Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps (CD)

“As far as pure song-craft goes, it’s hard to beat this 1979 offering from Neil Young & Crazy Horse. By the end of the ’70s, Young, Talbot, Molina and Sampredo had refined their crushing sonic assault to the extent that they could bludgeon the listener with wagnerian riffs and rhythms (the entropy hymn “Hey Hey, My My”) or provide just enough grit to keep young’s far-out lyrics from ascending into the stratosphere (“Ride my Llama”).

Song-wise, ‘Rust’ is a schizophrenic album. Young moves from the brilliant surrealist imagery of “Pocahontas”, with it’s evocation of “Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me”, to the sharp narrative perspective of the equally transcendent “Powderfinger” and the good-humoured social commentary of “Welfare Mothers”.” – Rough Trade

“While most of the record stays within the confines of rock and roll, the first half is drenched in Americana, relying heavily on acoustic guitars and the occasional slide part to give it a slightly country feel… Then again, Young was never meant to play the old folkie for the rest of his days, and the album’s flip side shows the other side of that coin. Coming off of songs like ‘Sail Away’, ‘Powderfinger’ opens with blasts of distortion and some of the craziest guitar tones that have appeared on any Young record…

While most of ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ seemed like a mixed bag on paper, Neil Young straddles both sides of his sound effortlessly. Throughout the album, there are subtle whiffs of the songwriter who wrote scathing songs like ‘Alabama’ and ‘Ohio’, but there’s also the slight hint of compassion poking through the cracks. After rock and roll had gone through Flower Power in the late ‘60s, this album is the cold shot to let everyone know they needed to move past their psychedelic dreams.

‘Rust’ might have been one of Young’s many masterpieces, but knowing him, it wasn’t a lane he would stay in for very long. Young was always looking to twist his sound into different directions, and it was entirely in his character to make something this close to perfect and then never do it again.” – Far Out

Format :Compact Disc

1 CD