There seems to be something in the air in 2005 that makes old rockers suddenly make records of meaning again. After relevant new work by , , and , Neil Young also delivers his best record in years with Prairie Wind. The opener The Painter, for example, is such a magical song that knows how to move in all its simplicity. In the 1970s, Neil Young seemed to shake up such songs, but his penultimate
… records (2002) and (2004) were mainly typical cases of 'not quite'. He regularly hits the right note on Prairie Wind. In terms of atmosphere and instrumentation, it is reminiscent of country-tinted top albums such as (1972) and (1978). Shortly before the recording, Neil Young was diagnosed with a dangerous aneurysm in the brain. This blow, plus the death of his father, resulted in a melancholic and occasionally sentimentality-tending album, which is easily his best of the past decade. (MS)more
