Neil Young
Americana

'Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you' sang Neil Young in the early seventies.

That very sinister and mysterious boy, clad in a very loose checkered shirt under a nice brown jacket, with long black hair covering his sad face and a pale complexion. Yes, I'm talking about him. About that seemingly fragile boy but who, with a sweet voice, a series of simple acoustic chords, and a memorable harmonica, wrote important pages in the history of folk music and beyond. The distorted nervousness of "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere," the moving acoustics of "Harvest," the magnificence of "Zuma," the 'voice and piano' of "After the Gold Rush" and many more. Dear Neil has indeed achieved exceptional works. And thinking about it brings us much nostalgia.

When I found out, when we found out, that a new album of his was coming out, we were over the moon with joy. Probably also accompanied by a fear, a premonition, that the album might turn out to be almost a disappointment, as often happens today to the stars of the past. But ladies and gentlemen, a Neil Young album is a Neil Young album. Period, end of story. I honestly expected a great work done by a great artist, leaving aside people's prejudices, which are truly very debatable and annoying.

Let's get to the album. "Americana," produced by Reprise, consists of 11 tracks, played by Young in the company of his historic band, the Crazy Horse. The album is nothing but a reinterpretation of folk songs, American traditional songs, from which the album takes its name (a pretty mundane decision for someone like Young). The songwriter wants to teleport us back in time, to when the Native Americans fought for freedom against the white man, when there were those wonderful saloons where you could find yourself with a bullet in your head from one moment to the next, when you actually saw gun duels, not just in front of an empty box in Clint Eastwood movies. Young tries to do all this with a strong punk soul, turned up volume, as well as the distorter, and the dance begins. However, this idea of Young was already initiated in his famous golden years, even if not voluntarily. Let's be clear, okay 'Oh Susanna', 'Clementine' are great classics of American music, but are we sure Young's pieces aren't either? Personally, when I think of America, I don't think of 'Tom Dula', I think of the wonderful folk of Harvest. Honestly, with Americana, Neil didn't transport me anywhere, to be honest, it simply made me rise and say 'What a pity'. We would have preferred another acoustic album, if not similar to the previous ones, in their footsteps, and probably we would have spent a couple of days in America. The best track, in my opinion, is 'Wayfarin' Stranger', the only acoustic one.

I absolutely do not advise against "Americana"; those who like hard rock might find it very interesting, and above all, let's not forget that Neil has also done great things with electric guitar (see 'Cortez the Killer'). But to the fans of the old (and perhaps true) Young, the one with the acoustic guitar in hand and a voice that gives you the keys to heaven, I say not to delude themselves before listening. He has, however, two great merits: first, he has been composing music for 44 years, during which he has written fundamental pages; second, with music, he managed to overcome one of life's hardest obstacles, drugs, and one can only praise a person like that. I conclude by saying that yes, Neil Young has accustomed us to better albums than this, but it is fair to grant him residence in his dear wildly western world.