Artist: Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Title: World Record (Reprise)
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Tell me more: World Record marks Neil Young and Crazy Horse's second album of new material released in 2022, coming only four months after the July release of Toast. Co-produced by Rick Rubin and Young, the album is bolstered by Young's long-time on-and-off again outfit Crazy Horse (bassist Billy Talbot, drummer Ralph Molina, guitarist-accordion player Nils Lofgren). While the future of the planet is far from certain, Young carries out hope for our endangered home via the lovely opener "Love Earth." Young unleashes a sonic firestorm of blues-drenched grunge on "Break The Chain," a song that certifies Young and company can rock as powerfully as ever. The lyrics are bleak to be sure, as evidenced by the final verse: "Let's break the chain / No human home and scarce little time / Break the chain / Break the chain."
Elsewhere, Young's concern for the earth is revisited via the more experimental accordion-adorned "The World (Is In Trouble Now)" where he sings: "The flowers growing from the ground / The sunlight shining down / My memories of the past delight / In all the things I found / Because the earth has held me so." Other powerful originals on the collection include the beautiful mid-tempo rocker "I Walk With You (Earth Ringtone)" anti-war plea "Walkin' On The Road (To The Future)," yearning distortion-and-feedback wrapped "Chevrolet, and gentle Americana-flavored "This Old Planet," the latter bolstered by the layered tandem sounds of accordion and piano.
Robert Kinsler
