Heard
Here
Neil
Young
Are You Passionate?
If
Neil Young is not directly addressing himself in the title of his
brand new record, he should consider asking himself the question,
Am I still passionate? Youngs new release on Reprise
Records is a thoroughly listenable endeavor that unfortunately lacks
the delicate angst of his strongest work. From an optimistic standpoint,
the legend has perhaps mastered the song craft to such a level of
ease that the songs have turned into vapor. At worst, Neil Young
has fallen into easily decipherable formula. In a song titled (perhaps
as a self-proclamation) Mr. Disappointment, Neil laments,
I lost the feeling, I lost the time. Youngs previously
tenuous confidence level may now chart in negative figures.
The opener, Youre My Girl kicks off the record
with a get-down Motown groove reminiscent of the Four Tops
Sugar Pie Honeybunch. However, there is no sense of
irony or facetious appropriation evident in this song or any of
the others on this record that features co-producer Booker T. Jones
(of the MGs). Neil Youngs signature combination of piercing,
honest voice and rustic guitar sound are remarkably at home within
the Motown-tinged framework. Many forget or were never told that
Neil Young, before his Buffalo Springfield days, played guitar in
a band signed to Motown Records whose singer was none other than
(no joke), a teenage Rick James. Young may be rekindling the fire
of his forlorn R&B days.
Are You Passionate?s most strikingly awkward moment is Lets
Roll, an unbelievably tacky foot-stomping number inspired
by the events of Sept. 11. The statement Lets Roll
has entered the lore of Sept. 11 after Todd Beamer heroically uttered
the catch phrase before storming the cockpit of Flight 93, successfully
subduing the hijackers, and sacrificially crashing the plane in
Pennsylvania. Young, with morose candor refrains, time is
running out, lets roll, over a dark organ bass. Young
has often used unsettlingly ripe material in his work. One may recall
that he chanted four dead in Ohio just weeks after the
Kent State massacre.
Since the slogan Lets Roll has served as a call
to arms appearing on posters and bumper stickers nationwide, we
wonder if Young has remained true to the disenfranchised and rebellious
iconic persona that he carved out for himself in the 60s and70s.
Lines like No one has the answer / but one thing is true /
you got to turn out evil when its comin for you
are unforgivable and even reprehensible.
The albums title track is its best song. The dirge-like Are
You Passionate? is led by a memorable melodic single note
guitar line that nostalgically harkens back to the 1950s oeuvre
of dreamy guitar ballads like Santo and Johnnys classic, Sleepwalk.
Although the tune isnt groundbreaking, Young artfully poses
a series of questions to a lover as well as to his listeners and
to himself.
Other songs that surface above the fine line of mediocrity include
the driving and semi-badass Goin Home that has
Youngs band doing their best impression of Neils regular
supporting cast, Crazy Horse. Other highlights are Two Old
Friends, which resurrects The Bands late lead vocalist
Richard Emanuel, and the sexy and loosely structured closing track,
Shes a Healer. But Are You Passionate? mostly
fails to leave much of an impression. It is interesting for a listen
but essential only for the most dedicated of fans.
Jason
Klauber
Guy
Mendilow
Soar Away Home
Before
Guy Mendilow graduated from Oberlin College in 1999 he was a constant
presence in Oberlins folk scene performing at the Cat
in the Cream, participating in the Cats Friday jam sessions,
and, as evidenced by the combination of folk idioms on his debut
album, Soar Away Home, honing his skills as a multi-instrumentalist,
composer and producer.
Released last year on Earthern Groove Records and recorded in Oberlins
Timara studios, Mendilows debut effort powerfully displays
the brand of folk music he calls Third Stream. Illustrating
Mendilows diverse experiences, including time spent in Mexico
and South Africa, and his mastery of several languages, Soar Away
Home features American blues, Appalachian folk, traditional African
rhythms, Israeli folk and even overtone singing (a vocal technique
allowing the singer to produce more then one tone at the same time).
This unique hodge-podge of sounds can be quite mesmerizing. The
various idioms get explored on a song by song basis without packing
the disparate styles into one song, and its a real thrill
to hear Mendilow open with a Ladysmith Black Mambazo song before
diving straight into his own folk-blues number, Soar Away
Home. Mendilow pulls this move throughout the record
moving between styles as divergent as classical Indian music and
fiddle-fueled Appalachian folk without a hitch.
Mendilow is a proficient songwriter in his own right as well. Though
his tunes that revel in the folk/blues styles reminiscent of Tom
Rush and early Paul Simon are competent additions to that genre,
Mendilow really shines when he lets himself explore the more disparate
elements of his musical repertoire. The wonderfully haunting Experiment
in tintal for overtone singing, cello & violin features
drone-like classical Indian melodies played under Mendilows
masterful overtone singing. And Porch Song is a beautifully
wistful instrumental featuring a jazzy piano solo by junior Brendan
Cooney.
But ambitious as all of this is, Mendilows debut suffers from
vocals that, despite the singers years with the American Boychoir,
remain quite ordinary and contain a pretentiousness that undercuts
much of the talent and versatility displayed on the record. On his
folksier tunes, Mendilows voice relies too much on his backup
singers, including alum Bridget Matros and sophomores Avery Book
and Erika Kulnys-Brain. His singing, except for his convincing turn
on the traditional blues number The Saint James Infirmary
Blues and the aformentioned overtone singing, doesnt
communicate the conviction of his material demands. This is all
the clearer when Mendilows lackluster baritone comes up against
the fuller tones of his backup signers. And such tracks as Cursed
Miracles: The Story of Ishmael and Isaac, in which Mendilow
recounts in spoken word the well-known Biblical story of the two
half-brothers as a commentary on the current crises in Israel, is
just too heavy-handed to take seriously. Though the intentions on
this track and others are admirable, one cant help feeling
that the record would do better if it took itself a little less
seriously.
Though there is certainly nothing wrong with displaying ones
affinity and talent for folk idioms from all over the globe, Mendilow
does so at the expense of the depth of his songs. Mendilow would
do better to focus his seemingly inexhaustible folk music repertory
to a couple of genres or a unique combination of the two.
Regardless, Soar Away Home is without a doubt an ambitious start
for the Oberlin alum and one hopes that the promise shown here can
blossom into something truly magical in the coming years.
Guy
Mendilow will be performing at the Cat in the Cream as part of his
solo U.S. CD release tour on April 22 at 9 p.m.
John
MacDonald
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