Albums by this artist

Live At Massey Hall (Recommended) (2007)

Zuma (Recommended) (1975)

On The Beach (Recommended) (1974)

Harvest Moon (2000)

Neil Young And Crazy Horse

Sleeps With Angels

» BEN FRENCH | CO-DIRECTOR

Neil Young

Sleeps With Angels

Reprise, 1994

RiYL: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth

The title song on Neil Young's Sleeps With Angels was supposedly written as an answer to Kurt Cobain's suicide note, which quotes a line from Rust Never Sleeps. Though the track doesn't quite capture the sadness surrounding the singer's sudden death, the jerky tribute does confront the suicide's resulting anger and confusion with all the distorted ferocity we've come to expect from Neil Young.

Taken as a whole, the album takes the tremendous meaning of Cobain's death and explores the range of subsequent reactions (loss, anger and regret, to name a few) in beautiful fashion. While its clearly not nearly as gratifying as the grunge godfather's early masterpieces, the album is still strong enough to solidify Neil Young's place in the pantheon of the decade's most rewarding artists.

On its musical surface, the album is an obvious departure from 1992's Harvest Moon and 1993's Unplugged, which brought the songwriter some handsome exposure. Instead of taking over the VH1 market, he chooses to release this fucked-up follow-up to prove, once again, he really prefers not to be in the middle of the road.

The album mixes softer ballads ("Train Of Love") with fuzz rockers ("Change Your Mind"). It opens and closes with soft piano odes ("My Heart" and "A Dream Can Last") and fills the space between with at least one shameless attempt at punk ("Piece of Crap"). It nearly swallows the listener with its bizarre, dark images and plodding chord progressions. And it leaves you absolutely languid after a complete listening.

Sleeps With Angels does tend to bore at times, the 15-minute "Change Your Mind" is just uncalled for after the performer's long-winded 1991 live album Weld. But Sleeps With Angels owns a dark mood, and its dark interior is fantastically impenetrable. Invariably cool songs like "Safeway Cart" and "Trans Am" are among the songwriter's most enjoyable recent efforts.

Furthermore, this is Neil Young's most timely contribution to the '90s musical landscape -- an amazing feat for such an old timer -- and a deeply personal work, to boot.

A murky reflection of the time, Sleeps With Angels is a meaningful listen indeed.

BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working for Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Billboard. Ben's favorite acts include Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.