Mirror Ball (1995) (Hdcd )

Using Pearl Jam in Crazy Horse's place, Neil Young makes one of his most refreshing and passionate records of his career. Song Reviews: Song X- A real hard rock sea shantie, "Song X" leads off the Mirror Ball album with a sense of strength and camaraderie. Lyrically, the themes of travel and spiritual journey imbibe this song. As far as the music goes, it's classic electric Neil Young folk-rock. It sounds as though Young possibly had Pearl Jam in mind as his backing band while he wrote the song, as it melds the best of Young's heavier style with Pearl Jam's loose sense of ensemble. Act of Love- A bruising hard rock song in the tradition of "Rockin' in the Free World", "Act of Love" was actually the song that was the inspiration for the Neil Young/Pearl Jam collaboration. Young wrote the song for a pro-choice benefit that both bands performed at, and this was one of the tunes that they jammed on. A heavy, bone-crunching song loaded with great imagery about a girl and her very real problems getting a legal abortion. Folk-rock for the late 20th century, that's for sure. I'm the Ocean- Very few songwriters are as good as composing an effective, moving, four-chord song as Neil Young. "I'm the Ocean" is a great example of that rare talent, and one of the highlights of the album. Lyrically, the song is a breezy, stream-of-consciousness meditation on reality and the subconscious. The song has a locomotive momentum, and the perfect tune for a good garage band that wants to play a great song. Big Green Country- One of the centerpieces of the album, "Big Green Country" embodies many of the lyrical themes of the album in one song. Travel (spiritual and physical), peace, and the planet -- along with Young's own self-exploration into his own consciousness are the subjects here, and Young captures all of this with a casual aplomb. According to Young, it was one of the fastest-wriiten songs on the album. Musically, it's classic, heavy metal Neil Young, underscored with a beautiful melody underneath all of that glorious noise. Truth Be Known- A heavy, downcast series of chords -- reminiscent of "Cortez the Killer", among others -- is the basis for "Truth Be Known". After the series of high-octane rockers that open the album, this song, actually a heavy metal ballad, comes as a nice left turn. Lyrically, it still keeps pace with the themes of spiritual travel that are all over the album. Young's exquisite but brief electric guitar solo that ends the song is one of the album's high points. Downtown- Propelled by a grungy, garage-band guitar riff, "Downtown" is one of the highlights of the album. The song celebrates rock and roll, pure and simple. The groove is positively infectious, and Young's lyrics and singing capture all of the joy of the genre. It's one of Young's most fun songs, and like a lot of songs on the album, wouldn't be out of place in the Crazy Horse repertoire. What Happened Yesterday- Sharing the same melody as "Big Green Country", "What Happened Yesterday" is -- at less than one minute -- one of the highlights of the album. Providing a self-explanatory link between "Downtown" and "Peace and Love", its sole instrumentation is a lovely pipe organ, which underlines the song's spiritual nature. Peace and Love- With Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam having a prominent singing part in the song, "Peace and Love" is one of the most moving and powerful songs on the album. The song has a grungy, Crazy Horse feel to it, and could have easily fit on any of their records with Young. On the surface, the song begins, like a lot of the rockers on the album, with a simple series of chords. However, it ends up being rather intricate, with a pair of sterling bridge movements that are great for folk music songwriting. The lyrical thrust of the song can be easily explained in the title. Throw Your Hatred Down- Like several songs on the album, "Throw Your Hatred Down" shares its melody with another song on the record, in this case "I'm the Ocean". Also, like that song, it has a stream-of-consciousness series of lyrics. In this song, Young is echoing the feelings of the previous song, "Peace and Love". Here, Young is both criticizing politicians and the war machinery, while telling them both to give up their negative pursuits. While utilizing similar melodic and lyrical ideas -- let alone on the same album -- may be seen by some as "self-parody" or lazy songwriting, this is far from the case with Young. He does this to help create a wholly creative album, and he always succeeds. Scenery- One of the heaviest and most powerful songs on the album, it (almost) ends the album with a grand, sweeping swipe at the hypocrisy of politics. Lyrically, it's a political song, to say the least. Musically, it's a very big song, easily on the level with such Young classics as "Like a Hurricane" and "Cortez the Killer". To that end, Young uses the fabulously simple (and beautiful) melody and chord progression to stretch out on some of his finest-ever guitar pyrotechnics. Fallen Angel- For the brief coda on the album, Neil Young uses the melody from "I'm the Ocean". In this case, though, he changes it from a bruising rocker to a folk-oriented requiem, boarding in gospel. The song is said to be about Kurt Cobain, and given the fact that Young had written about him extensively on his previous album (Sleeps With Angels), and that Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam (who were close friends of the lat musician) are prominent on the album, certainly lends credence to that theory. A gorgeous, melancholy close to a powerful album.
 
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