Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts
Talkin' to the Trees
*and1/2 out of *****
Neil Young has always followed his muse. Sometimes it leads to magic, sometimes to solid results and sometimes things are better left unsaid. His newest release, titled Talkin' to the Trees, his first with The Chrome Hearts backing him, falls into the last category. While it is great that Neil is still making music, perhaps this one should have stayed on the shelf as the album feels torpid, redundant and misguided at times.
While the backing band behind him, Spooner Oldham, Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick, Anthony LoGerfo, are great musicians and have all contributed to Neil's sound someway in the past, this is clearly a Neil focused album and the backing music doesn't matter much. In fact, lots of songs, melodies and rhythms sound recycled from Neil's past or folk standards. While Neil has always had a tossed off quality to his shaggy songs, this record takes it even further to the point of things sounding lazy, breaking down and one take without any self reflection.
The opening "Family Life" truly feels as if he is writing the song as he is singing it for the first time. It is almost impressive how sloppy it is as this recording should be a demo, or a Christmas card for his family, not an album opening track with a new band.
Before the listener can shake that song off, Neil delivers what just might be the ugliest song of his career with "Dark Matter". The odd, shambolic blues rocker feels like a throwback to his 80's hazy days (complete with sound effects) which is odd but passable. It is the lyrics that bring to light his non-existent relationship with his estranged daughter. This feels incredibly spiteful, one-sided and not needed, if Uncle Neil felt hurt and the urge to sing about it/record, he probably should have done so, then kept it private.
Starting this record with two odd, very personal tracks gives Talkin' to the Trees a strange feel, and then new band is clearly pushed to the back as more acoustic efforts come forward. "First Fire of Winter" sounds very much like "Helpless" with new words, while closer "Thankful" has a very "Harvest Moon" tinge to it. "Silver Eagle" skews close to "This Land Is Your Land" and if these weren't an issue, "Lets Roll Again" is the same basic song as "Silver Eagle" just amplified with Young railing against cars, pollution, Elon Musk and more. Young has always been a crusty old coot, but never more than on Talkin to the Trees.
In the lead up to the album, Young and company released "Big Change" and this fuzzed up rocking tune is clearly the best of the bunch. The lyric states that this change "Could be bad and it could be good", unfortunately for Neil and the Chrome Hearts, Talkin' to the Trees fits into the first half of that statement.
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