Neil Young has made some weird records — Trans’ robo-slop, the ersatz rockabilly of Everybody’s Rockin’. So
Fork in the Road — which is all about his 1959
Lincoln Continental hybrid — isn’t totally out there. But
it is weird. And, filled with the same nondescript sludgy riffs that
form the basis of most of his albums over the past decade, it isn’t all
that memorable either. This is a road record, but it’s also a new-age
road record. “Taking a trip across the U.S.A./Gonna see a lotta people
along the way,” sings Young on opener “When Worlds Collide.” But
Fork in the Road isn’t so much about traveling our wide-open
nation as it is about how freakin’ awesome Young’s custom ride is.
“Fill ‘er up!” goes the chorus of “Fuel Line.” “Cough up the bucks,” he
intones in another song (about your gas-hogging car, not his).
And “Just Singing a Song” is followed by “won’t change the world.”
Apparently you have to drive a vintage vehicle that’s environmentally
friendly too. — Michael Gallucci
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2009.
