Bill Murray, Hunter S. Thompson and Neil Young all compartmentalised into one project – what a treat. What a rush. Where the Buffalo Roam ties the trio together, a forgotten adaptation of Thompson and his life, brushed to the side after Terry Gilliam waded through with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But only one director was bold enough to enlist the help of legendary singer-songwriter Neil Young, and that is the edition where Murray lampoons the infamous writer with subtle strokes of colour added to an already wild character. Where the Buffalo Roam has a boastful and tremendous bit of soundtrack work to it, and in isolation away from the movie, it works nicely.
Or does it? Because four odes, two stomps and an original are not quite the stellar experience first put to tape by this collection of legends. Despite the soundtrack featuring the likes of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and some selected works from The Temptations, Young offers up original pieces which do not settle well in his own discography, nor of Where the Buffalo Roam. An expansive and orchestral showcase on Buffalo Stomp means well and does well – a fitting beginning to any EP and isolated well away from the Murray-led film sounds like a rather neat treat. But those flickers of classy individuality which Young made a name for himself with are nowhere to be found here, a by-the-numbers extended play fit for a middle-of-the-road movie.
Tiny and wavering electric flickers form through the end of this opener, and are gone before you can even recognise the flourishes so dependent on Young and his involvement here. It is onto the odes afterwards, brief cuts of near silence and a thumping, muffled electric guitar. It sounds like lazy playing, something where the volume increases once Young realises his amplifier settings are off. But by then the snippet drifts out, and it makes for a useless piece of four brief instrumentals. Noisy messes and replications of Buffalo Stomp are all Young can muster – and though it is just a ten-minute piece, spending money or time on these replicated cuts is a slap in the mouth. He snips bits and pieces from the one track he provided, cuts them into four chunks and has four-fifths of the EP complete.
Laziness is not a word to use in conjunction with Neil Young, though here it is the most fitting description. Home on the Range offers little either, the only track to feature vocal work from Young. Isolated again from the rest of his instruments, it is as though Young wishes to be known as a uni-tasker. One at a time. Instrument or voice. Take your choice. Neither, then. Nothing Young contributes here should have been released as a miniature EP considering the interjections and originals he makes are made for nothing more than underlying noise in a rejection-worthy EP. No sign of the Creedence Clearwater Revival collaboration, either. Just a reworking of a track not worth giving the time of day to. What a mess.
