Neil Young Chrome Dreams II Review

http://gu.com/p/xjfje 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/oct/21/popandrock.shopping

You could never accuse Neil Young of being a cars'n'girls songwriter. But Chrome Dreams II, named after an old Young album, Chrome Dreams, which was abandoned on the cusp of release in 1977, is, at least in part, about cars and what they stand for. It has little in common with its namesake, although Young-spotters will be glad to hear that the man's loping pace and guitar squalls are undiminished.
The cover image features a stark car bonnet logo. The US car industry, meanwhile, features heavily on 'Ordinary People', an 18-minute epic that rolls on like an indestructible station wagon. As the 'ordinary people' of the song cope with crooks and dealers, car factories are closing. Chrysler boss Lee Iacocca (saved the company, laid off thousands) gets a name-check on this hitherto unreleased classic. It dates from 1988, but feels much older, not least for the quaint way that Young mythologises his 'patch-of-ground people'.
Young's rear-view mirror takes in much more: fans of his bootlegs might recognise 'Beautiful Bluebird' (as twee as it sounds) and 'Boxcar' (as cliched as it sounds) as new recordings of older songs. Young was meant to be releasing an archive set this year. Instead, he's chosen to reupholster unreleased tracks here, accompanied by newer material.
The choicest cut of the fresh meat is 'No Hidden Path'. It's a love song, of sorts, brimming with purpose, despite its length, the 'girl' counterpart to all the 'car' revving.
The easy-going waltz of 'Shining Light' and the soul-lite 'The Believer' are two more pleasant lurches backwards in sound - to the Fifties and Sixties; bright, dewy-eyed times. In the Fifties, chrome was everywhere; a symbol of North American aspiration and faith in the future. Now, we have wars for oil and environmental meltdown. Even Young, a notorious car-hog, has woken up to the shattering of the chrome dream. There are several songs about finding a way back on to the righteous path; one decent ('Spirit Road'), one terrible ('The Way'). But perhaps the most fun is the pitch-black, incorrigible 'Dirty Old Man'. A protean clatter, it raises two fingers at the rest of the album, then drives off a cliff.