NEIL YOUNG: The Monsanto Years (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

At almost 70 years old, Neil Young still shows incredible vitality, making studio albums, concerts, community galas and teeming with ideas, from hybrid cars to digital players and download platforms for the most recent ones. "The Monsanto Years", the Canadian singer's 36th studio album, takes the form already used by Neil Young of a concept album, or more precisely a protest songs album.

Because Neil Young has not lost any of his enthusiasm for defending the causes that are close to his heart. Among these, the defence of the environment plays a major role and the singer has decided to go to war against the industrialist Monsanto, an agrochemical company accused of polluting the planet and promoting the cultivation of GMOs.

Let's face it, the theme chosen is not very glamorous and even non-English speakers will notice the "Monsanto" sung in all the tones that appear on many titles. Musically speaking, "The Monsanto Years" clearly falls into the big rock category, with a profusion of electric guitars, Neil Young having abandoned his old Crazy Horse companions to surround himself with a new band, Promise of the Real, whose leader, Lukas Nelson, is the son of country rock musician Willie Nelson, a long-time friend and sharing the same convictions as him.

The regulars of the singer's most rock albums, those where he is usually accompanied by the Crazy Horse (the band, not the dancers), will easily find their marks. Neil Young still sings as high as ever, with that floating voice that makes the accuracy always at the limit but also gives him such an endearing fragility. The multiple guitars sometimes go into duels that look a lot like a jam ('Big Box' has a false look of'Like An Hurricane') and stuff most of the tracks with sharp riffs, rocks mid-tempo intertwining the sounds of several guitars until creating a sound wall against a heavy rhythmic background. Only 'Wolf Man', very country with its harmonica, and 'If I Don't Know' which ends the album with a touch of melancholy are more delicate.

A fan of authenticity, it is certain that Neil Young did not spend much time reworking the recordings, the sound being raw and a little dirty, like a garage rock. Depending on your taste, you will find a surplus of humanity or a lack of finish.

In the end, the album is pleasant to listen to, even if it has to be said that the inspiration behind the composition of these tracks is not exceptional. You can't help but find all these tracks very familiar, and this from the first listening, without feeling any shivering or excitement. "The Monsanto Years" is an album that is in the average of the artist's discography, neither bad nor indispensable.
- Official website

NEIL YOUNG

THE MONSANTO YEARS

REPRISE

ROCK