Man, the balls on this guy. For years he’s been following his muse by foisting every type of music onto his unsuspecting public with the expectation that his audience is going to eagerly lap it up. We’ve had the faux rockabilly of The Shocking Pinks, the somewhat Republican country of “Old Ways,” half-baked concepts like “Greendale,” the inspired electro-pop of “Trans,” the “Metal Machine Music of “Arc,” the ham-bone “T-Bone” of “Re-Ac-tor,” the smooth soul of “Are You Passionate?,” the juxtaposition of excruciating kiddie choruses with left wing political views on “Living With War,” not to mention his numerous films…some good and some really dreadful. Which brings us to “Americana” and it’s concept of taking old public domain folk and children’s songs and electrifying them. As an audience we’ve been with him for every turn…and the reason for this is that even when his concepts are really misguided, they are still worth a listen and more importantly, his records are always INTERESTING! “Americana” is no different…the concept sounds really awful on paper, and the initial spins bared mixed results. But with repeated listening, Neil’s latest is one of his better records…one I keep coming back to and probably will as time goes on.
