Neil Young Year of the Horse album review

by Bob Gulla

Neil Young has released such a wealth of new material over the last nine years that it may be tempting to dismiss a record or two, to let your attention stray from his coursing stream of productivity. Don't let it happen. More than his commercial seventies output, or his genre-shifting eighties product, Young's work in the nineties represents his creative peak, which is saying a lot considering his place in rock history as a solo artist would have been set even if he had never released another album after 1979's Rust Never Sleeps. Year of the Horse, his fifth live album, was recorded on last year's tour in support of Broken Arrow, songs from which make up about a third of this two-CD set. Far from a souvenir, Year of the Horse fits beautifully into Young's overall canon, and is, in effect, his discovery of a perfect middle ground between the crashing rock dissonance found on Ragged Glory (1990) and Mirror Ball (1995), and the milder, mid-tempo melodicism found most recently on Harvest Moon (1992).

Of prime interest on this two-disc set is Crazy Horse's treatment of Young's mellower material. With its propensity for jackhammer grooving and muscular power chords, the Horse has never been too comfortable with nuance, but here on tracks like the haunting Slip Away and the country strum of Human Highway the band sounds more restrained than ever, daubing Young's melodies with uncharacteristically detailed performances. There's still some blissed-out guitar chaos, particularly on the classic closer Sedan Delivery, but the real story here is that Young has settled into, at least for the moment, an area of comfortable balance between the two divergent styles that have made his nineties output so rewarding. Like most live albums, Year of the Horse requires a familiarity with the material beyond the scope of a casual fan to be fully appreciated. Young followers, however, will find a welcome addition to an already legendary oeuvre.