- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Los Angeles TimesIf Bob Dylan has been for years our best guide to exploring the complexities of human experience, Young may be the songwriter who expresses most eloquently the simple ties that bind us all. [18 Sep 2005]
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UncutDeep, warm, fully rounded and with no slack, Prairie Wind is Neil at his best. [Oct 2005, p.101]
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For once he makes sure he's understood--a matter in which melodies that might otherwise seem overfamiliar are of great service.
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The pedal steel guitar playing on the whole record is breathtaking.
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In the autumn of his career, this is one of Shaky's best.
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Q MagazinePrairie Wind finds Neil Young on fine creative form and all too aware of the limited time he may have left to enjoy it. [Nov 2005, p.118]
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BlenderThe songs are weirder and darker than their gentle melodies indicate. [Nov 2005, p.141]
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Paste MagazineQuietly brimming with lonesome, countrified folk-rock catharsis. [Dec 2005, p.104]
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Despite all of its strengths, neither the recording nor the songs are as memorable or as fully realized as his late-'80s/early-'90s comeback records -- Freedom, Ragged Glory, and Harvest Moon -- let alone his classic '70s work.
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It's his simplest music in a while, but it's effective.
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Lilting instrumentation strengthens even the weakest lines.
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The New York TimesMr. Young is pushing toward guilelessness in these 10 songs; these are messages of nearly transcendental forgiveness that have lost their old edges of fear and anger. [26 Sep 2005]
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MojoSeems largely unable to go far beyond generic musical stylings and rather lifeless, matt[e]-finish reportage. [Nov 2005, p.97]
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Young's music is so rooted in the past, specifically the spirit of the 60s, that his stabs at contemporary relevance sound awkward and even curmudgeonly.
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Familiar, yes, but not unwelcome. [1 Oct 2005]
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Entertainment WeeklyWe've heard it all before, and better. [30 Sep 2005, p.93]
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Melodically, Young creates a comfortable, atmospheric lilt his admirers will instantly recognize. Lyrically, however, Young's lost his way.
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Relentlessly benign.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 41
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Mixed: 3 out of 41
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Negative: 6 out of 41
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johnfMay 1, 2008
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RandyWApr 14, 2007
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MartinBJul 13, 2006