1990 10 Neil Young "Ragged Glory" Review Vox

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE

Ragged Glory (Reprise)

LIKE BOB DYLAN (HIS CLOSEST CREATIVE COUNTERPART) Neil Young likes to keep his audience on its toes. For every critically acclaimed ‘classic’ that is punched out he will usually follow it up with a more relaxed offering, a set of rough sketches that sound equally ingenious as his more full-blown projects such as ‘This Note’s For You’ and last year’s stunning ‘Freedom’.

This LP is one of those... a rock ’n’ roll reunion with his old partners Crazy Horse, a band that he has worked with sporadically since the early days of his solo career. 1987’s ‘Life’ (the last record they worked on together) was, for many, a disappointment. It had its moments but somehow the natural flow of the players was bogged down with an ‘environmentally conscious’ concept that weighed heavily upon their collective shoulders. ‘Ragged Glory’ is thankfully free of all inhibitions with both Young and Crazy Horse enjoying each others’ company, content to simply horse around and play rough.

The ten songs here are standard rock ’n’ roll workouts, of the kind that rekindle the flames of such earlier infernos as ‘Everybody Knows This is Nowhere’ and ‘Tonight’s The Night’. Aficionados may be interested to know that ‘White Line’ (one of the songs that was scheduled to appear on the aborted ‘Homegrown’ project) finally makes an appearance here.

Presumably Young has been going through his archive of unreleased songs and decided to give this one an airing, a bone from the master’s table to keep the pack of Neil Young bloodhounds quiet awhile. Young sings about the ‘simple’ things of life ... About his place in the country on ‘Country Home’; nostalgia on the almost Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sounding ‘Mansion On The Hill’ and general untogetherness on the aptly titled ‘F***in’ Up’.

They also pay tribute to rock’s sleazy past by dredging up the classic ‘Farmer John’, a nugget from the garage which is delivered as close and basic to the acne-riddled original. The team really gets cooking however on both ‘Days That Used To Be' and, especially, ‘Love And Only Love’ where Young's guitar runs wild over Crazy Horse’s steady backing to let loose the kind of performance that once blistered on songs like ‘Cinnamon Girl’ and ‘Southern Man’.

Most, but not all, of the songs on ‘Ragged Glory* end with a trail of feedback, a signature that almost becomes an entire number at the end of ‘F***n’ Up’ and one that seems to imply that Neil Young and Crazy Horse are more than capable of beating bands like Sonic Youth at their own game... This note’s for you, Thurston Moore!

‘Ragged Glory’ may sound as though it was composed and recorded in an idle moment at the studio (another one of its charms in my opinion) but it’s the kind of record that, like the very best of Neil Young’s work, will survive the test of time to be cited as one of his finest. 

10

Edwin Pouncey