Chrome Dreams II - NEIL YOUNG

If Neil Young has been consistently inconsistent throughout his career, he is rarely as all over the map on the same album as he is on "Chrome Dreams II," named akin to a 1976 album that never materialized. The humble, sweet strummer "Beautiful Bluebird" conjures the mid-'70s acoustic classic "Comes a Time"; the steel guitar-soaked "Ever After" recalls the pure country of "Old Ways"; and "Ordinary People" and "No Hidden Path"—which together clock in at nearly 33 minutes—offer an electric swirl of "Greendale," "Broken Arrow" and "After the Gold Rush." It's a hodge-podge that presents Neil the fighter, Neil the philosophizer, Neil the husband, Neil the softie and Neil the hippie. "Ordinary People" is the dividing line: a rambling, piano- and horn-encrusted portrait of America sure to be loved and hated equally. Overall though, is the album better than "Prairie Wind" or "Living With War"? Yes.—Wes Orshoski