Neil Young - Psychedelic Pill (USA 2012)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review.

Neil has been a busy boy this year with this being his second release with Crazy Horse, after the earlier "Americana " set. This double CD set I picked up on my recent expedition to Auckland, seeing as it was only 20 bucks for a double set and it was high on my purchase list .

This set sounds like classic young and Crazyhorse, all the usual ingredients are present and any one familiar with Neil's previous work with the horse will feel right at home. The set opens with the mammoth 27 minute "Driftin' Back", one of three extended jams, and jams they are. At that length, it is difficult to maintain interest through out and the middle section of the song kinda stalls and sounds a bit insipid, before some classic Young/Horse guitar noodlings improves things somewhat.  "Ramada Inn" is the second of the extended tracks but far shorter at a more modest 17 minutes and is a better song than the opener. The final extended track is the superior "Walk Like a Giant" and is on par with Young's last great marathon track " Ordinary People" from the Chrome Dreams II album. The rest of the album is chock full of classic Crazyhorse and although none of it has really grabbed hold of me yet, I get a strong feeling that most of this album will grow in stature as familiarity takes hold. Rating 4/5.