“Fork in the Road” is Neil being Neil. The always politically active singer-songwriter and his band are commenting this time on the state of the American dream: bailouts, cars, driving, and the open road — and the impact on our environment. Every song is connected in some way to a car theme and the overall sound is raw “garage rock” (no pun intended) marked by growling guitars and Neil’s trademark falsetto. The CD was completed in tandem with Young’s successful effort to convert a 1959 Lincoln Continental into Lincvolt — a hybrid that runs on green biofuel and gets at least 100 miles to the gallon. Neil drove Lincvolt to Washington to demonstrate the feasibility of his conversion. He also created a 43-minute film called “Get Around”, which features Neil singing (hands-free, I assume) his songs on an evening drive in Lincvolt. A preview is at http://www.neilyoung.com/forkintheroad/getaroundpreview.html.
— Francis
FCC on #10 “…fucking war” and “sounds like shit”
Recommended: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9.

1. (4:14) ** Fuzzy guitar chords and big backbeat. Vocals reminiscent of Neil from an earlier era.
2. (3:11) Faster tempo, more “whiny” vocals, somewhat repetitious.
3. (3:31) *** Big rock and roll opening leads into another comfortable Neil Young vocal with the hook “Just singing a song won’t change the world…”
4. (4:18) *** The “single”: Faster tempo, lots of hooks, tells the story of the “heavy metal Continental”.
5. (4:38) Wry commentary about today’s economic crisis. “Cough Up the Bucks” line repeated annoyingly.
6. (3:08) *** Shift of gears to a driving bluesy sound and some double entendre lyrics.
7. (3:22) ** Downshift to a more mellow sound — Neil at his most melodic, nice harmonies in the chorus.
8. (3:36) Raspy, fuzzy guitars return — a 1960s feel to this.
9. (3:01) *** Neil and an acoustic guitar — more like Harvest or After the Goldrush than the sound on the rest of the CD.
10. (5:47) Drivin’, rockin’ finish with Neil speaking the biting lyrics. Unfortunately, two FCC’s in this one.