“The Wayward Wind” is a standard with too much syrup for it to go down smoothly, sung with the otherwise unknown (to us) Denise Draper. “Get Back To The Country” comes from the same bad intentions as the still-unreleased “Gonna Rock Forever”, and the wacky jaw harp boinging all the way through doesn’t help either. “Are There Any More Real Cowboys?”, a duet with Willie Nelson, finally makes a good point, in this case asking what true country is. The sweeet “Once An Angel” could easily be a hit for lots of other people, while “Misfits” spends a lot of time telling a tale that never finishes.
“California Sunset” is a souvenir from the Austin City Limits TV show, while “Old Ways” came from the post-Trans era and asks the same questions as “Are There Any More Real Cowboys?”. “My Boy” is even sweeter than “Already One”, a lovely song to either of his sons. “Bound For Glory” is a truck-drivin’ and cheatin’ song that could have been a hit for Charlie Rich ten years earlier, and “Where Is The Highway Tonight?” ends it all with a dull thud.
Part of the blame can be based on the label. He’d started recording the album two years earlier, and then they sued him for giving them “unrepresentative material”, having clearly not heard the three albums mentioned above. To prove his point, Neil kept going and made it even hokier. By the time the album came out he had another album’s worth of songs put aside that his touring band had mastered, but his career was going nowhere with no rescue in sight. It would recover, just as the music from this period would gain appreciation, and in hindsight some of the songs were much better than their production. But for now, it was getting tough to be a fan.
Neil Young Old Ways (1985)—2
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