#3 Freedom- Neil Young
I’ve been captivated and moved by Neil Young’s music for Decades (pardon the pun). My college roommates will recall the many confrontations I had with pissed off students in our apartment complex as “Like a Hurricane” competed with “Born to Run” for the most played song on my stereo, loud enough for the entire complex to enjoy. Decades later, when every family member living in my house went to bed at 8:30 on Sunday Nights, I was less inclined to blast music and made a weekly pilgrimage to a local bar called Citylights to knock down a few shots of Patron and organize my thoughts for the coming work week. (While I can’t honestly recommend Patron for improving organizational skills, I can say that it greatly enhances the enjoyment of organization if that skill is a strength of yours).
Citylights offered me a trifecta too enticing to refuse- The owner had bribed local authorities to permit smoking, ESPN Sunday Night sports highlights projected on a half dozen screens throughout the bar, and they hired some long-haired musician who spent the night playing Neil Young songs that sounded more and more like the original recordings with each passing tequila shot.
“Freedom” is the product of a brilliant composer and lyricist at the height of his skills. All the elements of Young’s career on display in a single record-
• Biting social commentary “One more kid that will never go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool”
• Haunting ballads about the edges of love (“Hanging on a Limb” and “Wrecking Ball”)
• Musical riffs that pour emotion into your ears and leave an indelible mark on your heart. “El Dorado” is about as good as any song can be arranged and performed.
Every track has its place on this album as unique expressions and ramifications of Freedom are presented for us to encounter. I’ve always been particularly fascinated with the way Young ties all his elements together in the song “Someday” where he blends the human need to escape with his disdain for Evangelists and air polluters, only to end with the hope that the love of two people can make everything alright. No one deals with the multi-faceted elements of a topic quite like Neil Young and “Freedom” is a great example of his many gifts.
