On Neil Young's New 'Colorado' Album, Amped Up Rage -- And Hope

New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Oct, 2019 ) :At 73 years old, Neil Young could be reminiscing about his legendary past, but the classic rocker instead has his sights set squarely on the planet's future with his latest album "Colorado." The album out Friday sees Young, a long-time crusader for the environment, reunite with the loud, raggedy band Crazy Horse, which has recorded and toured on and off with the superstar for half a century.

The prolific Canadian-born artist gathered the latest iteration of Crazy Horse high in the Colorado mountains, where they shredded in between hits of oxygen to avoid altitude sickness.

The album opens with Young's harmonica twang in "Think of Me," on which he croons: "I'm gonna live long and I'm happy to report it back to you," dispelling any notion that the septuagenarian with more than 40 studio albums to his name might slow down.

Young's signature voice rings out with a tender fragility on weighty themes like the climate.

"We heard the warning calls / Ignored them / We watched the weather change / We saw the fire and floods," he warbles in the environmental ballad, "Green Is Blue." "We saw the people rise / Divided / We fought each other while we lost our coveted prize," Young sings over a pounding piano riff.

It's on brand for the rocker, who has long bared his environmentalism musically, most notably with 2015's "The Monsanto Years" that saw him attack the agricultural corporate titan over its genetically modified seeds.

The following track, "Shut It Down," begins with chaotic guitar and a heart-pounding beat akin to battle march, as the chant "Gotta shut the whole system down," loops throughout.

Nils Lofgren -- a rock world mainstay and member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band -- recently returned to the Crazy Horse lineup, having teamed with Young and the band in the 1970s.

The Arizona-based guitarist, who earlier this year released a solo album including songs he co-wrote with the late rock visionary Lou Reed, said the rawness of "Colorado" speaks to "the horrible place we're in, not only as a country, but as a planet.""The idea of the wealthy becoming, you know, mentally ill with the disease of greed, money and power -- now it's at the expense of literally the planet itself, life itself," the 68-year-old said.