''Barn'' is the 41st studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter
Neil Young and his 14th with
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...
. The album was released on December 10, 2021, by
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
. A stand-alone film of the same name directed by Young's wife
Daryl Hannah was also released for streaming and on
Blu-ray.
Critical reception
Reviewing in his
Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column,
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave ''Barn'' an "A" and declared it the first worthwhile album of new Young songs since 2009's ''
Fork in the Road''. In comparison to that album, he said that "Crazy Horse is quieter and gentler
ereas the
green consciousness their boss embraced as of 2003's ''
Greendale'' turns ever more militant and also, unfortunately but fittingly, much darker". Among the highlights in Christgau's mind were "Canerican", "Change Ain't Never Gonna", "Human Race", "Tumblin' Through the Years", and "Don't Forget Love", although he was most impressed by "Welcome Back", calling it a "full-bore astonishment" whose sincerity is evinced in Young's guitar, "so quiet and caring it feels like love". He ultimately named it the best album of 2021.
Writing for ''
PopMatters'', John Amen gave the project a 7/10, concluding, "Their navigations of sublimity vs. subtlety, maximalism vs. spaciousness, and free improvisation vs. precise composition are like inexhaustible stylistic lodes ...."
Track listing
#"Song of the Seasons" – 6:04
#"Heading West" – 3:22
#"Change Ain't Never Gonna" – 2:53
#"Canerican" – 3:12
#"Shape of You" – 2:55
#"They Might Be Lost" – 4:32
#"Human Race" – 4:14
#"Tumblin' Thru the Years" – 3:19
#"Welcome Back" – 8:28
#"Don't Forget Love" – 3:48
Personnel
*
Neil Young
*
Nils Lofgren
*
Billy Talbot
*
Ralph Molina
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
2021 albums
Crazy Horse (band) albums
Neil Young albums
Albums produced by Niko Bolas
Albums produced by Neil Young
Reprise Records albums