Grade: 55/100
It’s been quite the wild ride for Canadian rocker Neil Young during his 45 year career. The former Crazy Horse collaborator has directed a number of films and advocated for multiple causes while contributing to 35 studio albums.
With that many musical efforts, it should be safe to call Young a veteran, but his newest solo effort “Storytone,” reflects the tone of an overly emotional teenager on the brink of tears during a tantrum.
Young is honest throughout “Storytone,” which is an admirable quality, but he loses listeners by having such a discourse between the lyrics and the instruments.
The saying “less is more” falls right in line with this album. On the deluxe edition of “Storytone,” Young includes solo versions of all 10 original songs on the album to give listeners the chance to hear how the tracks sound stripped-down. These solo adaptations should be what the actual album sounds like because they shine a light onto Young’s lyrics.
Event then, the lyrics are a bit over-personal. Young sings in protest against fossil fuels and fracking on “I Want to Drive My Car.” Its a nice economically charged record but there is little connection to an audience.
Many of the big band songs on the album practice the same tempos and instrumental arrangement making one track hard to distinguish from the other.
On the same album is “Who’s Gonna Stand Up,” a track focusing on more issues of drilling and protesting in favor of the environment. Unfortunately, the track’s message is muddled by the orchestral sound paired with it making the song feel like a Weird Al Yankovic parody.
There is no balance in “Storytone.” The album never finds its footing due to the constant shift between its big band and orchestral sounds. Too many elements that fail to bond together, ruin all chances this record has to be good.
Young released an album earlier this year that many critics called “one of the best albums of the first half of 2014.” To turn around and release such an muddled effort only months later leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Being a legend doesn’t make you blameless, even fans of Young will have a hard time getting through this one.