My kid says that for someone who doesn’t like to write album reviews, I’ve been doing quite a few lately. Well I just don’t know what’s gotten into me but there have been moments where I just felt the need to say a few words. And I promise that this will be the shortest blog I’ve ever posted.
Iconic stoner Neil Young’s latest album Americana, with that cheesy Cracker Barrel-ish title, is a beautiful tribute to the memory of Steve Jobs, Apple, iTunes and the death and decline of the record album. A concept album with classic folk songs from your childhood, along with some odds and ends that probably make better sense if you have a medical marijuana card, this is Neil at both his best and worse. The arrangements and deconstructions range from brilliant to horrific.
So why iTunes? Because instead of plunking down fifteen bucks for a hunk of disc or ten for the total album download, you can just go to the iTunes or Amazon digital stores and pick and choose what you think are the better songs of the collection for just ninety-nine cents a song. Which makes this album the perfect example of how the recession and technology have teamed up to save you money. Apply this concept to all your purchases, and you can save up enough money each year to buy one extra tank of gasoline for your Prius.
Here are some of the tunes on the album, done better than Neil and Crazy Horse:
