Neil Young Chrome Dreams II CD

Personnel: Neil Young (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, harmonica, grand piano, Hammond b-3 organ, pump organ, vibraphone, percussion); Ben Keith (vocals, electric guitar, slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, dobro, alto saxophone, Hammond b-3 organ); Larry Cragg (vocals, baritone saxophone); Rick Rosas (vocals, bass guitar); Ralph Molina (vocals, drums, percussion); Annie Stocking, Joe Canuck, Nancy Hall, Pegi Young (vocals); Frank "Poncho" Sampedro (guitar); Steve Lawrence (tenor saxophone, keyboards); Tommy Bray, John Fumo (trumpet); Claude Cailliet (trombone); Chad Cromwell (drums).
Intended by Neil Young as a follow-up to his near-mythic unreleased 1977 recording CHROME DREAMS, the 2007 album CHROME DREAMS II features the same basic band and approach. Unlike many of Young's more conceptual albums, it contains songs written over different periods of time in different stylistic modes. Some of the tunes here have been waiting around since the '80s, including the 18-minute epic "Ordinary People," a slow-burner in the classic Young tradition that he audaciously positioned as the album's single.
Arranged around that sprawling centerpiece are some humbly poignant folk-rock gems, including the pretty, acoustic-based ballad "Beautiful Bluebird" and the shimmering, waltz-time love song "Shining Light." On the harder side, there's the trademark Crazy Horse-style crunch and quirk of the chugging rocker "Dirty Old Man" and the "Down By The River"-esque workout "No Hidden Path." Ironically, by attempting to follow no single sonic template on CHROME DREAMS II, Young turned out perhaps his most consistent effort of the decade.
Neil Young spent his 2006 hawking Living with War, an album as immediate as a news bulletin, so perhaps it made sense that after its promo push was done he would retreat into the past, planning to finally finish Archives, the long-promised box set of unreleased performances from his vaults. Two individual discs of classic live performances were released in the winter of 2006/2007, acting as a teaser for the proposed fall release of the box, but like with most things involving Neil, things didn't work precisely as planned, as he once again pushed Archives to the back burner so he could release Chrome Dreams II, a sequel to an album that never came out in the first place. The first Chrome Dreams was slated for a 1977 release, but for some indiscernible reason Young scrapped the album, parsing out some of the songs on subsequent albums, sometimes re-recording the originals, sometimes overdubbing, sometimes just sticking the previously unreleased tracks onto new albums. Among the Chrome Dreams songs that popped later are some of his greatest, including "Like a Hurricane" and an originally acoustic "Powderfinger" and "Pocahontas," along with other such excellent tunes as "Sedan Delivery," "Too Far Gone," and "Look Out for My Love," a pedigree that would suggest that Chrome Dreams II could include its fair share of major songs. Despite the inclusion of the long-bootlegged (and simply long at a lumbering 18 minutes) "Ordinary People," that's not quite true: it's a modest collection of stray songs and new tunes, pieced together in a fashion similar to 1989's Freedom, which in fact is where the 1977 "Too Far Gone" was finally unveiled.
Indeed, Chrome Dreams II shares more similarities to Freedom than the original Chrome Dreams -- so much so that it's a mystery why it's dubbed as a sequel, but it's a mystery not worth pondering, as there are few clues to their correlation, and even if a definitive answer to their kinship could be dredged up, it wouldn't illuminate the 2007 album, which is merely a good Neil Young album. Perhaps a little more than good, actually, as this has a shagginess and tattered heart that's been missing from his work for a long time, as he's spent a good chunk of the past 15 years pursuing conceptual works, ranging from thematic concept albums (Living with War, GreendaleRolling Stone (p.82) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Young was right to close with 'The Way,' a gloriously simplistic salvation song backed by a children's chorus that deserves to become his 'Give Peace a Chance.'"
Spin (p.128) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] record that's just like he used to make -- distorto riffs for their own sake and quasi roots rock with a tangible sense of loss and hope."
Entertainment Weekly (p.p.125) - "[A] nifty exercise in extreme dynamics....It's an album inclusive enough for both 'Dirty Old Man,' a garage-rock sinner's rant, and 'The Way,' a beautiful minor-key hymn..."
Uncut (p.119) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The album is powerful exploration of faith, with Young circling his own mortality. He does it quietly and noisily."
No Depression (p.93) - "It's hard to remember a Young release that has been as thematically cohesive yet as musically diverse as CHROME DREAMS II."
Q (Magazine) (p.113) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "'Ordinary People' dates from Young's one-off venture with the Bluenotes...It's an epic, free-ranging rant on behalf of the common man...It's an absolute monster."
Q (Magazine) (p.76) - Ranked #33 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "A definite return to ragged glory."
Blender (Magazine) (p.155) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Young's Les Paul erupts, horns not to Springsteen Americana; it all recalls vintage mid-'70s Young LPs..."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.99) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The HARVEST-like 'Beautiful Bluebird' opens, beautifully simplistic like Young's best childlike ballads."