NEIL YOUNG
Chrome Dreams II (Reprise)
Maybe it was his 2005 aneurysm, or maybe it just happens when you're 62 and entering your fifth decade of recording, but Neil Young has been looking back a lot lately. He's released two archival concerts in the past year and now comes Chrome Dreams II, a sequel to an unreleased late-seventies album (some of whose tracks were later released). No surprise, then, that it sounds like vintage Neil -- a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll, with a side of cranky Canadian soul. Unlike Young's recent rock opera Greendale or the protest album Living with War, this one doesn't tell a story or have a theme. As a result, it's less focused but more accessible. (You won't need the recent Greendale graphic novel to understand the lyrics.) Weirdly -- or perhaps not, considering the artist -- the longest tracks are the best. "Ordinary People" is an 18-minute, mid-tempo epic, complete with a gratuitous Lee Iacocca reference. But it undeniably rocks, especially when Neil's guitar noisily duos with the horn section over the last few minutes. "No Hidden Path" isn't as long (or as good), but it proves that Shakey can still make that guitar wail with the best of them. Paul Underwood
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