Better to burn out: Neil Young's new record, "Chrome Dreams II"
By: Jon Bernstein
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: The Arts
Through the years, Neil Young has become famous for his refusal to stick to a particular style or genre of music. Over his illustrious career he has delved extensively into genres as varied as country, rock, folk, and grunge. There seems to be a little bit of everything on "Chrome Dreams II," which Young himself has compared to his 1970 breakthrough album "After the Goldrush," an album that similarly explored different genres of music. One might think that this, coupled with the fact that the album contains work written from various time periods (only 7 of the 10 tracks are new recently written material), would make for a disjointed, perhaps incoherent collection of music. But somehow everything seems to come together in a work Young triumphantly describes as "about the human condition."
The third track, "Ordinary People," sets the scene for the rest of the album through an ambitious, populist depiction of "hardworkin', high-rollin', alcoholic," and ultimately, "ordinary" people. "I got faith in the regular kind," Young professes in the last verse of his marathon tale of the common man. This declaration of belief sets the stage for the next seven songs making up the core of the album. Aside from the out of place "Dirty Old Man," the rest of the album deals directly with this generalized faith or confidence.
The song titles alone tell the story quite nicely: tracks like "Shining Light," and "The Believer" assert the power of simple faith. Young spends the majority of the album dealing with his belief, and searching for some sort of ultimate sense of relief. "Show me the way, and I'll follow you today," Young pleads in the second to last track, "No Hidden Path," and in the very next song and album finale, "The Way", we're left with a children's choir singing almost mockingly that they indeed "know the way," and that they're kind enough to "show the way, to get you back home, to the peace where you belong." We're left in a sense of soothing ease, knowing that Young (with the help of the Young People's Chorus of New York City) will give us a way to find comfort and harmony at home. After all, "there comes a time when you settle down", but "Chrome Dreams II" shows that even when you're settled, there's always more drifting to be done.
The third track, "Ordinary People," sets the scene for the rest of the album through an ambitious, populist depiction of "hardworkin', high-rollin', alcoholic," and ultimately, "ordinary" people. "I got faith in the regular kind," Young professes in the last verse of his marathon tale of the common man. This declaration of belief sets the stage for the next seven songs making up the core of the album. Aside from the out of place "Dirty Old Man," the rest of the album deals directly with this generalized faith or confidence.
The song titles alone tell the story quite nicely: tracks like "Shining Light," and "The Believer" assert the power of simple faith. Young spends the majority of the album dealing with his belief, and searching for some sort of ultimate sense of relief. "Show me the way, and I'll follow you today," Young pleads in the second to last track, "No Hidden Path," and in the very next song and album finale, "The Way", we're left with a children's choir singing almost mockingly that they indeed "know the way," and that they're kind enough to "show the way, to get you back home, to the peace where you belong." We're left in a sense of soothing ease, knowing that Young (with the help of the Young People's Chorus of New York City) will give us a way to find comfort and harmony at home. After all, "there comes a time when you settle down", but "Chrome Dreams II" shows that even when you're settled, there's always more drifting to be done.
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