Neil Young is one of the most celebrated songwriters in rock history, most famous for the song Heart of Gold. He has been singing, touring, writing and recording since the mid-60s. Fork in the Road is his 47th album - a dazzling accomplishment. It’s a terrific album too, all bluesy rhythms and guitars alternating between liquid warm fuzz and chrome cold harshness. After weeks of reviewing over-produced pop, this was like tiger balm to my bruised audio nerves.
Fork in the Road is all about the car and the road. It’s a nostalgic celebration of the passing of a great American era, but Young tries to flavour it all with some enviro-consciousness too. His own little green project was the LincVolt, a Lincoln Continental with an electric engine. It’s the star of the song Johnny Magic -
Johnny Magic had a way with metal
Had a way with machines
One day in a garage far away
He met destiny
In the form of a heavy metal Continental
She was born to run on a Proud Highway…Now she goes long range on domestic green fuel
100 miles per gallon is the Continental Rule
Out on the Kansas two-lane flats near Wichita, Wichita
The home of the heavy metal Continental
She was born to run on a Proud Highway
The final song is the title track. It’s a melancholy retrospective -
There’s a fork in the road ahead
I don’t which way I’m gonna turn
There’s a fork in the road aheadI’ve got hope
But you can’t eat hope
I’m not done
Not giving up
Not cashing in
Too lateThere’s a bailout coming but it’s not for me
It’s for all those creeps watching tickers on TV
There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for me
Young still has hope, but he can’t say what he is hoping for. This is an album about the road, but it’s a shame that Young’s road has not taken him to the door of Jesus. It’s only there that he will find something to anchor his hope in.
