Review: Neil Young - 'Living With War'

I still get goose bumps when I listen to Stephen Stills' Find the Cost of Freedom and Neil Young's Ohio. Maybe it’s because at the time those songs came out, I was a part time college student who feared each day’s mail because I was certain it would contain the dreaded letter from the draft board that started with “Greetings” and ended with a trip to a jungle in southeast Asia.

Whatever the reason, the experience established Neil Young as the quintessential antiwar protest artist in my mind. Though there were many others of equal caliber, it was Young who resonated at a visceral level for many of us whose lives were affected, directly or indirectly, by the war in Viet Nam.

It is against this backdrop that I have been anxiously waiting for Young’s Living With War album, wondering how my 50-something perspective might alter how I would react, compared to my something-teen self.

Sure, I knew it would be different. For starters, there would be no Nash, no Stills, no Crosby to harmonize. There’s no draft to sweat now. Nobody I know is serving in Iraq. Still, my expectations were high, based on the huge impact the artist had on my still-developing psyche back in the day.

I wasn’t disappointed. Young hasn’t lost an ounce of his ability to nail a thought, a feeling, a mood, and vividly express it through lyric, melody, and voice.

Just as it was in the early ‘70s, Young can be brutal with his lyrics, as in “let’s impeach the President for lying” and “the shadow man running the government.” He can also be hopeful (“I raise my hand in peace, I take a holy vow never to kill again.”) He can express disappointment ("Have you seen the flags of freedom? What color are they now?") and optimism ("Someone walks among us, and I hope he hears the call. Maybe it's a woman, or a black man after all.")

Musically, Young does much with just his guitar, Chad Cromwell’s drums, Rick Rosas’ bass and, briefly but poignantly, Tommy Bray’s trumpet. Young's voice has matured as he has. Although last year's Prairie Wind was a personal, reflective album, the artist seems much more a material part of the songs on this album.

A 100-voice choir is used effectively, especially on the closing track, an a cappella arrangement of America the Beautiful that reminds us that the artist is more than just a strident complainer – that he is, above all, a patriot.

Will the same radio stations that blacklisted the Dixie Chicks because one of them criticized the President do the same to Neil Young? Probably not. Not only is the mood of the country different now, Young long ago earned his props as a spokesman for values he shares with what is fast becoming the majority of Americans.

Oh, and, in case you’re wondering, I never did get that letter from the draft board, and my number never came up in the draft lottery. A couple of my high school buddies went and came back in coffins. A college roommate went and came back with physical, mental and emotional scars that he still carries today. Neil Young speaks for them, too.

Album release: May 9, 2006 - Reprise Records