Unlike most 60s rockers, Neil Young has not been content to rest on his laurels in his latter years. Since 2002’s “Are You Passionate?”, Young has mostly channeled his creative energies into addressing the insanity he sees in the world. As commendable as some of these efforts were, they were mostly sub-par and forgettable affairs. “Are You Passionate?” was strange and, in hindsight, a bit reactionary. “Greendale” was an interesting, if boring and overblown effort. “Living With War” was tossed off in a few days, and while I kind of appreciated the righteous anger and catharsis the album offered, it was clear there was little thought or craft given to the songs. It was a poor album, and dated the day it was released. 

By contrast, 2006’s gentle “Prairie Wind” was a nice back porch meditation, and the brilliant dusted off and reworked material on 2007's “Chrome Dreams II” was passionate, melodic, and completely bad-ass Neil Young. It was the Neil Young album I’d been waiting for since “Ragged Glory” (or at least “Mirror Ball”, anyway).

 I’ve always loved the fire/ice dichotomy about Young; his ability to move effortlessly between thoughtful county-folk albums like “Harvest” or “Comes A Time,” and the snarling, bloody, destructo-grunge rock of albums like “Live Rust” or  criminally underrated “Ragged Glory” has gained him a large devoted fan base that spans generations. I can’t think of any other flower-power hippie hero who also became a slacker grunge Gen-X hero (for obvious reasons the MC5s and the Velvet Underground don’t count—I will accept Roky Erikson as another example, but that’s about it). 

After the relative disappointments of “Greendale” and “Living With War” and the promise of “Chrome Dreams II,” I was primed for a kick-ass take no prisoners Crazy Horse album. While Young’s latest album “Fork in the Road” isn’t quite the fuzzed-out, blissed out jam fest that I’ve been aching for, it does find our intrepid hero rocking hard with a glint in his eye we haven’t seen for years.

“Fork In The Road” is (yet another) concept album about living greener, although unlike the unwieldy and pretentious “Greendale”,  the focus is narrowed down to Young’s 1959 Lincoln Continental (the “Lincvolt”) which has been overhauled into a clean, green, mean machine, running entirely on alternative energy. There’s a fun, rollicking, and insouciant spirit at work on this album in spite of the serious stuff Young is addressing. Fun and playfulness, along with coherent melodies, were what Young has been missing on his last few rock albums, and it’s good to hear Young enjoying himself here.

There are a few clunkers on the album (the corny “Get Behind the Wheel” and the maudlin “Off the Road”), but most of the songs are righteously rocking. Mid tempo rockers like “When Worlds Collide” and “Just Singing a Song” sputter and backfire a bit before fully engaging and kicking off down the highway.

On the other hand, songs like “Fuel Line” and “Cough Up the Bucks”  catch fire out of the gate. They are catchy and modern (as only Young can be modern), while still making me think that the riffs and melodies could have been leftovers from “On the Beach.”  The countryish line “where did all the money go” in “Cough Up the Bucks” sounds bittersweet and wistful. Now contrast this with the faux hip-hop chorus “cough up the bucks, cough up the bucks…” and, man, you’ve got one hell of an interesting song.

“Johnny Magic” pays tribute to John Goodwin, the mechanic that retooled Young’s Lincoln as a green machine. It’s a fitting raver, suitable for blasting in the car as you cruise down the road.

“Light a Candle” is a lovely and thoughtful country-folk meditation that asks us to “light a candle in the darkness, instead of cursing the darkness.” Frankly that’s damn good advice.   

The title song, “Fork in the Road”, which rounds out the album, is Neil Young in a snarky, winking, and goofy mood—sticking his tongue out at everyone in the world. It’s a rocking, jammy, woolly tune where a comfortably and contentedly old Young raps about his “pot belly,” the “fuckin’ war,” the fact that “you can’t eat hope”, and the fact that “there’s a bailout comin’, but it’s not for you”.  Along the way his TV gets repossessed, he frigging missed the Raiders game, though he does urge us to “keep on bloggin’ til the power goes out.” “Fork in the Road” is a hoot, and everyone should see him rock out and air guitar to this song with his ear-buds plugged into an apple while his TV gets repoed.

While far from a classic Neil Young album “Fork in the Road” is a fun and worthwhile ride.  It’s a serviceable and competent Neil Young album that has something to say, and says it well. It has a winking and grinning spirit of fun that has been missing from Young for some time—this moves the album to another level as the fun is infectious.

Personally I can’t wait to see the documentary (in the works) which takes Young from California to D.C. in his “Lincvolt”. Now that’s a road trip I’d love to hitch a ride on.

---MJwycha