Neil Young's Prairie Wind A Return to his Light, Country-Tinged Sound

Neil Young's career has spanned many decades and a seemingly endless amount of great songs, but it hasn't exactly been consistent. In fact, the storied rocker has gone through some steady peaks and valleys. After producing classic album after classic album in the 70s, Young found himself in a creative rut for the 80s.

Just as everyone was about to permanently write him off, however, he returned to peak form for a string of albums starting with 1989's Freedom that found him back in peak form. This renaissance produced a lot of great stuff but began to fade again around the time of 1996's Broken Arrow Recently he released 2003's Greendale, perhaps the most ambitious album of his career, which thrust him back into the public eye. So fans have had their eye on the new Prairie Wind, anticipating that Young has again entered a new prolific creative period in his career.

But does the album deliver on this promise? Well, unfortunately the answer to that is no. Prairie Wind is certainly Young's best release in nearly a decade, but anyone expecting anything as good as Ragged Glory or Harvest Moon is going to be disappointed. The album delivers a set of ten solidly engaging songs, but none of them are going to be placed on a Young mix tape that you make for your next vacation.

The fact that Young is even releasing an album at all right now is quite remarkable. In early April 2005 he suffered a dangerous brain aneurysm, forcing him to be hospitalized and ordered by doctors to take it easy. This close call clearly permeates through the material found on Prairie Wind.

It is a stripped down, personal album (no Crazy Horse guitars this time) that is very reflective in nature. "It's such a precious thing/that time we shared together/I must apologize/for the troubled times," Young sings in "Falling off the Face of the Earth," a moody ballad that sums up the main theme behind the album.

While there are no rockers here, the disc is a bit more varied stylistically than one might expect. The songs "Far From Home" and "Prairie Wind" employ a horn section while "He Was the King" is an upbeat number that will get your feet tapping in no time. For the most par, however, the focus is on Neil and his guitar with a relatively spare background of acoustic guitar, strings, and piano. It can almost be said to complete a trilogy of light, country-tinged rock that began with Harvest and Harvest Moon.

Highlights include the lush opening track "The Painter," the gorgeous melody "Falling off the Face of the Earth," and the fun "He Was the King." Every time the album seems to build some real momentum, however, there is something waiting to derail it. "No Wonder" simply doesn't fit in with the rest of the album, especially with lyrics invoking 9/11 and Chris Rock. "It's a Dream" and "When God Made Me" are delivered without much passion and consequently become tireless dirges that seem to stretch on and on.

While your attention will be held throughout the majority of the album, the music never quite rises above pleasant to become memorable. After a handful of listens it does little to entice you back for more; if anything it will provide you with an urge to throw in a classic Young album instead. That's not to say it shouldn't be added to your collection, it's a decent album and let's be real here if you're one of those people that already have thirty Young albums you're not going to pass this one up anyway, just don't expect it to still be in your player a month from now.

Perhaps the most troubling thing about this album is that Neil is fully playing to his strengths, and while it is clear he still has enough in him to produce a good album, one wonders if he will ever be capable of making a truly great one again. At the age of 59, he certainly isn't getting any younger and the evidence suggests that when an artist finds himself in a rut at this age they won't find their way out. There are certainly some fans who will take Prairie Wind with Greendale and proclaim that Young truly is back simply because they are steps in the right direction, but it is premature to declare this the third classic period of a legendary career.