For some people Bob Dylan remains the "be all and end all" of songwriters. He is something of rock and roll's poet laureate; a living example of the power of words set to music. For others, he's inscrutable and insufferable (from a listening standpoint), though that can be viewed as a benefit on a certain level. [My bias is pretty simple: people who don't like Bob Dylan's songs are people I don't particularly care to know anyway.]
The same goes for Neil Young in my book. Though he may lack Dylan's wordplay and lyrical weight, Neil Young can, at times, be more than equal to rock and roll's reigning Bard. In some respects, I find Young's lyrics to be transcendental expressions of the human heart and by that I mean "rising above common thought and ideas; exalted, mystical."*
In compiling songs for his cover album The Loner: Nils Sings Neil [2008, Vision Music], Nils Lofgren focused on the songs he found most inspirational and intimate. He recorded them at home using the Martin D-18 guitar that Young gave to him after the sessions for 1970's After the Gold Rush. He did the piano songs on a restored 5 ft. Hardman Baby Grand piano that is from his wife's family; an heirloom piece to match the guitar. Everything was recorded in his living room rather simply using stereo microphones. He was mindful of what David Briggs (1944-1995), Young's longtime producer and a mentor of Lofgren's, would think of his approach.
The result is an intimate warm recording to match Young's words of longing, hope, purpose, dissolution, regret, love, and other sentiments and expressions of the heart, both the melancholic and the relatively joyful. And, with Neil Young, most everything is relative. The thing I've always found most significant and striking in his songs is his ability to walk that line between sentiment and suspicion, between the greeting card mash note and the truly poetic. He's never been one to self-censor, and his songwriting can be uncommonly moving because of that ability to be realistic, universal, and sentimental within the same verse and chorus.
In his best songs (and best love songs in particular), Young makes allusions, voices impressions, uses metaphors, and leaves the listener grasping at emotional straws, pondering their navel with a vengeance worth the 3 a.m. phone call to an ex-lover or confidant.
Of course, Neil Young's guitar has always been a second voice (as has Lofgren's to be clear), the Greek chorus to match the lyrical insight, and a well placed guitar line goes a long way to making these songs hit the mark between forgettable and memorable.
Lofgren makes the songs his own by allowing them to be what they are. He can't be Neil Young so he doesn't attempt them as carbon copies of Young's more well known versions. Nor, does he shake them up in ways that defeat his purpose (the search for clarity within the songs). Though his approach is similar, Lofgren changes little things within the songs (no long guitar solos) and tweaks the arrangements (everything is done as a solo guitar or piano only piece) to bring the songs back to their beginnings: a collection of words and sentiments matched to simple musical accompaniment, unhurried, and with a emotional pulse.
The starkness of the presentation aids in the songs pull on the listener. Lofgren's arrangements keep the songs breathable and his musicianship and performance keeps them believeable. Where Neil Young is gifted with a cracked emotional rasp of a voice, Lofgren is the better singer and that also takes the songs in a different direction.
The few missteps here are Don't Be Denied and Mr. Soul, simply because they are most suited or attached to Young's personality and position. Not that Lofgren's performance is off, just that the songs are Young's through and through.
Where Lofgren succeeds tremendously is his treatment of some of Young's most impressionistic and classic songs of heartache and the mysteries of love's longing, among them the following:
When you see me
Fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go
It's over, it's over.
From Birds
Is my world not falling down
I'm in pieces on the ground
And my eyes aren't open
And I'm standing on my knees
But if crying and holding on
And flying on the ground is wrong
Then I'm sorry to let you down,
But you're from my side of town
And I miss you.
From Flying on the Ground
I waited for you, Winterlong
You seem to be where I belong.
It's all illusion anyway.
From Winterlong
Lofgren is a fine singer-songwriter in his own right and his guitarwork is always pretty stellar. His piano style is complementary to the words; very light touch and impressionistic. He's more than a match for these songs and the result is album that demands one hit play and sit in silence. Just listen. This is a fine headphone album and an equally well thought companion for an hour or two spent in the car going somewhere or nowhere at all.
I highly recommend it for Neil Young or Nils Lofgren fans and for fans of acoustic music in general. (four stars)
Tracks
Birds
Long May You Run
Flying on the Ground
I am a Child
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Harvest Moon
Like a Hurricane
The Loner
Don't be Denied
World on a String
Mr. Soul
Winterlong
On the Way Home
Wonderin'
Don't Cry No Tears
Total Time: 57:17
Produced by Nils Lofgren with inspiration from David Briggs.
* See The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1970, pg. 1362.
Sources
www.nilslofgren.com, www.cdbaby.com,
See also www.goldminemag.com/article/Nils_Lofgren_pays_tribute_to_Neil_Young/ and
www.classicrockrevisited.com/Interviews/08/nilslofgren08.htm for more information on the album and Lofgren's thoughts on Neil Young and other topics.
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