Yes, Neil Young is at it again. He’s one of those musicians who is always inspired and is always trudging forward with new ideas. He’s a complex individual who can create music such as heavy saturated distortion rock to the softest country ballad. This album decides to marry the two together in a way. He is completely alone on this disc. It’s just Neil and his guitar but the producer Daniel Lanois makes a soundscape that you would hear on say a U2 album, which he has produced before. No, it’s nothing like Joshua Tree, its Neil with a heavy chordal sound landscape. The album opens with a wickedly vile but pleasing distorted chord from his Deluxe. It’s heavier than most things Crazy Horse. At first you wonder how he’s going to carry you through an album such as this but you know it’ll be ok as you walk with Neil. Neil’s truthful vocals, lyrics, and guitar are accompanied by Lanois’s soundscape to help you walk down the path of Le Noise.
The next two tracks on the list, Sign of Love and Someone’s gonna rescue you are two decent songs but not nearly as memorable as Walk with me or the next track on the disc, Love and War. Love and War is a great ballad by Neil talking about two hot topics for Neil throughout this career. This song is mostly Neil and the acoustic even though there are some textures on the track it’s pretty raw and that’s what makes it special. It’s not overly complicated, it’s true and insightful. This is definitely one of the more memorable tracks on this 8 track disc. Where “Love and War” left off, Angry World picks up and adds some Neil Young raunch. This track, Love and War, and the next one, Hitchiker are probably the cream of the crop on Le Noise. Angry World has a great soundscape and a progression drenched in Fender Deluxe distortion. The lyrics are on spot with many perceptions of today’s world which will resonate with most listeners.
Now we stumble upon Hitchhiker which is somewhat of an autobiography. This is a surprising tune, not so much from a musical perspective as it’s got that beautiful angry distorted Deluxe tone but he is pretty open about things that have happened during his life journey. This is an area Neil usually does not give much insight into. It’s a great song with a nice chronological order of specific events in Neil’s life. Even though you just get a peak of what he has done and been through, you still get at least a glimpse of the legend’s life. We now segway in to another forgettable track called Peaceful Valley Boulevard. It’s not inherently bad but it’s just a little bit of a sleepy melody. There are some leftover thoughts from songs such as Love and War and Angry World but it kind of slips through your mind with the mellow tone of Neil’s voice.
Ahhh, anyways, now that I’m waking up a little bit we end with the track Rumblin. It’s a slow distorted but melodic track which is the shortest on the album and one that to me is Neil talking to himself. He’s talking to himself as maybe a kid would, or a lost parent. It’s one of the more introverted tracks on the album. The album itself is a new take on Neil’s writing and is also a somewhat innovative way to go about recording an electric album. The album can be slow at times but I don’t believe it’s because it’s missing the rest of a band. Sure drums, bass, and the gamut of instruments are nice but Neil makes it enjoyable without those things. He makes the album move with just a guitar and the help of a fine producer such as Daniel Lanois. It may not seem groundbreaking right now but I think an album such as this will spawn other singer songwriters to produce albums mainly with electric content by itself. Sure there may be some overdubbing to fill it out but in the end, it’ll be a man and guitar.
3/5 Stars for Le Noise
