Barn. Neil Young Crazy Horse

An album that I totally overlooked in 2021 is Barn, the new album by Neil Young and his oldest play mates, Crazy Horse. When I played it for the first time a couple of days ago, I was totally surprised. The older Neil Young, as he is definitely sounding older here, his voice weaker, is in a great form. And yes, I have heard music like this from him for decades. This makes the surprise only the more pleasant. Barn holds a collection of fantastic new songs that add directly to what came before in a significant and relevant way.

Anyone who has followed this blog in the past decade will have noticed that I: a) have not bought a Neil Young album in this century (barring 'Homegrown') and b) am often surprised the last years how his albums speak to me. It's just that I have enough Neil Young albums to last me a lifetime. Not so with Barn. This album is a must have.

The question you might want to ask me is: why? This starts with the very first song. 'Song Of The Seasons' is the kind of country song that Neil Young is good at, while lacing it with some Mexican colours here and there, Nils Lofgren playing accordion. It contains warmth and despair at the same time, just like Young does in his best songs. As always his voice is an acquired taste, but I got past that in my teens already.

When the electric guitars ring out in the intro of 'Heading West', in that typical dark and brooding Neil Young sound, I got the idea that I may be in for a trip. And was not let down for a second further into the album. Together with the rhythm section Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot with "new" guitarist Nils Lofgren, who already played with Neil Young in the early 70s, Neil Young manages to sound as relevant as he did in the beginning of his solo career. In 'Canerican' he discusses his descent and current nationality. "I see the changes that came to this country". In the sound of the song, his worries come through. The guitars emulate an explosion here and there and a derailing at the end.

So, is Neil Young relevant on Barn? Not as in relevant to most 15 year olds. Not if you would compare each individual songs to your favourite Young song in specific genres he has played over the years. As in a strong collection of songs? I dare you to name a better collection since, perhaps 'Freedom' or 'Ragged Glory'. Barn contains a great collection of ten songs making it an extremely strong album, with enough stories that needed to be told in the lyrics. That makes Barn an urgent album for fans to have, as they, like I am, must be enormously pleased to be tickled in all the right places by the 76 year old rocker. How many of his contemporaries are able to state the same?

If you're a Neil Young (& Crazy Horse) fan, you better start running for the record shop or online service, but start with the former and keep them alive!

Wout de Natris