Neil Young returns with ambitious, orchestral album

For the better part of the last century, Neil Young has maintained one of the most reliably diverse outputs in popular music. With varying degrees of success, he’s tried his hand at folk, blues, rockabilly, grunge and country. He even had a brief — and most would say ill-advised — foray into the realm of electronic music.  This knack for experimentation, which once led his own record company to sue him for making music “unrepresentative of Neil Young,” also makes it nearly impossible for him to do anything that will surprise his audience anymore. With his new two-disc LP Storytone, it seems that he hasn’t stopped trying.

Young, who is creeping up on 70, is busier than ever. This fall alone, he released a new car-themed memoir titled Special Deluxe, re-released a new cut of his 1982 post-apocalyptic comedy Human Highway, premiered his new digital music service Pono and has now released Storytone. On top of all of these projects, he also recently divorced his wife and musical collaborator, Pegi, after 36 years of marriage. Though he addresses the split for the first time on the album, the references are brief and indirect. The record seems to be a reflection of his current state of mind- — the hyperactive structure of the album sees Young going from an environmentally conscious maestro to a jive-talking jazzman, occasionally dropping some of his classic lyrical turns of phrase in through its transition.

Storytone consists of two discs — one that features Young singing over a 92-piece orchestra and one with the same tracks stripped down and played solo acoustically. Though the latter format obviously comes more naturally, Young is no stranger to writing for an orchestra, either. He was dabbling in orchestral composition as far back as tracks like “A Man Needs A Maid” and “There’s a World” from his seminal 1972 album Harvest. With help from arrangers and conductors Chris Walden and Michael Bearden, Young’s newest album returns to these grand ambitions.

Ever since his return to prominence in the ’90s with his Pearl Jam collaborations, Young has all but abandoned any early thematic ambiguity present in his lyrics. During what can only be considered the twilight of his career, he prefers to cut directly to the chase. On his 2006 release Living With War, he blatantly criticized the Bush administration, even going so far as to call for the president’s impeachment. Three years later, he released Fork In The Road, which was less of a concept album and more like 38 minutes of him singing about how much he loves cars. So, it’s no surprise that the lead single “Who’s Gonna Stand Up? (and Save the Earth)” is full of heavy-handed warnings about the dangers of fracking and the greed of mankind. Though it’s by no means a new sentiment for the Canadian singer, hearing Young’s signature shaky tone over swells of strings and winds lends it a new quality.

Even newer and stranger is “Say Hello To Chicago,” which features Young reminiscing about the eponymous city backed up by a swinging big band playing syncopated runs in the style of Buddy Rich and Benny Goodman. Though he toyed with jazzy chords and solos in his lo-fi masterpiece Tonight’s The Night, he has never gone this far into the jazz lexicon. The result is perplexing; his understated, spoken-word style of delivery juxtaposes with the raucous background and makes for an uncomfortable listen.

These days, it seems like the eco-friendly rocker can’t put out anything without mentioning cars. Storytone is no exception — “I Want to Drive My Car” fills the quota of automobile-related material. Though it’s far from groundbreaking, the simple blues number is catchy and much easier to appreciate than some of his other recent material on the subject.

A good portion of the record is made up of this sort of bluesy shuffle. “Like You Used To Do” sounds like a more polished On The Beach-era Neil Young blues with the addition of large horn sections. The lyrics seem to be directed at his ex-wife Pegi; the chorus repeats “Couldn’t satisfy you, couldn’t show you my love. / But I kept on trying” before cynically stating, “I’ve got my problems, but they mostly show up with you.” Both Neil and Pegi have kept quiet about the terms of the break-up, but if this track is any indication, there may have been some bad blood.

That being said, Storytone has its tender moments, particularly on the solo versions of each track. “When I Watch You Sleeping” and “Tumbleweed” both celebrate their simplicity of a blossoming love with lyrics like “I’m baring my soul to you” in “Tumbleweed” and “There’s a sweetness from inside / when I feel you stirring” in “When I Watch You Sleeping.” Many have been quick to point out that these may be references to actress Daryl Hannah, with whom Young has been seen at a number of recent events. Regardless of their real-life inspiration, these simple numbers are a return to classic Neil form, complete with tremolo harmonica breaks reminiscent of standards like “I Am A Child” and “Long May You Run.”

At this point in his career, Neil Young’s status as a legendary performer and songwriter has been solidified for years. There is virtually nothing he could do musically to lose this status, which gives him the freedom to make something like Storytone. This freedom comes with the territory of being a rock god. One need look no further than Bob Dylan’s Christmas In The Heart or Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music for evidence of other aging (or deceased) icons’ questionable 21st-century experiments. Storytone has a few laughable clunkers of this caliber, but is overall a satisfying journey to take. When it is all said and done, Young’s 35th studio album will probably not be remembered among his better efforts. Despite this, for those diehards who have patiently tolerated his less-than-spectacular recent efforts like Le Noise and A Letter Home, Storytone will be a pleasant surprise.