Neil Young - Still Rockin' In the Free World

You want to talk about musicians that don't often get their share of respect? Neil Young comes to mind instantly. Look at his catalog of music. Vast. Look at the genre boundries he's crossed. Countless. Look at the number of artists who credit him as an influence or cover his work. Inestimable. And yet somehow, his name is too often overlooked in listing the most transcendent artists from the last forty years.

Coming back after the release of the highly political Living With War, Neil's put together a follow-up album to an album that was never released. It's titled Chrome Dreams II (the first Chromes Dreams was supposed to come out in 1977, but was scrapped) and it is more of a collection of songs taken from here and there. As such, it doesn't gel in the way many of his other albums do. That's not to say the album is not worth listening to - you just need to keep in mind that it's a collection of songs from different periods and therefor it's composed of many different musical flavors. It's a solid Neil Young album - in a way that's almost retrospective in some ways instead of evolutionary.

While I can't share any mp3's from the album, I can share some videos of songs from it for you to enjoy. If you like what you hear, order the album, which is out now. And to prove to you his musical legacy and the influence he's had on a diverse range of artists, I've included just a few covers done by various musicians at the bottom.

Visit his website, his label Reprise Records, and become his friend on MySpace.

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Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Expecting To Fly (Neil Young cover) : Live at the 9:30 Club, 1-10-2007

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Helpless (Neil Young cover) : Weeping Song

Johnny Cash - Heart Of Gold (Neil Young cover) : Unearthed Disc II: Trouble In Mind

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Farmer John (Neil Young cover) : Live at Bonnaroo 6-17-2006

(an astute reader pointed out that Neil actually covered Farmer John from R&B group Don and Dewey - read about it HERE)