In 1979, Neil Young gave us two options: Burn out or fade away. Fast forward 40 years and we're learning there was a third option: Get the old band back together, head to the mountains and release your best album in two decades.
Here, the godfather of grunge reunited Crazy Horse for their first album since 2012's Psychedelic Pill. Recorded analogue, live on the studio floor, Colorado's 10 songs capture what we've always loved about Crazy Horse: their tenderness, creativity and ability to shake your bones with distortion — often all in one song.
Crazy Horse are at their best when the two sides of Young — the folk of Harvest and the grit of Rust Never Sleeps — are combined, and Colorado does this perfectly, putting delicate harmonies over grungy riffs ("Help Me Lose My Mind") or muddying up pristine piano tracks ("Olden Days").
This is captured on the accompanying film, Mountaintop — a candid look into the recording process. The cameras capture Young's genius in action, as well as his suffer-no-fools work style. This, combined with the studio's limitations and crushing isolation (8,750 feet above sea level), creates a tension that shines throughout the record.
After all, the album's message is an angsty one: The planet is dying and we need to do something about it, quick. Songs "Shut It Down" and "She Showed Me Love" capture this sentiment with an urgent beauty only Young can manage.
Colorado makes good on Young's promise that rust never sleeps — turns out, it gets better with age.
(Reprise)Here, the godfather of grunge reunited Crazy Horse for their first album since 2012's Psychedelic Pill. Recorded analogue, live on the studio floor, Colorado's 10 songs capture what we've always loved about Crazy Horse: their tenderness, creativity and ability to shake your bones with distortion — often all in one song.
Crazy Horse are at their best when the two sides of Young — the folk of Harvest and the grit of Rust Never Sleeps — are combined, and Colorado does this perfectly, putting delicate harmonies over grungy riffs ("Help Me Lose My Mind") or muddying up pristine piano tracks ("Olden Days").
This is captured on the accompanying film, Mountaintop — a candid look into the recording process. The cameras capture Young's genius in action, as well as his suffer-no-fools work style. This, combined with the studio's limitations and crushing isolation (8,750 feet above sea level), creates a tension that shines throughout the record.
After all, the album's message is an angsty one: The planet is dying and we need to do something about it, quick. Songs "Shut It Down" and "She Showed Me Love" capture this sentiment with an urgent beauty only Young can manage.
Colorado makes good on Young's promise that rust never sleeps — turns out, it gets better with age.
