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Classic Rock MagazineJan 9, 2015Super-smooth strings, bluesy stomps and immense righteousness are crammed into this varied, if oddly disparate selection. [Feb 2015, p.98]
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MojoNov 19, 2014Sheer vastness occasionally swamps the pained intimacy of Young's vocals and open-heart songs of regret, nostalgia and reflection. [Dec 2014, p.88]
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Nov 6, 2014Nothing here is going to become a live-show staple, but after an underwhelming covers album earlier this year, fans will be pretty happy with this solid collection of original works.
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Nov 4, 2014Young's scratchy vocal fails to complement its exquisitely cinematic orchestration until the final two lines show a fleshed-out poignancy. It's the same, too, with his blues performances.... At times, though, Young and his many collaborators do gel.
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Nov 3, 2014As Storytone goes on, a pink-umbrella cocktail of vulnerability, bravery and Disney, it becomes engrossing--car-crash listening, even.
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Nov 3, 2014It’s a long way from the rocker's angry persona, but he’s always had a soppy side. Sometimes the lyrics are also sloppy.
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Nov 3, 2014By delivering this big, sloppy valentine to everything he is and everything he loves, he's not being neat but he is true to himself.
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Nov 3, 2014Sometimes it sounds like a deathly serious joke. Other times, it sounds like nothing more than a nicely produced notion that happened to cross his mind one day.
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Nov 5, 2014Sure, these mirrored LPs--10 songs given lavish orchestral arrangements and also offered as solo performances on a bonus disc--might be stronger as one cherry-picked set of unrepeated songs. But it wouldn't be half as interesting.
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Nov 4, 2014You can admire its uncompromising spirit, but you can just as easily loathe its saccharine sound. After hearing some of these songs live in their acoustic forms, it’s jarring to see how Young has neutered them on record.... The album’s saving grace is its deluxe edition, which presents all 10 songs in stripped-down, intimate settings that allow you to savor and bask in their beauty.
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Nov 3, 2014The orchestral Storytone comes off as a showy distraction. It's best ignored. Head for the acoustic version instead, which contains a handful of Young's better recent songs, syrup-free.
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Nov 3, 2014Even though Storytone's gloppy Disney-movie strings and half-assed singing can be trying to sit through at times, the extent to which Young is willing to go to avoid resting on his laurels and making Even Longer After the Gold Rush is admirable. Namely, making an album that features almost none of the musical tropes listeners associate with Neil Young—or rock music in general.
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Nov 4, 2014Despite the dual versions, Storytone never finds a comfortable middle ground: the orchestral versions too maudlin, the solo versions over-sharing.
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Nov 11, 2014Besides his inflexibly skeletal vocals being an awkward fit for a full orchestra --his phrasing has a hard time keeping up with the loose, big band swing of “Say Hello to Chicago”--some of his clunky lyrics become even clunkier when taken out of a more hushed, intimate setting.
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Dec 5, 2014Storytone’s deluxe edition carries an extra disc of solo takes: mostly Young and ukulele. It’s more palatable, but perhaps doesn’t reveal any more depth to the material.
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Nov 21, 2014Listeners are best advised to head directly to disc two and regard the set with strings as a curiosity and an example of eccentric experimentation best left on the shelf.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 27
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Mixed: 7 out of 27
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Negative: 8 out of 27
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Nov 12, 2014
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Nov 8, 2014