In the last entry for Curtis Mayfield, I alluded again to Dimery’s seeming obsession with Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young, the bands that they came from, and subsequent solo careers (as well as Crosby’s fellow ex-Byrd Gene Clark).
And here we are. Yet another Neil Young album. This is part of his “ditch” trilogy, so named because after the success of Harvest he couldn’t handle the attention and decided to “drive into the ditch” from the middle-of-the-road. For all that, it’s not hugely different musically to Harvest, being more the acoustic country/rock side of Neil Young.
It’s got a rougher quality to the recording – witness how Young’s voice goes off into tortured places on Mellow My Mind for example. Timing is loose and laid back on the tracks, and this is perhaps not surprising given that they tended to be recorded after a good session on the tequila (it's beginning to look like each Neil Young album is fuelled by a different type of narcotic).
There’s a loose theme about drugs throughout the album, after the death of Crazy Horse guitarist Denny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry from overdoses. The title track is specifically about them, and Whitten’s song Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown (about buying drugs) features on the album. Roll Another Number mourns the descent of the Woodstock generation into drug abuse. Tired Eyes is an almost spoken-word piece about a drug deal gone wrong.
The track New Mama is a lighter topic, about Young’s new son, but is also quite a stripped-back song, consisting mainly of CSNY style harmonies over simple guitar. This doesn’t alleviate the general ennui and disillusionment of the album. If a hangover was music, it would be this.
Comments
Post a Comment