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(More customer reviews)Neil Young and Pearl Jam's impressive musical collaboration has a live sound, with thick, unpolished guitars, heavy drums and crashing drums everywhere, as if in rehearsal mode. Though these songs completely rock out, there's an old-fashioned sense to them, a sort of archaic vibe for the respect of rock and roll music. The comraderie and naturalness between Pearl Jam and Young is unmistakable -- the combination fits like well-worn slippers. The heavy guitar chops on such songs as "Song X," "Act of Love" and the epic "I'm the Ocean" are all as intense and rocking as any Pearl Jam or Neil Young album out there.
The bold repetativeness of "I'm the Ocean" -- one of the best songs on the album -- is proof that none of these guys need to prop up their songs with hokey, unneeded sonic effects from the studio. It's one of those songs that could go on forever without getting old, and it practically does. The drum beat alone is mesmerizing, but Young's observational lyrics are also impressive. The fact that it sounds like a raw rehersal take in the studio makes it even better. "Big Green Country" is a rolling, high-energy song that clicks on all cylinders, a countryman's version of mosh. Only at "Truth Be Told" does the pace and volume on "Mirror Ball" come down considerably. The raunchier "Downtown" was released as a single, and with its references to Led Zeppelin, hippies and a huge Jimmy Page-like riff, it delivered the goods.
Two portions of "Mirror Ball" -- the middle and very end -- feature a hymnallike organ, the heartwrenching backdrop for Young's short lyrical spot that is aching in its tenderness.
Both Pearl Jam and Neil Young share the same integrity and ideals, lyrically and musically, especially on such classic rock-sounding monsters like "Peace and Love" and "Throw Your Hatred Down." Eddie Vedder's lone vocal contribution on "Peace and Love" is hearfelt and well-placed, an unforgettable moment, like a star in the gloriously murky haze of guitars.
And listen for Young's own beautiful closer, "Fallen Angel," perhaps one of the sweetest, most emotional endings to any album ever. "Mirror Ball" may be a somewhat obscure release now, but it was one of the best albums made in the 1990s, and a dynamite collaboration of sounds.
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Neil Young's eagerly-awaited follow-up to the Grammy-nominated will include the epic \Act of Love
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