Old Guys Make Good Music Too

So much of the blogging community is devoted to the pursuit that next big thing, I thought it might be nice to take a moment to recognize the elder statesmen of music who keep chugging along, putting out great music.

First of all, there’s Neil Young. A month or so ago, Neil announced out of nowhere that he had recorded an album about the war in Iraq, and it’d be out in a week or so. It raised a lot of buzz in the news for its controversial subject matter, including a song titled “Let’s Impeach the President.” Personally, I was fearing the Fahrenheit 9/11 of albums—a lot of angry political posturing without much of an artful touch (to be fair, I really enjoy the Michael Moore canon, but I think he was at his best writing brilliant satire like “Canadian Bacon” and sticking up for his hometown in "Roger and Me"). However, after listening to Living With War streaming online, I was pleasantly surprised. Performing with a killer horn section and choir, the album sounds urgent and raw, with Young genuinely frustrated with what he sees around him and acknowledging in the title track that he too is living with war in his heart.

Neil Young— Living With War


Also a pleasant surprise was the new effort from Paul Simon, appropriately titled Surprise. Now here’s a guy with mileage, going from one of the most successful duos of all time to an equally successful solo career. Bringing in legendary producer Brian Eno, his sound on this latest effort sounds really smooth, and Simon can still write solid lyrics to back it up. Is it cutting edge hip? Probably not. Still, it makes you think about whom among the indie rock hip elite days will still be going 30-40 years down the line.

Paul Simon- How Can You Live in the Northeast?