Inspirational Technology

Review: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Greendale

For some reason I've never paid any attention to Neil Young. He's been around about forever and I'm sure I've heard many of his songs before but I sure couldn't name one. I listen to an incredible variety of music too, but there's a big hole around the country rock area, especially from artists that were big in the 70s. Neil Young definitely falls into that category, but a few days ago he showed up as the number one artist on Rhapsody. This piqued my curiosity, so I had to check it out. It turns out Rhapsody had released his new album Greendale a few days early.

At first listen I didn't care for this album at all. Neil Young's voice is well, let's just say it takes some getting used to. Coming into this album with no knowledge of prior work means it was all new to me. It turns out this is a concept album that tells the story of the Greens from a fictional town Greendale California. This makes the album a series of stories more then it does typical songs. This is clearly the country influence showing through. You could just as easily imagine Johnny Cash singing these songs as Neil Young. However, the music is different. It reminds me much more of modern delta blues then it does country. But that's more in feeling then it is in the actual notes that are played. This probably doesn't make much sense. Anyway, it's a dirty sound, driven forward by unrelenting drumming that constantly reminds me of people like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The guitar is particularly distinctive. I'm not too knowledgeable about guitar effects so I'm not sure if the effect is distortion or feedback or something else, but I really like the way it's used. I guess it's a common sound for Neil Young.

The production of this album is another thing that reminds me of people like Junior Kimbrough, meaning it's raw. For this album it shouldn't be any other way. This is music that's rough with a retro americana sound that blends blues, country and rock into a fascinating mix. I guess that describes most of Neil Young's output, so maybe this isn't much different. Particular standout tracks include Devil's Sidewalk, Double E and Sun Green.

In the end, even though I didn't care much for this at first, it's now moved into the top spot in my current rotation. I'm really surprised by this, but I absolutely love this album. If you check it out, just make sure you give it some time.

Now this brings up another one of the absolutely incredible features of Rhapsody. After starting to get into Greendale I decided I wanted to explore some of Neil Young's other work. In the past I would have had to go out and buy a bunch of CDs, now it's just a few mouse clicks to have access to virtually his entire recorded output. Rhapsody has 33 Neil Young solo recordings that can be explored to any depth. This is what I've wanted out of a music service, it's incredible. I can't even begin to recommend Rhapsody strongly enough. If you're a Macintosh user, just buy a cheap $100 used PC, slap Windows whatever on it, install the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client and follow my instructions for hooking up the sound. Rhapsody certainly can be improved, but as it stands right now it is absolutely worth the $9.99 per month.