Neil Young "Le Noise" (Reprise) Released September 28, 2010

Young recorded “Le Noise” at the production hands of producer/songwriter Daniel Lanois and in his studio home in Silver Lake, CA, outside of Los Angeles. Lanois’s direction for the album was to make it sound concert-live and to accomplish it he recorded Young in an uncut and live fashion. The entire recording was made without the use of many production staples. No multi-track recording techniques were used to perfect the sound of a song. Even under the circumstances, Lanois captures the sound vibrantly along with rawness and a unique aliveness.

Eight-songs long, “Le Noise” bombards you with the raw rock riffing as done by a master rock guitarist and the rich landscape of effects legendary rock producer Lanois, whose domain and range spans a handsome collection of well-regarded artists. (U2, Brian Eno, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson)

Hors d'oeuvres of refried grunge riffs send a special invitation from Neil to share the love on the track “Walk With Me” give you a taste of what is meant by a live-sounding album. Lanois’s work can be heard towards the end as the loopy delayed distortions ebb into crescendo during Young’s electric guitar blaring to join him on this path, which markedly hinges on the theme of love.

I feel your strength; I feel your faith in me. I’ll never let you down no matter what you do, If you just walk with me and let me walk with you. I’m on this journey; I don’t want to walk alone. Walk with me.

Throughout Young’s long career he’s always held majesty for the poetic theme of love, but it’s clear on this track from the lyrics this a love song that goes beyond the initial loving encounter that so many love songs are based on.

When we both have silver hair and a little less time, but there’re still are roses on the vine. When I’m looking at you for a long, long time. It’s a sign of love/It’s a sign of love.

These passages both echo Young’s enduring love for music, as well as, love in respect to time. Whichever the case you can only believe that he’s as steady living it as he has even been.

As has been the case before with Young, his songs tackle subjects rarely covered with such determination or conviction.

I sing for justice and I hit bad chord, but I still try to sing about love and war.

When I sing about love and war, I don't even know what I'm saying, I've been in love and I've seen a lot of war, I've seen a lot of people praying. They pray to Allah and they pray to the Lord, but mostly they pray about love and war.

So arresting are these lyrics to “Love and War” it only makes the following song “Angry World” a shoe-in follow-up with it’s message about the state of the world and it’s interconnectedness. Accompanied by Lanois’s decision to, throughout the track, thicken it with Young’s chorus, “…it’s an angry…” with digitally delayed loops delivering an almost-subconscious (yet relevant) background of distorted white noise.

In a fruitless search for another word to describe the sound “Le Noise” brings, sonic still seems the most suitable. Every song on “Le Noise” lives and breathes in a sonic sense, from the presence of the recording to the artful production-work of Lanois’ post-production effects, but the lyrics during the chorus of the final track on “Le Noise,” “Rumblin’,” speak to the heart of this album’s sonic quality.

I can feel the weather changin,’ I can see it all around, all around Can’t you feel the new wind blowin’? Don’t you recognize that sound?

I feel the rumblin’ in your ground. I feel the rumblin’.

You don’t have to wait for Neil Young’s solo album “Le Noise” as it was just released September 28 on vinyl, CD and iTunes and over the course of a following month as an app for the iPhone allowing users access to variant album art. Also, within the month a Blu-ray disc will be released about the making of “Le Noise.”

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