Neil Young and Crazy Horse performing in February, 2012.Chris Pizzello/The Associated Press
Out of the blue and into the past, Neil Young and his barn-rock Crazy Horse posse debuted the video for their new single this week. The song is Walk Like a Giant, an electric lament to a far-out social revolution that failed to stick. The recently reformed quartet does not appear in the video. Instead, a wild-haired atom-bomb builder (Albert Einstein) and a big-footed beast (Sasquatch) represent titans that were real and illusive, respectively.
"We could see it in the distance, getting closer every minute," sings Young, 66.
Having reunited one of his old bands and just this week releasing his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, the singer-songwriter and hurricane-like guitarist is in recall mode. Perhaps he's thinking of Danny Whitten, the former Crazy Horse guitarist done in by the needle in 1972, which is around the same time the heady idealism of the 1960s crashed.
Then again, the slogan for the band's current North American tour (which includes Ontario dates in London, Windsor and Kingston next week) is "Equal parts past, present and future." Young is on the roam again, big as ever by the sounds of it.
Brad Wheeler