After a return (of sorts) to the kind of quality we all know he is capable of, Neil Young seems to have gone off the rails again. Not that Prairie Wind and Chrome Dreams II were great albums by any stretch, but if reports from those more privy to news than I are to be believe, his forthcoming album will be a stinker. Fork in the Road is reported to be a concept album about eco-friendly cars. Young clearly cares about this issue, having started LincVolt, a company that seeks to create a "clean automobile propulsion technology"

The first hint of the album's quality is the fairly awful title song, a video for which is streaming on Young's site (it features Young with earbuds plugged into an Apple (oh, Neil) lipsynching while standing in what looks like his back yard). It's the kind of chugging two-chord blues that Young and Crazy Horse can stumble through as soon as you plug 'em in, with lyrics about driving big rigs, blogging and the bailout. It's clear Young was inspired, threw something together immediately and plans to put it out. These efforts can be either raw and inspired (Living With War) or hamfisted and embarrassing ("Let's Roll"). This would seem to fall into the latter category. As the forthcoming Archives vol. 1 box set that was pushed back yet again because of this project (though those with $323.99 can preorder now) proves, Young a) has a lot of things in boxes that never see the light of day, and b) he's not his own best editor.

So, the saving grace is that there is a lot of great music from Young both in the vaults and (one hopes) in the offing, so it will be easy to politely nudge aside this codger's indulgence while we wait.

Labels: music, Neil Young