In 2004 Rustie, Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova posted a series of articles on his experience listening to all of Neil Young's albums in chronological order. Here is one in the series. For a complete listing, see Albums in Order reviews.
Date: Thu, September 29, 2005 5:58 pm -0800 (PST) The year 2005 through the end of September has been a
tumultuous one for North Americans, for fans of Neil
Young, for Neil Young himself.
The late summer was punctuated with some of the greatest
natural disasters in North American history the the double
punches of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Before that, Neil
Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm which,
thankfully for him and his family and fans, was
successfully treated. His father Scott Young passed away
as well as some of his music compatriots, very notably
Rufus Thibideaux from the International Harvesters.
Somewhere there before his diagnoses and the devastation
caused by the storms, Neil's muse gave him a visit and he
wrote some songs touching themes of aging, loss of friends
and family and reflective memories of his Canadian Prairie
roots.
I had the most supreme privilege of being present at the
live debut of the songs from Prairie Wind at the Jonathan
Demme-filmed concerts at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on
18-19 August 2005. I was very moved by the songs at those
shows and I did not hear most of these tunes again until
after the album was released on 27 September 2005. The
exceptions to this were the songs Neil played at various
benefits for Hurricane Katrina and Farm Aid '05.
Press-release feed for this album paints it as a successor
or even the third part of a trilogy that includes Harvest
and Harvest Moon. I just don't hear or feel that. The
strings, the horns, the Fisk University Jubilee Singers
and Neil's vocals give it an altogether different feel for
me. I'll just call this one Prairie Wind I (one.)
I know when I hear this album in the future it will bring
to mind some things that have been and are going on in my
life around this time: my very fortunate attendance at the
Ryman Auditorium shows, Neil's moving performance at Farm
Aid '05, a very special lady I met at the Austin City
Limits Festival that on a very personal level has my heart
fluttering...
Anyhow, Prairie Wind is instantly recognizable as a Neil
Young album but it has many unique qualities. I'm so glad
that this far down the road, he is making albums that
expand the horizons of his most distinguished catalog.
I very much enjoyed listening to Prairie Wind today.
Mike - Expecting To Fly
From: Mike Cordova
To: rust@rustlist.org
Subject: Albums in order: Prairie Wind
Also see A "Prairie Wind" Roundup
More reviews and links on Neil Young's "Prairie Wind": A Gentle Breeze Deceptively Lulls The Howls Of Loss.
For more of Expecting To Fly's reviews, see the Albums in Order series.
Neil Young - Thrasher's Wheat Archives: A Fan's Un Official Pages
Neil Young Reviews of Albums