Neil Young - 'Chrome Dreams II' (Reprise/ Warner) Released 22/10/10

Coincidental as they may be, it’s tempting to presume the frequent references to ‘going home’ that populate the lyric sheet of ‘Chrome Dreams II’ aren’t an accident. In recent years, Neil Young’s releases have retreated into increasingly unrewarding one-dimensionality, with each new platter sticking doggedly to a single sound or style, the half-baked nature of the fresh material highlighted by the vintage live recordings put out as the first instalment of the long-awaited ‘Archives’ project.

Accompanied by a small team of long-term musical chums (drummer Ralph Molina of Crazy Horse, pedal steel wizard Ben Keith and bassist Rick Rosas), the new album’s eclectic mix of old and new, teary-eyed ballads and fuzz-riddled rockers, then, marks the long-overdue resurgence of the contrary instincts that have driven much of Young’s best work. Of the vintage stuff, ‘Beautiful Bluebird’ – a re-recording of a sweet ditty from Young’s much-maligned mid-80’s redneck country phase – would fit right in on 2000’s pretty but slight folkie workout ‘Silver and Gold’, whilst the banjo-plucking gothic country of ‘Boxcar’, originally cut in 1989, reminds alt. country types who the originator of their harmonica-wailing shtick is. Young geeks have been wetting themselves over the appearance of the 18-minute (!) opus ‘Ordinary People’. As compellingly colossal as this horns-enriched 1988 mammoth is, the eerie new epic ‘No Hidden Path’, a mere sprint at 14 minutes, is just as mighty, with Young milking a procession of wounded wails from his long-suffering axe.

The rest isn’t shabby either. The gnarly groove of ‘Spirit Road’ and the dumb-ass bar-room brawl of ‘Dirty Old Man’ thud along with conviction, whilst the weepers - the fragile country-gospel of ‘Shining Light’ and the Hank Williams-flavoured nursery rhyme ‘Ever After’ – land on the more rewarding side of the divide between the sublime and sugary schmaltz, due not least to Young offering oodles of the sweet simpleton melodies he’s been hiding lately. The closing ‘The Way’ is even better; a glowing sermon of such indelible beauty even the saccharine cooing of a children’s choir can’t disfigure it, its earnest sentiments providing a more resonant pro-peace message than the artless finger-pointing of last year’s fiery but rushed anti-war broadside ‘Living With War’.

Granted, It’s not a patch on the drool-inducing tracklisting of the legendary abandoned 1977 album it’s bafflingly named after. Neither is it the kind of knockout punch delivered on Bob Dylan’s recent “comeback” trilogy. ‘Chrome Dreams II’, though, is what fans have been expecting in vain for aeons - a new Neil Young album well worth the asking price.