Majorly different mixes in the lead-up to Freedom can be heard on Eldorado. It was not just Bob Dylan who found himself transfixed on the heavier rock momentum carried by electric guitar, but Neil Young, too. His efforts on Eldorado, an EP which only released in Japan and Australia, were left in obscurity for a while until a fresh print of CDs and vinyl, are strong. Messy work, for sure, but there is much charm in the clang and harsh sound of a song like Cocaine Eyes. Backed by The Restless on all these songs, Young finds himself freed of instrumental duties and is free to focus on some relatively heartbreaking material. His soul burns and searches for some missing piece on Cocaine Eyes, the dragged-out attempt at hiding in plain sight but the pain being too much to obscure. Eldorado is a twenty-five-minute powerhouse which puts Young back on the map.
Jagged chimes on Don’t Cry are an exceptional follow-up to Cocaine Eyes. It has the remnants of the mid-1980s in there. Fascination with the machinery and synth-adjacent productions of the time took its toll on rock and roll. Just listen in to Dylan from Empire Burlesque onwards. There is much to love about those lesser-listened albums but Young cuts through in far better form than his contemporaries. Eldorado is a sign of a changing tide which, as found on Don’t Cry, would rely on sinister percussion and heavy distortion. There is an occasional crunch of grunge-like tones, and sophisticated art-rock momentum carries Young through a smash-and-grab industrial spot on Don’t Cry, a fascinating track which cannot shake the sinister sense despite the desire for the love interest not to weep. Though these rock tones land well, they feel all too similar and sluggish on Heavy Love.
Where it may feel instrumentally uninspired and even disjointed at points, the heartfelt punch of Young screeching the title is well worth sticking around for. Some higher-pitched fretwork and a drumming interjection try to get it all back on track, but it is one of those songs where the attitude and tempo are the most important parts. Conviction to a characteristic rather than the song as a whole. On the tenacious and uncomfortable sound continues, and we are all the better for it. The same shortcomings and instrumental fury can be heard with On Broadway, a song which knocks Young down a peg or two because all he can do is shout over the top of a relatively uninspired instrumental riff. But the percussion and crashing cymbals towards the end, lingering on the mind before the title track closer, is a fascinating choice.
Eldorado serves as an exceptional warm-up to what was to come from Young. He would mark a return to form that, given his decade of work up to this point, was thoroughly unexpected. But there is no stopping a man who writes and performs Rockin’ in the Free World. Reprise welcomed him back with open arms and the liberated feel, the anger and strain of a stressful record deal relationship before it can be heard oozing out of him on Eldorado. A short and stern package where Young gets the thrills and rage out of his system and pushes on with some of his career-best works. Eldorado may not be the start of all that, but it certainly highlights a turning point in a career which had drifted from what Young did best.
