Interesting that you should bring this up as I recently got the last 5 or so Neil Young albums.
I was really on a tear for a while up until Psychedelic Pill and then I took a breather. And then while I was taking a breath, he released 5 new albums.
Personally, I think the last really great Neil Young album was Prairie Wind and everything since that has ranged from very good (Psychedelic Pill) to forgettable (Fork in the Road). I haven't listened to the new albums enough yet to give a full critique. As you suggest though, I think there are some great songs on all the albums, and some not so great ones too. On Storytone, for example, I really like "Who's Gonna Stand Up" and "Tumbleweed." On Monsanto, I really enjoy the first two tracks, especially "Wolf Moon." Peace Trail I have barely listened to yet in any careful way. But I love "Carnival" off of The Visitor. I feel like it's the best Neil Young song since "Born in Ontario."
Great comments.
Prairie Wind was done just before Neil had surgery for a brain aneurism. By all accounts a complete recovery. But if you take that point in time, and move forward, I sometimes wonder if that event changed him. I know he is very aware that he's getting up there, and he wants to do as much as possible as he can in the time he has. And he has always followed the muse...however it might be interesting to see what would happen if he took a couple of years to write and record something. I say that, and yet as mentioned I think Peace Trail has classic, classic stuff on it. And it was done in about a week.
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