Neil Young & Crazy Horse, The 046, Deb Suckling: New album reviews

Neil Young and his perennial backing band have gone full circle on their latest offering PLUS The 046 and Deb Suckling.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

ROCK

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Barn

(Reprise) ***1/2

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of his landmark debut album Harvest, Neil Young gets back to basics with his longtime band and records a reflective album in a Colorado barn. From the opening harmonica strains of Song of the Seasons it’s steeped in that golden age, and could even pass for a true solo album if not for the odd occasion Crazy Horse launch into full fuzzy flight, such as on climate change call to arms Human Race and autobiographical tracks Heading West and Canerican, on which Young recalls: “I was born in Canada, came south to join a band/Got caught up in the big time travelling through this land.” Tumblin’ Thru the Years is a mellow ode to a significant other, while Welcome Back is the kind of meandering eight-and-a-half-minute slow jam Crazy Horse are best at.

HIP HOP

The 046, The Proctor 2021

(046 Records) ***

When your music video shoot is broken up by tha police and every song on your debut album carries an explicit-language warning, you’re the real deal. As is the case with southwestern Sydney’s The 046, straight outta public housing suburb Claymore. The F-bombs hit hard and fast from the opening track – the statement of intent Don’t Stop – and from there it’s a rapid-fire aggression and bravado. “They don’t really know about struggle,” they sing on the rhythmic Struggle. There’s the Stevie Winwood-esque vocals of Runnin’ Game, while the soulful Long Nights offers some respite from the staccato aggression. “Spreading like Covid, it’s contagious,” they rap on Outrageous. It’s a ferocious debut that promises more incendiary wordplay to come.

INDIE

Deb Suckling, Worthy

(SugarRush) ***1/2

As much a driving force behind the Brisbane music scene as a front-and-centre artist, Deb Suckling drops her long-time-coming solo debut. After the emotional sighs of haunting piano-ballad opener How Do You Explain Love she lights up on the more ’80s alternative rocker Awkward: “Do I make you uncomfortable?” Then there’s the hypnotic march of Clean Me Out – inspired by a brush with skin cancer – and the chiming torment of Sweet Dreams, while she rewrites Romeo and Juliet for the 21st century. Suckling is stripped down but defiant on You Can’t Take Me, and her treatment of Mi-Sex’s Blue Day is better than one might expect from the usual ballad-isation of such hits. It’s a long overdue long-player for a veteran local talent.