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After four decades in the recording industry, Neil Young basically has a license to do whatever he wants, whether that means penning a graphic novel, giving unsolicited advice to Detroit's Big Three, or even having a species of spider named after him. So if Neil Young wants to stream his new album online for free (a week before it hits the shelves), then, by God, that's what's happening.
Fork In The Road, Young's new concept album, debuted in its entirety at the stroke of midnight on MySpace. At the time of this writing, the new tracks have already garnered 5-6,000 plays a piece. Young also used MySpace to premiere the music video for "Cough Up The Bucks," a single from the album. "Johnny Magic," another Fork In The Road single, has not one, but two videos, which premiered in early March on Huffington Post and Yahoo! Music.
According to his blog, the videos are all created by Young himself. Not terribly surprising, considering Young's experimental foray into directing. "Neil has been quietly making these videos completely on his own, with nothing more than a simple camera and an idea," says Young's blog writer. "These revolutionary videos do more with a zero-dollar budget than a $300,000 budget could ever dream of--they're pure, renegade Neil Young at their best."
Renegade, indeed. Young has always been a vanguard in the recording industry, but he's also staked his vocal, Democratic claim in the political world. Just check out the Yahoo! version of the "Johnny Magic" video: It was recorded entirely in Young's converted hybrid 1959 Lincoln Continental. The "LincVolt" is his latest big project to "repower the American dream" by building a zero-emissions automobile. According to The Independent, Fork In The Road is based on Young's experiences with the LincVolt project over the past few years.
Young's is the latest in a series of MySpace album streams (including Lily Allen, U2, Chris Cornell, Oasis, and Peter Bjorn and John) as the site continues to develop as an iTunes competitor. But for fans who'd rather cradle the new album tenderly in their arms than simply listen to it on MySpace, Fork In The Road (Reprise) will be available in stores on April 7.
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You'd think in all that verbiage you could find room to address the actual music. No? Not surprising, it's not worth addressing. For the last few years, Neil's been all about the packaging, hyping the product. The product itself? Well you can't shellac a piece of you-know-what. He's laid another turd for all the obsessed to blather over. Yuck.
Kelly, you sound like you know as much about Neil Young's music as Glenn Beck knows about the constitution - not much. His shtick isn't making bubblegum pop for cultural airheads, it's making music that he wants to make, your opinion be damned. He's always done that, and that's what makes him awesome.