" the mood changes to a simmering buzz, but the lyrics deal with more individual concerns - "When the fire that once was your friend bums your finger to the bone" Mirrorball's lyrical stock in trade largely consists of shattered illusions and the passing of an era (the 60s) -as typified by the mirrorball itself, twirling in some half-forgotten ballroom as the hippies "dance the Charleston and they do the limbo" ("Downtown")-contrasting with the murderous decline of contemporary America seen through a survivor's eyes ("Throw Your Hatred Down", "Scenery").

Far removed from the posturing and backbiting of the 'alternative' US rock scene, Neil Young keeps pushing ahead, unpredictable save for the continued quality of his output, the antithesis of a complacent old 60/70s rock star. Mirro Ball represents a certain purity, however atavistic, and a kind of striving for grace within limited confines. It produces great music.





And so back to the 2008 Primer -

Neil Young - Falling from Above

From the Greendale album.


Neil Young And Crazy Horse - Barstool Blues

Neil Young & The Restless - Cocaine Eyes

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Country Home

Enjoy.