A 100-voice choir singing about impeaching President Bush. Concept albums for cars and environmentalism. A sequel to an unreleased record. The idiosyncrasies of Neil Young’s 2000s output almost make his ’80s material seem mundane (…almost). Young kicks off the new decade with another experiment: a noisy, guitar-only record with Daniel Lanois producing. There are hints of old magic in hearing Young by himself without drums, bass or any other instrumentation, but Le Noise’s sound is far more compelling than its songs, few of which are likely to be canonized alongside the best work of Young’s complicated career.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2010.
