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For those of us old enough to have come on board with Neil Young back in the days of Buffalo Springfield, it has been a long and circuitous journey. There have been brilliant albums like Everybody Knows This is Nowhere,After the Gold Rush, Tonight's the Night and Rust Never Sleeps. There have been returns to form like Freedom and Ragged Glory. There have been weird sidesteps like Trans and Life and, frankly, most of his work in the 80s. But the genius that was apparent all the way back to songs like "Broken Arrow" and "Expecting to Fly" never vanished. The man has had more comebacks than anyone in popular music. Now in his 70s, in "The Visitor" he has produced one of his very best albums--maybe the best since Sleeps with Angels or even Freedom or even the so-called ditch records.
Yes. The Visitor is weird. And some of it is political in a didactic and direct manner that will alienate some his listeners. And in other places it is full of a kind of anachronistic yet ultimately charming and sincere hippie idealism that only Neil Young could begin to pull off .Some of the songs are indeed "filler" but in the best way, as arrows pointing to the bigger deeper songs that they sit next to. But the writing throughout is superb. The brilliantly simple riffs of the opener "Already Great" merge effortlessly into the gorgeous chords and harmonies of the chorus to great effect. "Carnival" is a magnificent dreamscape of existence as a carnival midway, full of surrealist imagery and intricate rhymes that hearkens back to his best work in Buffalo Springfield. The ten-minute long acoustic epic "Forever" is lyrically and melodically among the best songs he has ever written and shows the tremendous interplay with Promise of the Real as a band, especially in terms of the background vocal harmonies which are exquisite. In fact, all of the quieter numbers on this cd are both wonderfully written and produced in ways that continue to reveal acoustic surprises that are frankly, delightful. The vocal harmonies throughout this record are never less than remarkable and one of the real pleasures of The Visitor.
Even the orchestrated anthem "Children of Destiny" works, despite its almost polemical direct call to action lyrics, because of the sincerity of the performance, which perfectly sets up the more meditative and obscure "Forever."
One wonders whether or not Neil Young is somehow mystically plugged into the zeitgeist, in that he released this record that has a song with the lyrics "Lock-em up" on the day Mike Flynn was finally indicted. But then again this is an album about one's magical loving connection to both the Earth and humanity, a hymn to Gaia that is never pretentious and always sincere. Like Bowie's Blackstar, it is an album that both ties together and illuminates the work of an artist with a powerful back catalog, while simultaneously breaking new ground with younger musicians.
This is not just another Neil Young "comeback." Neither is it a minor idiosyncratic sidestep. This is a major work. If you are a fan of Neil Young give it a listen and time to grow on you. You will not be disappointed.
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