I know what you’re thinking: Another new Neil Young album? What about Archives? And before you go off thinking Young just threw this new album together on a whim of a weird idea (which he sort of did), be sure to let this one soak in a bit. Like so many of Young’s records, Fork In The Road needs to be absorbed after a few spins. You can’t judge it at face value. Young likes to work the low-budget, thrown-together-at-the-last-minute homemade angle, but even at this stage of the game, the man and his songwriting are still top shelf.
Fork In The Road is based entirely on Young’s car, a unique piece of machinery known as a Lincvolt, a 1959 Lincoln Continental the musician had a hand in transforming into a model of efficiency, a green machine that emits zero emissions into the air and gets a 100 MPG. Whenever Young gets a mad notion in his head, which is often, he adds a bit of music to the fire and somehow the message gets out. Greendale derided the media, Living With War took pot shots at former President George W. Bush, and now Fork In The Road is all about going green. Too bad he’s Canadian because Capitol Hill could sure use someone like Neil Young to shake things up.
It’d be easy to say this batch of tunes, whipped up in a frenzy of creative bull-whipping are throw-aways, but once they set anchor, they’re hard to resist. In fact, there’s a couple destined to become classics if Young and his band continue to break them out live. If so, people could be singing the “Magic Johnny” or “Singing A Song” (although it “won’t change the world”) alongside “Southern Man” and “Rockin’ In The Free World.” And then when Young gets really raunchy, “Cough Up The Bucks” could line up with “Fuckin’ Up” and “Motorcycle Mama.”
For pure Neil Young magic, “Light A Candle” and the title track also fill the bill. Do they stand up to the rich, diverse Neil Young songbook? As the years pass by, Neil Young scholars will undoubtedly recognize the singer’s gift for turning a melody remained relatively undiminished during this period. The songs on Fork In The Road retain that sturdy, timeless quality that some of Young’s forgettable entrées, especially from
the 80s, will never have.
For this outing, Young has again sidelined Crazy Horse, choosing the more restrained services of drummer Chad Cromwell, bassist Rick Rosas and steel guitarist Ben Keith, all of whom Young road-tested many of these songs during their 2008 trek around the States. Obviously, what ever is working at the time is what works for Neil Young. Whether that fork in the road leads to an all-acoustic, all-solo collection; a balls-to-the-wall kick-in-the-bucket with Crazy Horse; or a mixture of all of the above with a few curve balls, played with a steady, close-to-home group of musicians — well, at least it’s still going somewhere with Neil Young at the wheel.
~ Shawn Perry
