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Rating: Just listened to this album, knowing that not long before Neil Young had been struck by a cerebral aneurysm and had lost his father, I felt a great emotion.
The album, the best of the 2000s by Young, conveys an extraordinary sense of peace and relaxation. Right from the start, with the masterful acoustic ballad "The Painter" (dedicated to his daughter), you enter one of the most familiar worlds of the Canadian artist. The album's peak is then reached by "No Wonder" in a thrilling crescendo up to the memorable entrance of the violin and by track no. 5, "It's a Dream", a real dream (with those strings...) that you wish would never end.
Also remarkable is "He Was The King", obviously dedicated to Elvis, a song with rock tinges, yet still fitting into the country-rock that serves as the backdrop to the whole album. "Prairie Wind" is probably the least successful song, despite giving the entire album its title, which would have benefited from shorter duration, but the obsessive chorus repeated by the women eventually gets into your head and doesn't leave you. Just as this amazing album by a Neil Young returned to very high levels, doesn't leave you, once again after being marked by pain. Pain from which he evidently always draws inspiration for great works, just think of the epic "Tonight's The Night".
"Prairie Wind" is a warm, lulling record, to be listened to over and over. Alone or with company, it doesn't matter. The important thing is to let yourself be captured by this prairie wind.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Painter (04:36)
The painter stood before her work
She looked around everywhere
She saw the pictures and she painted them
She picked the colors from the air
Green to green, red to red
Yellow to yellow in the light
Black to black when the evening comes
Blue to blue in the night
It's a long road behind me
It's a long road ahead
If you follow every dream you might get lost
If you follow every dream you might get lost
She towed the line, she held her end up
She did the work of two men
But in the end
She fell down before she got up again
I keep my friends eternally
We leave our tracks in the sound
Some of them are with me now
Some of them can't be found
It's a long road behind me
And I miss you now
If you follow every dream you might get lost
If you follow every dream you might get lost
Green to green, red to red
Yellow to yellow in the light
Black to black when the evening comes
Blue to blue through the night
02 No Wonder (05:45)
See the bluebird fly easy as a dream
Dipping and bobbing in the sun
Could she be the one I saw so long ago
Could she be the one to take me home
This pasture is green
I'm walking in the sun
It's turning brown
I'm standing in the rain
My overcoat is worn
The pockets are all torn
I'm moving away from the pain
Tick-tock
The clock on the wall
No wonder we're losing time
Ring, ring
The old church bell
The bride and her love
Seeking guidance from above
Amber waves of grain bow in the prairie wind
I'm hearing Willie singing on the radio again
That song from 9/11 keeps ringing in my head
I'll always remember something Chris Rock said
Don't send no more candles
No matter what you do
Then Willie stopped singing
And the prairie wind blew
The green kept rolling on
For miles and miles
Fields of fuel rolling on for miles
Tick-tock
The clock on the wall
No wonder we're losing time
Toll, toll
The fallen soldier bell
The old church on the hill
Still standing when so many fell
Back when I was young, the birds blocked out the sun
Before the great migration south
We only shot a few
They last the winter through
Mother cooked them good and served them up
Somewhere a senator sits in a leather chair
Behind a big wooden desk
The caribou we killed mean nothing to him
He took his money just like all the rest
Tick-tock
The clock on the wall
No wonder we're losing time
Ring, ring
Ring the wedding bells
The bride takes the ring
And the happy people sing
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Other reviews
By AR (Anonima Recensori)
This album reminds me of Dylan’s "Nashville Skyline."
An honest and skillful album.
By alfo
Young belongs to that elite of authors who has the license for refined self-citation.
Prairie Wind is deeply linked to the concept of the transience of feelings and life’s things.
