The recording of Molina, Talbot, Lofgren and Younger’s All Roads Lead House happened in a sometimes impressed and roundabout method for the longtime Crazy Horse bandmates. As pandemic lockdowns placed on maintain get-togethers for Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot and Nils Lofgren and their on-and-off collaborator/chief Neil Young, everybody stored making music. It is simply that they weren’t making it below their regular circumstances or with their regular collaborators.
As spirits and restrictions lifted, all of them surfaced with particular person new songs made in the course of the downtime and with exterior musicians. Drummer Molina has a trio of songs with numerous performers, bassist Talbot leads the Billy Talbot Band by three, Lofgren’s three entries are largely one-man-band choices and Younger contributes a reside solo model of his “Tune of the Seasons” from 2021’s co-credited Loopy Horse album Barn. The result’s a hodgepodge sampling of a Neil Younger and Loopy Horse album made by 4 guys at completely different locations and instances.
Since not one of the album’s 10 tracks embrace pairings of any two of the artists, All Roads Lead House basically performs like 4 solo data collected in a single residence. That makes for a scattered and sometimes unfocused hear, already a attribute of latest Younger and Loopy Horse albums. And with out chief Younger on the helm, the LP typically comes off like one thing thrown collectively by a neighborhood bar band of their spare time.
There may be some ragged enchantment to the setup: Guitars crackle and pop, and cut up duties imply everyone seems to be free to discover new musical avenues. Not that anybody right here strays too removed from their people, rock and nation consolation zones. That solo intimacy not often interprets to the one-take, mistakes-and-all spontaneity heard on latest Younger and Loopy Horse albums, nonetheless. So, All Roads Lead House is a cleaner, extra concise hear than 2019’s Colorado, Barn and 2022’s World Record.
Nonetheless, one of the best songs arrive as particular person moments (Talbot’s weather-beaten voice on “Rain,” the slide guitar aiding Lofgren all through “You Will By no means Know”), moderately than as a satisfying entire, although Molina’s “Look By means of the Eyes of Your Coronary heart” comes closest to traditional Loopy Horse, full with a savage guitar solo. It is sufficient to tide over followers till Younger’s subsequent album with the band – which, if latest historical past is a sign, shall be right here earlier than lengthy.
Neil Younger Albums Ranked
Neil Younger is one among rock’s most sensible, confounding, defiant and irritating artists.
