Subject: Our pal
Corcoran's back!
Michael Corcoran, Our Favorite #!@#*& Critic
Whose Name Isn't Dave Marsh,
actually gave Sleeps With Angels a backhanded-yet-glowing
"A" review. I had originally
placed my snotty comments in
brackets inside the review, but their got to
be so many, I footnoted them
according to MLA guidelines. I think. The following
is reproduced without
the express written consent of Major League Baseball
(for some reason, they
aren't answering their phone):
YOUNG ISSUES A HEALING MUSICAL MESSAGE TO THE
YOUNGER
GENERATION
Rating: A
Neil Young has been nicknamed "The Godfather of Grunge" because his gloriously ragged guitar playing and flannel shirts have been a big influence on those new shriekers of Seattle. [*1] As the encore number of '90s, Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" has become the "Louie Louie" of the alt-rock set [*2], and such bands as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have paid homage to the 48-year-old native of Canada [*3] by holding him up to their fans as their musical messiah. With his brilliant new album, "Sleeps With Angels," which hits stores today, Young has also assumed the personalresponsibility of the godfather designation.
Partly inspired by the death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, whose suicide note quoted the "It's better to burn out than fade away" line from Young's song "Out of the Blue (And Into the Black)" [*4], "Sleeps With Angels" is a healing album that soothes like mental balm in these often hopeless times of drive-by shootings, drug addiction and spiritual emptiness. This musical message to the younger generation teaches by example: Listen, there is beauty and integrity in the world.
That opening track, "My Heart," recalls the precious days of "Harvest," but the mood is entirely contemporary. "When dreams come crashing down like trees/I don't know what love can do," he sings in a disillusionment. "My heart, my heart, I've gotta keep my heart;/It's not too late, it's not too late," he resolves in the chorus, updating his ancient [*5] line about how only love can break your heart--it's only love that can put it back together, too.
The album's hinge is an eloguent 14-minute encouragement, called "Change Your Mind," which finds Crazy Horse holding back to reflect the contemplative nature of the song. It's an electric tune, but instead of jabbing at the ribs of the status quo [*6], "Change Your Mind" is hypnotic, with the chorus echoing like a shy mantra. Young, who plays guitar like Jackson Pollock used to paint [*7], turns his splatter into a steady swirl of blue and green on the two long solos. There's a lot of intention in those sloppy notes.
The best albums are albums, not just
collections
of singles and other songs. Even though most of the cuts on
"Sleeps
With Angels" work individually, this is an album that's
made to be
heard from beginning to end.
"Safeway Cart"
leads into the gorgeously timeless "Train
of Love," which merges
into the ironic "Trans Am," which
gives way to the fiery ode to
disposability, "Piece of Crap" --
it all feels like the part of
same thing because it is.
With
"A Dream That Can Last," the album
ends in the same way it began,
with a testament of hope. And just so there's
no question that this is an
impeccably arranged song cycle, Young links
the first and last song with
the same sort of romantic, calliopelike piano
playing.
Footnotes
*1: Only Corcoran would refer to
grunge as "new"
when it was pronounced dead well over a year ago.
*2: I always thought that Louie, Louie was meant as the highlight of
the
party, the one everyone looked forward to, as opposed to the song
saved
for the encore, which tends to be more unusual material. But the
snide comment
works better his way.
*3: What the fuck does THAT have
to do with anything?
*4: He probably knows what the song is actually
called. I strongly suspect
it.
*5: Enough with his age already!
Christ!
*6: Huh?
*7: A semi-obscure art reference meant to show
how well-versed--ergo credible--he
is. I should know, I use them myself
frequently.
*8. Ibid, page 7.
Thrasher's Wheat - A Neil Young Archives
Neil Young Album Reviews