Old Ways

by

Neil Young

Edit

A straight ahead country album from Neil Young featuring Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings - "OLD WAYS", originally released in 1985- is traveling down the road again with a country band International Harvesters.

Guest appearances by some notables as - Bela Fleck on banjo, Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano, Rufus Thibodeaux on fiddle, Ralph Mooney on steel guitar, Marty Stuart on mandolin and Terry McMillan on harmonica, plus his usual sidemen Ben Keith, Spooner Oldham, Tim Drummond and Karl Himmel.

This re-mastered album is pure fun, sounds better than ever. Give a listen and see if you don't agree - "OLD WAYS" is a real down-home barn-raisin' time!

Total Time: 36:45 on 10 Tracks/ Universal-Geffen - 069 490 705 2 (2000)

One of Neil Young's strong suits (among many) is that he is unpredictable. At no time was this more apparent than during that phase in the mid-80s when he went from techno to rockabilly to country to blues-- a period in his career that I call "genre hell." Eventually, Neil pretty much went back to being Neil, and all was well again.

Unsurprisingly, Neil's music during this time was wildly uneven. Case in point: his "country" album, Old Ways. Some cuts are essential: "My Boy" and "Bound For Glory" channel the genre in a way that doesn't submerge Neil's genius for melody and heartfelt lyrics. Other tracks, however, seem (in the words of another reviewer) like a country-music "caricature." For example, the Jew's harp solos in "Get Back To The Country" are flat-out silly. A couple of tracks, in fact are downright unlistenable ("The Wayward Wind," "Misfits")-- quite a statement from a hardcore Neil-ist such as myself.

Also of interest are the appearances by a variety of country/bluegrass luminaries, such as Willie Nelson, Bela Fleck and the late, great Waylon Jennings.

While this album is still a worthwhile chapter (and, a mercifully brief one) in the Neil Young lexicon, don't expect something as stellar as "Harvest," "Comes A Time" or "Harvest Moon."