neil young

Neil Young’s second record of the year with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill, is an excellent piece of work. With some slightly more astute editing, this long-awaited album might well rank with the best Young’s ever done.   A collection of traditionals and covers, the previous 2012 release, Americana, is permeated with a ramshackle charm that’s in marked contrast to the studied approach of its successor. Still, this record of original material has, as its foundation, the natural chemistry between Young with his beloved backing band.

And for Americana, Young's 13th studio LP with Crazy Horse, the team rekindles the spirited looseness that embodies them at the peak of their powers as they crank the Fender stacks to the max and ravage through some of the most well-known folk standards we learned from elementary school music class, claiming them as their own. They transform such day camp singalong fare as "Oh Susannah", "Clementine" and "Jesus' Chariot" (perhaps better known as "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain") into full-throttle blasts of classic Crazy Horse, giving more gravity to the history behind the lyrics through their electrified execution.