Tunes review: Neil Young – Le Noise

By Isabel Smith, Arts Contributor

Neil Young is known for his rocking takes on the ballad and thoughtful lyrics, his newest album however, does little to sooth the “angry world.”

The slightly cockeyed voice that made Young famous is unfortunately ageing just as painfully as his lyrics seem to be. The most popular song on the CD, “Love and War,” has an abstract rhyming pattern that is broken up with the words “love” and “war” repeated over and over with as much fervour as a monotone song could muster. In fact, after listening to one song from Le Noise, it is fair to say that you may as well have listened to them all.

This serves as an example of yet another medley of medium slow songs with a heavily distorted guitar and a musician who refuses to retire. In his prime, Neil Young was one of the biggest names in rock and roll and added substantially to how music is defined today, but it is an understatement in saying that these last few albums have been a disappointment.

When I hear a few lines of his lyrics from the song “Rumblin’,” which goes “when will I learn how to listen? When will I learn how to feel?” I think it’s more appropriate to ask Mr. Young when will he learn that it’s just not attractive to continue pushing and producing new music when his last hit was over a decade ago? Harsh but true.

Neil Young used to be a phenomenal writer and musician, but with this new flop of an album, I say perhaps it’s time to find a hobby. If you want to hear Neil Young, put down Le Noise and pick up one of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young’s classic albums.