3 keepers
keeper avg .333
Uncle Neil continued his streak of topical concept albums with The Monsanto Years, the first with the Willie Nelson scion-fronted backing band Promise of the Real. They start with the deliberately heavy "A New Day for Love," a speak-sing call to arms reminiscent of Greendale. It's bafflingly followed by the album's only acoustic song, the quietly contemplative "Wolf Moon" (which might have been more effective as a palate-cleanser near the end of the album). The album's central subject is right in the title and Young lets them have it on most of the tracks, narrowing his focus on the agribusiness giant as the album progresses. Young always did favor immediacy over polish and substance over style, which can manifest in some jarringly weird-sounding lines:
"They cast their votes and no one gets excited, Because they are Citizens United" in "Big Box."
The chorus "Mon-san-to, Let our farmers grow what they want to grow" and multiple tongue-twisters in "A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop."
"Every year he buys the patented seeds, Poison-ready they're what the corporation needs, Monsanto" in the title song.
This isn't some new development as decades-old songs such as "Welfare Mothers" (1979) and "This Note's For You" (1988) weren't the most poetic but he seems to let them fly with increasing frequency lately.
It's important that someone of Young's stature is there to say the things that he does, but he's at his best when his approach is slightly more universal. He skewers general indifference or hostility to progressive issues (maybe among his own fan base) in the Crazy Horse-style "People Want to Hear About Love"****; a rousing chorus makes up for the song's admittedly generous share of quirky lyrics. The equally catchy "Workin' Man"**** is blazing country barn-burner in the style of "Time Fades Away" (or a whole show on the 1984-1985 International Harvesters tour). Though it's pretty straightforward for the most part, the album has some surprising moments, including the summer-of-love introduction to "A New Day for Love," the playfully whistled melodies in "A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop", the dreamy Pet Sounds segments in "Rules of Change" (that Young can't quite pull off), and the fiery guitar solo leading out the stately "If I Don't Know"**** (presumably by Lukas Nelson as it sounds nothing like the hundreds of Young's I've heard). These touches and a handful of focused rockers make up for the more drawn-out, mid-tempo "Big Box" and "Monsanto Years" and make it my personal favorite Neil Young album since Living With War back in 2006.
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