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April 18th, 2002
Neil Young - Reprise/Warner

Are You Passionate?
M-J Milloy

While Bob Dylan reinvents himself through sly re-imaginings of pre-rock styles, the other great singer/songwriter of the '60s and '70s slides into pathetic irrelevance. This is Neil Young's worst album - that's saying something for an artist who has dabbled in everything from electronica to country. The album's thematic and musical heart is Let's Roll, written from the perspective of the passengers who rebelled against the hijackers on Flight 93. Complete with lines like "going after Satan on the wings of a dove," it is the soundtrack to George W. Bush's wet dreams and is, frankly, an embarrassment coming from someone who wrote Ohio and Cortez the Killer. A good half of the songs have Booker T and the MGs (the Stax Records house band) providing a classic R&B backup. It leaves Neil sounding like he's singing karaoke, badly, to past glories. Do not buy this album. The stink of aged failure will stick in your nose for days. (M-J Milloy)


	Write your review of this record !

Neil Young Never Sleeps....And Is Always Willing To Take Risks.........

Neil Young will be 60 yrs old in 2005. What a long strange journey it's been for this Torontonian. He has provided us with some of the past 25 yrs of the best and inspiring memories as he has crawled on both scraped knees to the brink of self-destruction, survived overdoses and climbed to the halfway summit of self-actualization.

Following his departure from several bands (Mynah Birds, Buffalo Springfield and CSNY), Neil headed out on his own.

In 1969 he asked his fans "What Have You Done To My Life?", sweetened things the next year with the memorable "Cinnamon Girl" with clanging power chords and reverb, released "Southern Man" on After The Gold Rush and as he closed out the 70's, his Rust Never Sleeps album is still to this day one of the most genius pieces of live recording this world may have ever seen come out of a Canadian artist.

The next decade featured a twisted Young deciding that he would explore electronic sounds with Trans and Reactor that may have caught some of his fans off-guard as he moved away from the Southern influences that made him popular (like rock-a-billy when he was joined by the Shocking Pinks) that just didn't suit his style and fanbase.

Over the years, Young has always been willing to embrace new directions for his career and trying out new sounds. This has been met with mixed reviews. At one point, he teamed up with Sonic Youth on tour that was met with some applause (he was viewed as an old hipster). He also tried to release an album with Pearl Jam which was greatly anticipated but because of legal challenges, he was forced to keep them off the cover and the release fell flat.

In this current release of Are You Passionate, you will find the song Let's Roll which is a tribute through the final words of Todd Beamer (one of the passengers on one of the 9-11 terrorist boarded planes). The song is moving and touching that it may have saved this album from complete collapse.

Luckily Young has a brilliant track record

Steve Landry

{28 votes}

May 18th, 2005

Neil

Neil Young has proven again that he is one of the greatest songwriter/ singers in Canadian History. At first I was a little confused listenning to this CD but once you really sit down and listen you hear the old Neil in there and that is great. Contrary to what some people have written I think it is great to see Neil experiment with other stuff and this CD proves it can be done. Great music, great entertainer, great CD.

Louise Lacroix

{4 votes}

March 27th, 2007

CDspin/Neil Young/Are You Passionate?

There is a fine line between genius and madness and this CD just about proved it. Neil Young is an icon and a legend but this CD proves that he's an icon and a legend made of flesh and bone because he falls flat on his face with this one. Some would argue that this CD is a stinker but honestly I'd rather take a stinker from him than from some young overrated pup with too much hype up his rear. Maybe one or two decent cuts here but the rest of it? Wow, talk about going far for very little pay off. A bad CD from Young is still better than most good CDs from the unimaginative neophyte artists out there but that still no reason to get this CD. Download the few good tunes it has and save yourself some money...well, that or just burn a copy off someone who unfortunately already owns one. Like me.

Pedro Eggers

October 22nd, 2005

I Am Passionate

Neil Young challenges his listeners, he's been around so long that he doesn't need to come to us anymore, we have to go to him. On first listen this cd may seem all over the place, but once you get inside it you realize it's full potential. I think this cd is meant to be listened to as a whole. People may be put off by Booker T's style, but this guy is the real deal and it's nice to see these two great artists collaborating. I think Neil asks us if we are passionate, because that's what it takes to get this record.

Josee Lacroix

{13 votes}

February 5th, 2005

Neil Young - Are You Passionate?

Sure this is an ill-conceived, irrational Neil young album, but does it really only deserve one star? I mean, look at some of the other 'artists' who have been given one star for their work (Montell Jordan? and soon to follow, Nelly).

Don't get me wrong, I think this album was a huge disappointment, but it wasn't a complete kick in the teeth for Neil Young fans. The con's do outweigh the pro's here, but there are some really fine, significant monets on this album that make it worth atleast 2.5 stars. All artist's miss a beat here or there, once in a while. Look for Neil Young to rebound from this.

Kelly Martel

{5 votes}

December 24th, 2004

Stay Away From This Neil Young Album

I can't figure out what Neil Young was trying to do on this album because it is all over the place and the songs are boring and they all sound the same. Neil Young sings about the September 11 attacks on this album and when I listened to this album at the music store I could not believe that this was Neil Young and how bad he turned out. This album stinks really band and the review for this album has it straight when it only gives it one star. I personally give this album a bomb and should be taken off the record shelves because it's embarrassing for the career of Neil Young.

Carmela Sicurella

{5 votes}

December 12th, 2004

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