Neil Young’s controversial anti-war album is available on the web today. You can listen to the full album by CLICKING HERE.
This album has already stirred up lots of debate. Part of it is media hype, but part of it reflects its news value due to the fact that there’s a seemingly decline in what used to be called high-profile “protest music,” so this becomes a major musical/cultural/political event. Another part of the wide media exposure this album is getting reflects the political and social context — support for the war is decreasing. Yet another factor: the way it’s being presented. A press release explains:
On May 2nd, Neil Young will release “Living With War” — a 10-song collection that the artist describes as a “metal folk protest” — as a digital download album. The full release will be made available for streaming at Young’s website — www.neilyoung.com — on April 28th. In addition, the lyrics to a different song are being posted each day on the website through April 27th.
In an unprecedented release pattern, the compact disc will be sent to retail outlets as soon as copies can be manufactured in early May. Young feels the best way for this music to be understood is to be heard in its entirety.
“This album is about exchanging ideas,” Young told CNN in a live interview last week on the steps of Warner Bros./Reprise Records in Burbank. “It’s about getting a message out. It’s about empowering people by giving them a voice. I know not everyone believes what I say is what they think, but red and blue is not black and white. We’re all together. It’s a record about unification.”
“Living With War” has already set fans and the media abuzz over the Internet due to its reflections on the Iraqi war and the turmoil in this country. It was written and recorded in two weeks with Young on electric guitar, vocals and harmonica, Chad Cromwell on drums, Rick Rosas on bass, and Tommy Bray on trumpet, along with a 100-member choir. One choir member, speaking to a British newspaper, said the recording session was “like being at a 12-hour peace rally.”
It’s sure to be a topic of discussion on the Internet and talk shows (pro and con).
One still-to-be-determined question: in the end, what kind of critical reviews will it get for its artistry and musical content?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.