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 | When Neil Young seems about to zig, he zags. Two years after 1990's loud Ragged Glory , he retreats to an old world of steel guitars, gentle folk melodies, and pristine country choruses. (That's Linda Ronstadt, who helped make 1972's Harvest a hit album, singing backup on the follow-up.) Young name-drops Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, and his old dog, King, in rich reminiscences about the musical ride he and his fans have shared since the late '60s. The album, as Young sings in "One of These Days," is "a long letter to all the good friends I've known." --Steve Knopper (less)Artist: Neil Young | $7 - $15  10 Merchants |
|  | What we have here is easily Mr. Young's finest work in years, one that erases the memory of his well-intentioned but anemic 2006 protest album, Living with War . Recorded using analog gear, with Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina, pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, and Rick Rosas on bass, CD2 manages to sound both home-grown and experimental. It's the work of an artist still not afraid to take chances, who also knows what his strengths are and doesn't stray too far from them. Trainspotters will note that three of the ten songs were written but never released before, while we all might puzzle over the title. Chrome Dreams is the name of an unreleased album from 1977. So, why is this Chrome Dreams II ? Is it a similar case to 1992's Harvest Moon , when Young went back to the virtual land of his 1972 hit Harvest to write more material in that vein? As the original was reportedly lost in a fire, we may never know. Chrome Dreams II offers up gorgeous, plaintive laments and country-tinged num... (less)Artist: Neil Young | $1 - $24  12 Merchants |
|  | In the third decade of his career, already long famous, George Jones followed his new lover Tammy Wynette to Epic, where he offered his incomparable voice to her producer, Billy Sherrill. The singles Jones released with Sherrill--"The Grand Tour," "The Door," "He Stopped Loving Her Today," to name just three--elevated Jones from great country singer to living legend. This 16-track set skips far too many Jones-Sherrill highlights (and it oddly includes "Radio Lover," one "biggest hit" that was never a hit at all), but it's the only one-disc set to provide an overview of the team's entire 17-year partnership. From 1972's poignantly countrypolitan "A Picture of Me" to the grim humor of 1989's "The King Is Gone," no country music is as painfully beautiful as this. --David Cantwell (less)Artist: George Jones | $8 - $19  7 Merchants |
|  | Neil Young's most dependable route has always been to head for the back roads. Country-flavored releases Harvest (1972), Comes a Time ('78), Harvest Moon ('92), and Silver & Gold ('00) are among the most commercially popular titles in a fitful career, which makes Old Ways something of a anomaly. Released in 1985 as the mid-title in a misbegotten five-LP stint with Geffen, it failed to exhibit the kind of roughhewn muscle of its more robust country cousins. With Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson making vocal contributions and a mix of longtime Young sidemen and Nashville cats laying down a bed of fiddles, steel guitar, and banjo, it would seem to be cruising right up Music City's main drag of the mid-'80s. But Young being Young, he goes around the bend with "Misfits," which summons an indelible image of space-station astronauts watching reruns of Muhammad Ali fights. It happens to be the most memorable number on Old Ways , which perhaps explains why those new fans never showed up and... (less)Artist: Neil Young | $5 - $17  12 Merchants |
|  | What we have here is easily Mr. Young's finest work in years, one that erases the memory of his well-intentioned but anemic 2006 protest album, Living with War . Recorded using analog gear, with Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina, pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, and Rick Rosas on bass, CD2 manages to sound both home-grown and experimental. It's the work of an artist still not afraid to take chances, who also knows what his strengths are and doesn't stray too far from them. Trainspotters will note that three of the ten songs were written but never released before, while we all might puzzle over the title. Chrome Dreams is the name of an unreleased album from 1977. So, why is this Chrome Dreams II ? Is it a similar case to 1992's Harvest Moon , when Young went back to the virtual land of his 1972 hit Harvest to write more material in that vein? As the original was reportedly lost in a fire, we may never know. Chrome Dreams II offers up gorgeous, plaintive laments and country-tinged num... (less)Artist: Neil Young | $11 - $29  11 Merchants |
|  | "I just want to play well, share the stage with my friends, give the best I can," says Neil Young before the concert that is the centerpiece of Heart of Gold . No problem, dude. Working with filmmaker Jonathan Demme, Young has come up with a gem--not all flash and bling-bling, but as understated as a single pearl, musically restrained yet emotionally open. Of course, neither Demme (an Oscar winner for The Silence of the Lambs ; he also helmed Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense ) nor Young would call it "a concert film"; the director describes it as "a dream concert, something that's literally being dreamt by Neil," while the singer-songwriter himself calls it "a multi-level story." Whatever, the project came together in 2005, as Young was finishing his Prairie Wind album (the latest in a string of lovely, country-flavored acoustic recordings dating back to 1972's Harvest ) and preparing to debut the music at Nashville's fabled Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry. The fact tha... (less) Director: Jonathan Demme ♦ Actors: Rick Rosas, Pegi Young, Gary W. Pigg, Clinton Gregory, Emmylou Harris | $8 - $20  13 Merchants |
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