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Neil Young

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Don’t start wondering how you missed the first Chrome Dreams. It never existed, other than in the minds and bootleg collections of knowing Youngsters, who’ll happily explain that the title was initially pegged to a shelved late-’70s album. Chrome Dreams II isn’t intended as a sequel to that phantom, but it nods to its era by calling on old musician pals (among them Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina) and reviving a few tunes that had never found homes, notably “Ordinary People,” an 18-minute, 17-verse ode to America’s hard-working but ultimately beaten-down masses. That nasty-guitar-and-Stax-horns-saturated epic comes as a jolt following two lighter tunes, the idyllic “Beautiful Bluebird” and the resigned “Boxcar,” if only because, for more than a decade, Young’s albums — most recently the enraged Living with War and the country-informed Prairie Wind — have flip-flopped between his seemingly disparate acoustic and electric personalities. Chrome Dreams II is effective despite the sonic clash because, on both the new material and the leftovers, the loud (“Spirit Road”) and the soft (the soul ballad “Ever After”), it’s unified by its call to give props to spirit and humanity, a sentiment that, whatever it’s wrapped in, never gets old.

Latest Articles

October already!

Folk + blues + noise + alt-pop + Mr. Young
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By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF  |  September 30, 2009
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High dives

It's harder than ever to find a bar with soul in town these days. But it's not impossible.
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Rude awakening

The rousing sounds of Coma Coma
Coma Coma singer/bassist Eric Sampson brushes off the notion that Rhode Island's music community currently lacks quality acts.
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One shining moment

Fairhaven grab the brass ring at the 'BRU rock hunt
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Music seen: Turn Down Day, Marie Stella, Phantom Buffalo

Phantom Buffalo, Marie Stella and Turn Down Day at Geno's, March 28
Turn Down Day opened with a song that hovered almost entirely on the A chord, only breaking with it for a slight G on the bass to distinguish the verse from the chorus. It was a bold statement.
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Review: Oak Hill Tavern

Road to redemption
Looking for good down-south BBQ down south? Oak Hill Tavern is well worth the trip
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Spring cleaning

Three discs you should hear as the weather warms
Without beating around the bush, here are three EPs worth hearing that have been sitting around the office a bit.
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Roots of spring

Homegrown recordings from Boston and beyond
Homegrown recordings from Boston and beyond
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Covers uncovered

The Bad Plus plus a singer
The Bad Plus plus a singer
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Arbouretum | Song of the Pearl

Thrill Jockey (2009)
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Feel the music

We may be the last generation to give tangible tunes for Christmas
I personally find it comforting that the current number-one single in the country has a chorus that goes "I'll gas up the jet for you tonight, and baby we can go wherever you like."
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Waterfront hangout

Andy's Old Port Pub has a comfy feel
It's a bar whose dinner menu seems to reflect the simple idea that when you have a pleasant place to hang out, drink, and socialize, people get hungry.
By BRIAN DUFF  |  December 03, 2008
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Say it ain't so, Joe

Breaking: Biden resigns the vice-presidency amid Wentzgate scandal
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Offa my couch, Larroquette

Foos fight McCain, Madonna pans Palin, Heart hearts Barack
In a video posted to his Web site, former Rolling Stone Ringo Starr has lovingly warned his fans to stop sending him fan mail.  
By DAVID THORPE  |  October 24, 2008
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30 on 30

30 local luminaries look back on 30 years of the New Paper and the Providence Phoenix
The Providence Phoenix celebrates 30 years with 30 interviews  
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Good fellows

Brian Blade and company help blaze jazz’s newest path
The jazz tide is shifting once again.  
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Going on sale: September 26, 2008

Breaking news from the concert ticket trade
Little Joy, Real Ones, Upper Crust and more
By GOING ON SALE  |  September 24, 2008
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Dirt merchants

Farm Aid crops up in Massachusetts
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Surprise Me Mr. Davis + the Low Anthem

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Surprise Me Mr. Davis was not surprising if you expected a great time.
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The call of the wild

Wolf Parade get instinctual
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The week in boners

Ross exposed, FCC hosed, hicks opposed
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CSNY Déjà Vu

Still rocking in the free world
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Going on sale: July 25, 2008

Breaking news from the concert ticket trade
Ratatat, Jamie Lidell, Street Dogs, Cut Copy and more.
By GOING ON SALE  |  July 23, 2008
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Fresh tracks

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By BOB GULLA  |  July 16, 2008
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Like a Hurricane

Matt Newberg is Back from the Trail of Tears
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Got sustainability?

Apeiron’s annual festival points the way to different possibilities
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Walking the line

Duke Robillard comes out Swingin’
Duke Robillard comes out Swingin’.
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A Peapod grows in Portland

A young label sports sonic wisdom
Harrity’s albums sound like the work of an invisible hand, and it’s apparent that he likes it that way.
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Identity crisis

Black Kids know who they are, even if you don’t
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Young@Heart

Pleasantly predictable
The Young@Heart Chorus was formed in Northampton in 1982 by whip-cracking director Bob Cilman.
By CHRIS WANGLER  |  April 16, 2008

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