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For his first collaboration with Crazy Horse since Greendale (2003) Uncle Neil interprets a handful American "standards" (and a couple outliers). On opening track "Oh Susannah" Young covers Tim Rose's arrangement of "The Banjo Song", which is actually the origin of the goofy "I've come from Alabama with my B-A-N-J-O on my knee" chorus, as well as the melody of Shocking Blue's hit "Venus" (1969); it's an interesting music history lesson but I prefer both The Big 3's folk version (1963) that Wikipedia led me to and "Venus." Of the eleven tracks the impassioned version of "Clementine", "High Flyin' Bird" (a companion to Young's 1975 classic "Danger Bird"), and the thundering version of "Jesus' Chariot (She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain) mesh the best with the blunt force instrument that is backing band Crazy Horse. The best history lesson for me was his raucous interpretation of Odetta's version of "Gallows Pole"****, a tune I'm well familiar with as a Led Zeppelin fan but whose lyrics were substantially different.
While his stated intention of bringing the origins of songs in the cannon of American music back to the public consciousness is commendable, it's easy to see why the results were divisive for critics. "Tom Dula" is faithfully delivered but at over over 8-minutes with laughably bad Crazy Horse backing chants it drags. Meanwhile they add nothing to "Travel On" and Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," sounding clunky against the up-tempo cheerfulness and backing choir. Though their goofy delivery reveals the good time they had with The Silhouettes's "Get a Job," it also doesn't fit their style nearly as well as the drunken stomp of "Farmer John," which they covered on "Ragged Glory" (1990). And whatever the meaning behind covering "God Save the Queen," a song associated with Young's native Canada rather than his home of the last several decades, Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" it ain't. In general, between the backing choir, ragtag execution, and material which doesn't fit with the tools Young chose, a good part of the album is honestly annoying or at least lackluster.
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