I'm not a Neil Young fan.There. I said it. It's tantamount to heresy in the circles in which I run. I mean, I appreciate that he's a musical genius and all, but I've just never found his music to be, um, listenable.
So, when all the hype about his new album started, I kindof ignored it. At least until I heard that you could listen to it for free streaming at neilyoung.com. But you can only listen to it all the way through. Then it became a matter of logistics. See, here in the eastern DR Congo, we don't have the "always-on" broadband access you kids back home enjoy. The internet connection goes out, the electricity goes out, and you have to start over from wherever you were.
You can't do this with Living With War. Result? I have listened to the first track a bunch, and have made it as far as the 7th.
Then I found out that you can listen to it in sections on myspace, but for the life of me I cannot get a connection.
Here's the problem: I really like the album. A lot. And not just because of lyrics like, "Flip/flop" superimposed over presidential quotes or, "Let's impeach the president /for hijacking our religion /and using it to get elected/dividing our country into colors." It's fun to listen to, and the message is clear, which is more than you can say for the Democrats. Who cares if it's a little late? Who cares if Young is technically Canadian? This is good music. And I hope the rest of the album is as good as what I've heard so far.