Greendale

There’s something undeniably admirable about Neil Young’s willingness to follow his every wild hair to its creative conclusion. That said, this thing is dreadful. Greendale is a concept album of sorts, centering on a family called the Greens in the fictional town of Greendale, California. It weaves a loose narrative about environmentalism, social activism, and the media. Fine. But the music is so dull it took all the patience we could muster to simply listen to the thing. The point was obviously not to distract from the lyrics with flashy guitar work and fancy chord changes, but the effect is soporific. “Double E” and “Devil’s Sidewalk” take simple blues progressions and sit on them for what seems like hours. “Grandpa’s Interview” cribs the melody from Lionel Richie’s “Penny Lover,” but actually generates less excitement. Young is backed by Crazy Horse members Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, but the music feels like the work of a subpar jam band who were too stoned to realize they’d forgotten to put any “jams” on their album.