Once the big change has come and gone, what will we do? Neil Young has the answer. The upcoming Glastonbury Festival headliner is full of surprises this year. A prolific period by any standard, Young is continuing to push the fold with archival material, live releases, and contemporary efforts with a read on the gross state of the world. No fixed plan is in place for his upcoming album, it would seem. No matter. The beauty of not being beholden to a label or a board is being able to create at an artistically justified pace. Let’s Roll Again, the second song from Young’s upcoming album, continues the distorted and heavy rock sound which Young established as part of his sound back in the late 1970s. Where Big Change was a call to arms, Let’s Roll Again is the rough side of hyperspecifics.
Young has clear points of protest to his political references. These are blunt force comments on the world around him, from the force of fascism to the specific, electric car they may drive. Gone is the subtlety of convincing wordplay, the notion of instrumental bliss. No, it just would not work. Young is exceptional at having an ear for the times, and subtlety is not his game. He showed as much in a smaller protest of Geffen Records on Everybody’s Rockin’. The purpose of protest is found in Let’s Roll Again, a song which refrains from beating around the bush, for mincing words at a time of crisis is of benefit to nobody. Few can say, though, that they remember the songs they agree with most. It is the conviction which carries Let’s Roll Again, an expression of rage against the current, filthy machine. Young wonders whether the price we pay for complexity is worth losing the fight. He could not be clearer with his words on Let’s Roll Again.
Where this may be great for the song’s purpose, the fundamental meaning and kick against the pricks, it does little to develop him as a songwriter or performer. There will be those who say he does not need to do so anymore, he has his hits, and now the focus is on the powers that be. But there is greater power in possessing a broader takedown, a song like Big Change found a stomping thrill in its instrumentals to back a clear message of protest. Let’s Roll Again does not have that. Its distorted guitar work feels restrained, and the calls for General Motors and Chrysler to roll again, to bring about an alternative to Tesla, is a somewhat niche and irreverent way to tackle the climate crisis, often tied to gas-guzzling cars.
Coastal shows the importance of the highway, of travel, too, for Young. Let’s Roll Again does not quite explore that, but life on the road hangs over the objective of this song. A song which feels as though it was written around one provocative line, which thankfully works, but loses its way as it calls for action from corporations. Young has been around long enough to know that the great institutions are choosing to be powerless in the face of competition. His shout into the void is an admirable one, because few have tried it, but the lack of answer should be no surprise. Young swerves the “old man yells at cloud” expectation of Let’s Roll Again by maintaining the instrumental fundamentals which establish this as, at the very least, a rocking song with a pure heart. Its political message, while agreeable, is limp, and it threatens to derail the very simple percussion and overarching guitar, which does the heavy lifting.
