Silver & Gold

Neil Young entered the future looking back — most songs comprising 2000’s Silver & Gold recall the earthy romanticism of 1970’s After the Gold Rush. Both the amorous title track and “Razor Love” were penned in the mid ‘70s and on the mellow folk-rock tune “Buffalo Springfield Again,” Young muses on the good times of his first successful band while pining for a reunion that wouldn’t happen until a decade later. Despite all hindsight, at the core of Silver & Gold is one of Young’s most underrated love-themed albums. The stunningly beautiful serenade “Red Sun” features Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt singing harmony parts as Young’s lyrics brim over with the kind of deep sentiment akin to the renewal of wedding vows. The late, great Ben Keith plays some of his best pedal steel ever put to tape on “The Great Divide” adding a little flicker to the flame of a melancholy campfire tune. Lilting piano notes and a constant egg shaker give the powerfully sublime “Razor Love” a rainy day feel before “Without Rings” ends with Young’s signature stream-of-conscious brilliance.