PUSHED IT OVER THE END?

I was interested to read the letter from Andy Riggs in the October issue of Uncut, and his very honest appraisal of Neil Young’s current work. Neil is now clearly on the downward slope as regards his musical output, but in fairness it’s been a long time coming. I gave up on Dylan several albums ago (Together Through Life was the last for me), but I’ve been holding out with Neil. I loved Psychedelic Pill and the accompanying tour with the Horse lifted those songs somewhere else.

Since then, though, it’s been a list of diminishing returns. But when we look back and see so many of our heroes taken from us so young, is it not comforting that Neil is out there making new music at the age of 71? Is he going to make the next Rust Never Sleeps? Probably not. Is he going to nail one or two new songs that sit on those iPod playlists for a while? Quite possibly. Having seen him live at the O2 last year with Promise Of The Real, I can also personally attest to the fact that he’s lost nothing of his onstage fury and dynamism. There is still no-one I would like to watch live more than Neil Young and any of his chosen cohorts, especially when fully plugged in and unleashed at full volume.

I agree with Andy Riggs, though, that we’ve heard the unreleased albums stories so many times before. With the time he wasted on the Pono project we could have had Archives 2 released by now, with the third volume also well on its way to fruition. Nevertheless, I have never quite seen the allure that so many Neil fans hold for these shelved albums. Most of the material was subsequently released on other albums and, with the release of songs like “Ordinary People” on Chrome Dreams II and “Pushed it Over the End” on CSNY 1974, it isn’t like there’s many classics left lurking in the vaults (or not that I know of, anyway).

Let’s just be thankful that in 2017 Neil Young is still active musically, and is as contrary and bloody-minded as ever. They don’t make rock stars like Neil any more, and we should cherish this, as well as all of the other great new music out there, which Uncut champions on a regular basis. Matt Tokley, Braintree, Essex