On “Driftin’ Back,” the opening number on Psychedelic Pill, Neil Young and Crazy Horse don’t fuck around. They get right down to business. The business of, well, fucking around. For twenty-seven minutes. And that should tell you whether you want this album. If “Heart of Gold” is your favorite Neil Young song, you should probably steer clear, but if you think “Down by the River” just isn’t long enough, then, ladies and gentlemen, you're going to have a brand new record to love!
But “Driftin’ Back” isn’t just a repetitive riff-fest like “T-Bone” (off Re•act•or) or “Change Your Mind” (Sleeps With Angels). Although not quite a song suite like “Broken Arrow,” it does build and develop through several stages, flowing like a slow but powerful river. Lyrically, it drifts and flows too; it touches on a variety of topics from religion to art to modern technology. It presents itself as the thoughts which float through one’s mind while meditating, although honestly it sounds like nothing so much as the rambling of someone who is very stoned. Which is interesting, considering that Young, in recent interviews, has claimed that he has given up pot and alcohol.
That actually turns out to be the ultimate irony of the album. Here, the newly straight Neil Young has produced the closest thing to acid rock that he has ever produced in his entire career. That might be where the title comes from, I guess – that's certainly true in the title track's case. There, against phased out and swirly guitar, Young sings “the way she dances makes my heart stand still/ … every move is like a psychedelic pill/ … I get high.” “She’s Always Dancing,” the next song, pushes that theme and style into the stratosphere. Throughout the album, the guitar lines are tripped out even more than usual.
Those two songs also revisit a couple of his previous songs, “When You Dance” and “Like A Hurricane” (“once I thought I saw you… dancing from star to star”). For the other theme of the album, also set by the opener, is Neil Young looking back on his life. Some of the shorter songs, such as “Twisted Road” and “Born in Ontario,” are rather straightforward biography, Young reminiscing about his career and his childhood respectively.
In the end, the two themes are not really that far apart. The other two monster songs bring it all together. “Ramada Inn” (16:51) is a story about an alcoholic couple finally dealing with the situation (“She loves him so/ She does what she has to do/… He loves her so/ He does what he has to do”). It is presented as fiction, but one can’t help thinking there is some autobiography in it as well.
Then, in “Walk Like a Giant,” Young assesses his entire life, and finds it wanting. “Me and some of my friends/ we were going to save the world/ Think about how close we came/ I want to walk like a giant on the land.” Here he is talking not only about his own failures, but those of his whole generation. He never explicitly links the two – drug use and the failures of his generation, and himself – but maybe he doesn’t need to.
Or maybe there is a different link between the reminiscing and the drugs. Maybe, having given them up, he is just looking back at the experience, the highs (sorry) and the lows; reliving it, even. The music itself supports this notion. When you listen to the guitar jams here, you don’t hear disappointment or regret. You hear the joy of creation. You hear the notion that the opportunity to put out all this wonderful, unrestrained music was worth it.
Artist:
www.neilyoung.warnerreprise.com/
www.myspace.com/neilyoung
www.facebook.com/NeilYoung
www.twitter.com/neilyoung
Album:
Psychedelic Pill is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
