Skip to content
Elly Roberts reviews
Reprise
- Cat.no: 9362443352
- Released: May 2006
- Rating: 4/10
Following his recent masterpiece Prairie Wind,Shakey puts on his political conscience head and rush-releases 10 new songsto bash Bush and homeland issues.
Knocked together fairly quickly and backed by musicians, Chad Cromwell(drums) Rick Rosas (bass) Tommy Bray (trumpet) and a 100 strong choir,Neil Young goes all out to have a pop at the leader of his adoptedcountry: how his new countrymen will receive it is open to question, thoughBushs ratings have reached an all time low of 33% in some polls, so hemight just strike a chord with floating discontents.
Week commencing May 22nd, its reached 15 in the USA Billboard 200 chart and14 on the UK chart. His rough and ready musical approach, or a Youngdescribes it, “metal-folk”, is reminiscent of some Crazy Horseoutings, so it might be inappropriate to make pretty little songs aboutemotive issues, with the lyrical content being the principle attraction here.
As protest albums go hes having a right old rant, with tirades like –
Living With War, “The rockets red glare / Bombs bursting in air /Give proof through the night / That our flag is still there” (lets rememberhere Young is a Canadian, so the our is somewhat misplaced),
Shock And Awe ,“Thousands of children scarred for life / Millions of tears for a soldierswife / Both sides are losing now / Heaven takes them in / Thousands of childrenscarred for life”,
Families, “Im going back to the USA / I just got my ticket today /I cant wait to see you again in the USA”,
Lets Impeach The President, “What If Al-Qaeda blew up thelevees? Would New Orleans have been safer that way / Sheltered by ourgovernments protection / Or was someone not home that day?”,
Lookin For A Leader, “Yeah weve got our election / But corruptionhas a chance / We got to have a clean win / To regain confidence / America isbeautiful / But she has an ugly side.”
Real musical highlights are in short supply, though the thrustingShock And Awe complimented by military style trumpet and rousing choirtake the top prize. America The Beautiful is a stirring finale.
You could say hes angry, very angry.
Its not his best by any standard, but his message to Capitol Hill is loudand clear.
Weblink:Neil Young.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. After The Garden
2. Living With War
3. The Restless Consumer
4. Shock And Awe
5. Families
6. Flags Of Freedom
7. Lets Impeach The President
8. Lookin For A Leader
9. Roger And Out
10. America The Beautiful
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.