Review Summary: Praire Wind is a beautiful relaxing album that was greatly influenced by many incidents in Neil's life. The wonderful acuostic melodies and soothing slide guitar continue to show how talented in songwriting Neil is. It has some memorable tracks but this a
Neil Young is one cool dude. In his 40 year career hes recorded maybe 30 albums with various bands and musicians such as Crazy Horse, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and Pearl Jam to name a few. Hes gone through Genres such as folk, rock, and early grunge. Hes a praised songwriter and lyricist of Rock and Roll. And of coarse, hes Canadian. Prairie Wind is a good, relaxing Neil Young album and primarily acoustic. It has all of Neils excellent songwriting ability that you would expect from any of his other albums, packed into a relaxed, folk like CD with a short 10 songs, but still clocking at an average album time.
Honestly, Im not a huge Neil Young fan, and this was my first Neil Young album that I bought. When I first heard this album, it was at the perfect time and place. When I first heard Prairie Wind, I was driving through Illinois, which happens to be known as The Prairie State. The relaxed mood of the album fit perfectly with my surroundings, which is why this album is so special to me. But enough of my ramblings, now for the review.
Prairie Wind starts off with The Painter a slow, beautiful song with a nice slide guitar that fits well with the wonderful acoustic strumming and picking. The song is relaxed and sets the mood for the rest of the album. It has a great chorus with background vocalists singing If you follow every dream over Neil Youngs unique vocals. A great song and probably my favorite off the album. The next song No Wonder soon starts up. It is passionate and partly political. Its another great song and seems a bit more serious than The Painter. This is when the lyrical themes or concept starts. Neil Young sings of prairie wind and about other songs inspired by 911. Throughout the rest of the album, Neil brings up prairie wind, along with other words about growing up in Canada and his fathers recent death. Overall, another great song, but gets a little repetitive and long clocking at almost 6 minuets.
As No Wonder" fades out, the next song, Falling off the Face of the Earth, starts. This song is a simple, slow, and quieter song. Its okay, but really its nothing special and not very unique. Now Far From Home begins. Its the first of two upbeat songs on the album and begins at full blast with horns, piano, harmonica, guitar and all. It reminds me a little of a Van Morrison song, but with Neils voice instead. The song talks about his home and childhood. It has a nice chorus in which Neil sings Bury me out on the prairie, where the buffalo used to roam. Its great, simple, and another one of my favorites.
Next Its a Dream begins with a soft piano followed by Neil Youngs voice. Its a Dream is a slow, relaxing song. It is nice and beautiful and accompanied by what may be a full orchestra that fits nicely with the piano and vocals. Although the song is good, it seems to drag on and get repetitive. Also, it is very long and sometimes boring which may be assumed because of the fact that its over 6 minuets long. Although it is long, Its a Dream is still a beautiful song that shows Neils great lyrical ability. Prairie Wind starts with a very different attitude then the previous song. It begins with an almost bluesy or funky acoustic riff followed by horns and harmonica. Neil Young come in with a passionate voice singing Trying to remember what my daddy said, before too much time took away his head. And some more lyrics. Then female background singers sing Prairie wind going through my head The song continues on with the same riff, horns, and harmonicas with Neils driving voice and background singers for a long, almost 8 minuets. Though it is long and repetitive, this song is very good and entertaining despite its length.
After Prairie Wind ends Here for You starts up. Its an average song and nothing special. It starts with a relaxing harmonica and guitar. This song is fine, but pretty plain and simple. Good, but diffidently not a highlight. Next comes Old Guitar which is quite literally about his old guitar. The lyrics are very specific and unmetaphoric. Old Guitar is a soft song and is primarily just Neil Young playing his guitar with very little of any other instruments. Overall, its not a very good song especially because it is also long and repetitive.
After that snooze, He was the King begins. He was the King is the second upbeat song and has a little bit of a country feel to it. The song is about no other than the Rock and Roll king himself, Elvis Presley. It has some nice horn and harmonica playing that seems to pop in and out repetitively throughout it. Its a fun song and pretty good. Its long, but one of the better songs on the album. After He was the King, When God Made Me begins with a soft piano playing simple chords. Neil Youngs soft voice sings about god and what he might have been thing thinking when he created humans. Soon a choir that sounds like its from a church sings the chorus with Neil. This song is beautiful but a little boring.
So there you have it. Neil Youngs Prairie Wind. Its a good, relaxing album, but not anything too out of the ordinary or unique. Also, the songs can be long or boring. I would recommend this album to any big Neil Young fan or someone who likes any of Neil Youngs previous works such as Harvest or Harvest Moon. But for the average music lover, you should probably go with another Neil Young album before this one, unless, of course, youre driving through the Prairie State itself.
3/5 Good
Recommended Tracks:
The Painter
No Wonder
Far From Home
Prairie Wind
Please Comment and enjoy
Flea is Godly
