It seemed like such a good idea at the time... Neil Young has sung about cars before - in fact, you could do a whole program of classic rock songs about cars - and he must've thought he'd struck gold with the idea behind his new album, Fork In The Road. After all, it was a pretty great idea - take the 19-foot long ecological monster known as the 1959 Lincoln Continental, which ate huge chunks of the ozone layer for lunch, and retrofit it to run on alternative fuel, then take it on a jaunt from California to Detroit. And write songs about it.
And there's where the good idea goes wrong. Neil Young is meant to write songs. Neil Young has a heart and a conscience, and it's great that he does things like showing Detroit that a responsible car is a real possibility. But writing songs about showing Detroit that a responsible car is a real possibility? Even if the songs are good, you're practically guaranteeing that they'll sound hopelessly dated in a relatively short time.
As I see it, there are two possible explanations for the songs on Fork In The Road:
1. Neil Young wrote one of the great topical songs of all time, "Ohio," in response to the Kent State killings in 1970, and having had early success with a topical song that transcended its time and its topic, continues to think that he can do more of the same.
2. Neil Young is a seasoned pro, a veteran songwriter, with a catalog of great songs that are likely to endure a very long time, and who didn't play "Ohio" in concert for many years because he considered it dated; and if he wants to write a bunch of songs for right here and now, well, then dammit that's what he's gonna do. Not every song needs to be an eternal masterpiece. Sometimes getting your fans' attention focused on a pressing issue is reason enough to write a song.
I'm going with option 2. I'm also passing on Fork In The Road. Neil Young has written songs about old men and lost youth since he was a very young man; in these new songs, he's actually beginning to sound like a cranky old man.
Tell us: What do you think of the latest Neil Young album? Is it enough to applaud the effort? Do you applaud the music as well?
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John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
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