Neil Young: Second Song

Oh My God, Second Song.

Everybody knows I'm a big Neil Young fan. A Rustie. I haven't commented on his recent music much because the albums have been mixed and not particularly noteworthy. But that changed a week ago today. Second Song sounds like an instant classic.

I don't buy CDs anymore. I subscribe to Neil's Archives app and listen to whatever I want off there. I check it semi-regularly and knew Neil was coming out with an album soon with his ad-hoc band, the Chrome Hearts. So, I listened to the album's early teasers in the weeks leading up to its release. Then I got to hear the whole thing.

It was on repeat in my mind and on my iPad and in my headphones. Over and over, this carefree but melancholic and vividly lived in feel. Frail and vulnerable. This is the sweet, gentle Neil, one of the best of Neil's many kinds of music. Second Song is, astonishingly, his 50th studio album.

Is this the Neil of the 1970's? No. He's 80 now. We get the aging Neil of today. Neil's voice was never his strongest quality but I admit he has become an acquired taste of late. His voice is shaky, off-key, weak at times. I've spent the last decade getting used to it. But, somehow, on Second Song the band and the songs all accommodate that. The weakness becomes authentic, supported, nested, grounded, beautiful. Yes, this is the sweet Neil, down-shifted a gear.

The result is a thing of surprising earthy beauty. "Foggy Edge of Time" has Neil on a wonderfully weird Mellotron with great organ accompaniment by Spooner Oldham making this sound so distinctive. Micah Nelson's supporting guitar work is very engaging but makes the song sound slightly trippy. Nice mix, which is true of the whole album. Excellent production.

"Day After Day" is a 7-minute song continuing the same groove as the first track. Remarkable harmonies by Micah and upright bassist Corey McCormick on this one and some smooth piano from Spooner. The band's instrumentation is distinctive and yet supportive. You can cleanly pick out any one member you want to listen to. Micah and Spooner often captured my attention on these early hearings. Neil is looking backward while being simultaneously in the moment on this one.

"Earth Girl" is the first “normal” thing so far. Nothing fancy. A little cutesy. Easy-going. It is something to refresh your mind before you come to the 11-minute acoustic Neil masterpiece, “Second Song." I have this album on perpetual repeat in my head right now but the title track is the heart of it all, the best tune in the bunch. A stunningly effortless song. Good harmonica sections. The harmonica itself sounds just like Neil in 1976. Micah's work on the dulcimer here is just fabulous and the whole vibe of this song is smoothly shuffling along. Ever on and on…

As I was obsessing over this album, the YouTube algorithm brought the first reviewers into my feed. That is how I learned that on the vinyl of Second Song the title track is actually split in half, the last part of the album's side one transitions into the first part of side two. I laugh. Neil. Who else initially splits a song and puts it on two different sides? Maybe a first. Funny, though the song is better when heard without that interruption as on streaming or CD. It interrupts the great flow of the album.

"Casting Me Away From You" disappointed me to begin with. Neil used some "Long May You Run" lyrics in here and I thought that was sloppy, even for Neil. But I discovered later that this tune was actually written in the mid-1960's and Neil never recorded it. So it was the opposite from what I assumed. "Long May You Run" actually borrowed from this song that I never knew about until now. It is interesting to hear these youthful lines sung by the aging artist. It has the 1960’s joy but tempered more than it originally was intended.

"Soon I Might Be Going" is a soundscape. The band, the production, and the mixing are all extraordinary. This 9-minute piece is punctuated with four sharp chords from Old Black being hammered, its only appearance in what is otherwise an odd but fantastic synthesis of acoustic and electronic sounds, notes, instruments, whatever. Wow, this sounds big but not heavy. One of old Neil’s best.

"I'll Love You Forever" is a second unrecorded tune from the 1960's. This mixture of songs from an 80 year-old and a teenager in the same artist gives the album a taste of youthfulness in their naive lyrics as filtered through about 60 years of living. A fitting, hopeful way to end what is easily Neil's best album in many years. So unexpected and so welcome.

I hope you don't go too soon Neil. Second Song proves you still have it, the love and the creation of your muse...it’s on repeat, it’s on repeat, it’s on repeat...

Note: There's a reflection of a child in the shine of the old car. Look to the lower right.