Neil Young

Le Noise

(Reprise)

Record Review by Kevan Peterson

Neil Young returns with his solo album, Le Noise, produced by Daniel Lanois, whose sonic touch is prevalent on the album.  Young embraces the slightly ambient bent at times, while still managing to thrash away on the guitar for a good chunk of the album.  Clocking in about a track short of forty minutes, he keeps it brief and breezy. 

First singles from the album, “Angry World” and “Hitchhiker,” both share a starkness and loneliness that Neil Young has perfected over the years.  Opener “Walk With Me” sets a contrary mood, almost uplifting, as the listener is invited, quite literally, to walk with Young on his musical odyssey.  The album is a bit more than one man and his guitar, as Lanois tweaks, twists and manipulates heavily, creating a sonic landscape that only wanes at times.  Most notably, Lanois steps aside on “Love and War” and “Peaceful Valley,” which play as more traditional Young tunes. 

Le Noise is a much more palatable experiment in Neil Young’s lexicon than albums such as Trans, from Young’s somewhat dry spell in the eighties, and Are You Passionate?  But, as a living legend, Young has recovered from any previous missteps to deliver one of his better albums, and that’s saying something for a guy who has a decades-old back catalog to draw on.