Neil Young

Silver & Gold

My software's not compatible with you?

Review Score:

(2/10)
Yikes. The title of my review is a lyric from one of the songs on Silver and Gold.

Could he be any hokier? Neil is doing himself and the result sounds tired and lifeless. The album is bogged down by repetition; nearly every song mentions love in some fashion. "Love's the answer, and love's the question," he sings in "Horseshoe Man." In "Distant Camera," Neil looks back at life and pulls out the tired image of old photographs as he sings, "If life is a photograph fading in the mirror, all I want is a song of love to sing for you." Lyrics this trite shouldn't be allowed to be released. I'm happy that Neil is satisfied and content, but it doesn't make for captivating music.

Neil has been comparing this album to After the Goldrush, and I've never heard anything so insulting. This album doesn't compare to that magical album in any way. Silver and Gold is mirrored by Comes a Time, an acoustic album from 1978 that completely fails to challenge.

There are a few songs that do compare favorably with his past work. The title track, a song that's been around since 1982 and which has been recorded 11 times, is a meditation on love that actually works. With a beautiful melody, he proclaims that "our kind of love never seems to get old, it's better than silver and gold." "Without Rings", the song that contains the hideous "software" lyric mentioned earlier, actually contains a sweet melody that Neil sings in a voice much lower than his regular singing voice. It's a variation that this album could use more often.

As a longtime fan, I hate to say it, but Silver and Gold is one of Neil Young's worst albums.

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