First Lou Reed, now Neil Young?
Rock operas? Concept albums? I thought that idea was dead. This is the new millenium. We want instant gratification. We've got shrinking attention spans. Heck, we can't even make it all the way through an MTV video...just the 'good parts' on TRL.
Well, Neil's not really a part of that generation. But it wouldn't be unfair to say that he's had his own issues with attention span. Which Neil Young do we get this time around? That's always the question. The blistering rocker? The introspective folkie? Rockabilly Neil? Blues Neil? Techno synthy Neil? (ok, that might be going a little too far...nobody is expecting Trans II anytime soon). It's not that any of this is a bad thing. For a guy who's been at it as long as Neil Young, the occasional fresh perspective can only be healthy.
Greendale is Neil Young's mythical small (20-25,000 residents) coastal California town. All of the stories revolve around the Green family. There's mom & dad (Edith & Earl) who live at the Double E Rancho (just outside of Greendale), the young daughter (Sun), cousin Jed, and grandma & grandpa Green. More or less 'normal' so far, right? But then we find out that Sun's grandmother (Ciela) had daughters by two different Green brothers (fade in appropriate David Lynch-type music here). It doesn't get any more 'normal' after that. Murder. Art. The Devil. Death. Protest.
On Greendale we get a return to Crazy Horse slow-rocker Neil with touches of the introspective folkie ( despite the delivery, it's pretty obvious that folkie-Neil wrote these tunes). The music is very straight ahead Crazy Horse garage rock (without Frank Sampedro's second guitar though...hmm, I wonder what that's all about). The repetition of musical themes (my favorite is the John Lee Hooker-like "Devil's Sidewalk") makes for a sorta hypnotic listening experience. Everything is slowed down and drawn out as Neil lays out his tales of the Greens. The only musical appearance of Neil the folkie is for the beautiful "Bandit".
The liner notes and artwork bring everything together nicely. Instead of lyrics there are, for each song, short stories that set up the weirdness to follow. Kliban-esque illustrations (hats off to James Mazzeo) complete the oddness that is Greendale.
Not so odd, but still very entertaining, is the bonus DVD, "Live at St. Vicar St.", that has Neil performing Greendale in its entirety on acoustic guitar. In this format the songs lose their sinister quality to become somehow more intimate...despite the subject matter.
You've gotta hand it to Neil Young. It seems like he's been around forever (check out the book Shakey to find out just how much he's been through) but manages to come up with something new after all those years, albums and tours.
Visit Greendale soon.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Article comments
1 - TDavid
Thanks for the great review! Now it's got me in the Neil Young state of mind. I enjoy his acoustic and the Crazy Horse stuff.
2 - Tom Johnson
Hey Mark, does the DVD include a movie of Greendale as well as the concert? I've seen this touted as that in various places, and MusicChoice broadcast a chopped-down version of the DVD last week and featured a long video for one of the songs, which appeared to be a part of the Greendale movie.
3 - Mark Saleski
that's a good question. i popped it into a dvd-enabled laptop last night and watched a couple of tunes....can't remember if there was anything else on it or not.
4 - Thrasher
Hi. The concert DVD and Greendale soundtrack DVD are 2 different releases. The soundtrack DVD release is supposed to be later this fall. We'll see. Afterall, with Neil anything can happen.
Interestingly, Greendale was #1 yesterday on Amazon and On the Beach was #4.
For more Greendale reviews, check out Thrasher's Wheat at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~thrasher1/wheatfield.html
Keep on rockin!
5 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Mark, excellent review, I'm looking forward to delving into the perpetual weirdness that is Neil.
And thanks Thrasher, cool site, you should be a Blogcritic (except there is more to life than Neil Young - that's the rumor anyway)
6 - Tammy
I was just to Neil's concert here in PA. Man,was I impressed. I thought the music was great. He came out on stage with a bunch of actors and did the whole Greendale story. If you get the chance to see him live, I recomment that you go to see it. After Greendale, he did 4 sets. Him and Crazy Horse. He did Cinnamon Girl...My Favorite song
7 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Tammy, glad to hear it was so good - we're always looking for reports on shows.
8 - Tom
It is amazing to me how few people actually realize how little this album has to do with the Green family. Neil has used the fictional Green family as an outlet to show how desensitized man has become toward his fellow man and his enviroment. As a few examples (and there are many) his reference to Grandma and Grandpa livin' back in the days when things were better, people were people and cared more about who they were than what they were "A little Mayberry livin' can go a long way". Jeds "blunder" when he shot Carmichel, and the subsiquent reaction af all involved, from the media frenzy, to Charmicel's wife being pissed off at him, and not attending the funeral. Earls paintings selling once the "Devil" cleaned his glasses, and he started painting pictures that were not joyful and free. The names of the "characters" are also a dead give away, Sun Green, Earth Brown....How Earth (or should I say The Earth) gets parched once the Devil adds his dust to Earth's water. There is so much more to this album than what it appears to be, when you listen to it.....get outside of the box and the listening experience well be ten fold.
This is easily Album of the Year!!
9 - andrew kinsella
Greendale? Concept albums? The return of the unrepentant hippie, at long last.Finally we are back to music as art instead of predigested consumable bumpfh.I still can't believe how good this album sounds or how many times it is possible to listen to it in one day-when you are supposed to be working. The track " Be the rain " has got all it needs to be an anthem for the environmental movement. As for the overall content in its anticorporate stance it says all Chomsky could ever wish to, but so much more economically. It's enough to restore one's faith in the world.
10 - Phil
A great album, recent lps like Are you Passionate and Broken Arrow saw Neil kinda coasting and the drawn out riffs and solos were a bit dawnting to say the least and nowhere near classics like "Down By The River" or "Like A Hurricane" but I couldn't beleive that some tracks were over 10 minutes long! I just find the whole lp an amazing journey which gets better every time as the characters get more familiar! Carmicheal is perhaps one of his greatest songs in recent times in my opinion and I gat a "Tonights The Night" vibe from it. The simple blues riff on "Double E" is so hypnotic and at times even humourous, totally an enjoyable album.
11 - Mike
Was fortunate enough to attend Neil's concert in Melbourne last night.
We stood in the rain but hardly noticed it! Great concert, great music! One of my favourites from Greendale was 'Bandit'.
Looking at his concert schedule over the last few months - USA-Hong Kong-Japan and now Australia. For an old guy he's going great.
12 - Noel Bittinger
I am a new Neil Young fan and have been desparately looking for a concert or appearance of his in US or Canada-if anyone knows where he may be playing please help!!
13 - Jeff
The first request I received to rate 'Greendale' I gave it 2 stars out of 5 for just the movie. After I looked at Everything on the DVD, I would give it a 4 star now. The ending saved it for me. In fact I got a lump in my throat.