Neil Young
Prairie Wind
(Reprise)
The Music Box's #1 album of 2005
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2005, Volume 12, #9
Written by John Metzger
Following the mammoth success of his epic tale Greendale, Neil Young alluded to the notion that he might retire from writing new material. However, confronted by his father’s death, which came after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, and faced with his own mortality after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain aneurysm, he found within himself the inspiration to craft his latest masterpiece Prairie Wind. Musically, the collection straddles the line that separates the country-folk of Harvest from the subdued, blues-inflected stomp of Tonight’s the Night, though Young employs several notable twists to embellish and color his compositions. On No Wonder, for example, a heavenly gospel choir tugs against a guitar’s snarling hellfire; horns punctuate Far from Home’s jaunty remembrance of a distant childhood; and a string section catches the tears that stream from Only a Dream.
What binds the pieces of Prairie Wind together, however, are Young’s
strikingly emotional lyrics, which arguably are the most revealing and intimate
that he has penned since Tonight’s the Night. Indeed, throughout the set,
he links together the past, the present, and the future by invoking many of the
images and themes that long have surfaced within his work, but what’s different
from many of his other outings is that, this time, the songs take on a greater
resonance simply because of the context from which they sprang. Although there
is a world-weary air of death, sadness, and mourning that hangs over the affair,
there also are beacons of light that reflect within the hazy darkness of his
fragmented memories. Full of bittersweet reflection, Prairie Wind finds
Young bidding farewell to his Canadian homeland, his father, his family, his
guitar, and Elvis, and the end result is a spiritual journey that encapsulates
the fragile and fleeting nature of life itself. 
½
Of Further Interest...
Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
Prairie Wind is available from Barnes & Noble.
To order, Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2005 The Music Box