With his fist in the air and his heart on fire, Neil Young is back and in full protest mode with his 36th studio release, The Monsanto Years. Since the days of Farm Aid, Young has unswervingly supported and stood up for agriculture and the American farmer. During the 2014 Farm Aid festival, he befriended Lukas and Micah Nelson, sons of country legend Willie Nelson and decided to have their band, Promise of the Real serve as the backing band on his new album.
Lukas Nelson Comes Full Circle On New ‘Monsanto Years’ Album With Neil Young
The Monsanto Years is a protest album, plain and simple. The album artwork portrays Neil in front of a farmhouse, pitchfork in hand, standing beside his companion, actor/activist Daryl Hannah, while in the green fields behind them are men wearing masks and hazmat suits; a satirical spoof of the famous American Gothic painting by Grant Wood. Fully equipped with Young’s standard in-your-face attitude and that old familiar crunchy guitar flare, this newest release is as punk as folk can get.
The album begins with the bold, straight-forward rocker, “A New Day For Love”. Beginning with the impassioned chorus, “It’s a new day for the planet, it’s a new day for the sun, to shine down on what we’re doing, it’s a new day for love,” right off the bat, the revolutionary flame is ignited and the band is firing on all cylinders. The first single, “Big Box,” whilst a bit long-winded, is a fiercely-written grungy rock explosion that tackles corporate corruption and sheds a bright light on what has happened as a result of unfettered capitalism in America.
One of the catchiest songs on the record is the humorously titled, “A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop,” an amusing play on words stirred up from when Neil urged a boycott of the famous coffee chain in late 2014, over the GMO controversy. “Workin’ Man,” “Rules of Change” and the finale “If I Don’t Know”, while also polarizing and politically charged, are among the more approachable tunes from The Monsanto Years.
Ignorance is bliss on the sarcastically splenetic, “People Want To Hear About Love.” With it’s biting social and political commentary, and that loud, abrasive, blemishes-and-all guitar sound we love him for, Neil makes it unmistakably clear that now is not the time for apathy. One last highlight to mention is the album’s second track, “Wolf Moon,“ which comes across as more of a natural love song, sitting amongst the dark political backdrop like a shiny diamond in the rough. “Wolf moon, thank you for rising. Big sky, I’m grateful for your parting clouds,“ Neil sweetly and softly croons on this lazy and romantic tune. Understandably, Young marvels in deep appreciation of nature’s resilience and unstoppable beauty, and pens this sentiment gorgeously.
All in all, The Monsanto Years is a powerful political statement with a strong and unflinching message from a protest-song heavyweight and living legend of Rock n’ Roll. Never one to shy away from controversy, Young is louder than ever and his voice never goes unheard. In a recent quarrel with laughable Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Neil blasted Trump over the use of his song, “Rockin’ In The Free World” to promote his presidential campaign. In retaliation, Young revoked the song from Trump and donated the working-class anthem to Democratic candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders.
Meanwhile, with all this going on, The Monsanto Years is set to hit shelves on Tuesday, June 30th and it is incredibly inspiring to see Neil still having that political fire in his belly. There is great comfort in knowing that one of the good guys is still out there fighting the good fight. Give ‘em hell, Neil!
By Joseph Conlon