Although his albums have boasted an astounding array of sonic landscapes throughout his career, Neil Young is a consistent songwriter who strives for a certain lyrical intensity, but whose form rarely deviates from a traditional folk-country foundation. This is true even for those albums rock critics tend to list as among his worst, but which I consider among his best — the synth-rock Landing on Water and the (mostly) electronic Trans. On Are You Passionate?, Young enlists the great soul organist Booker T. Jones and the equally great bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, thus assimilating the influence of 60s soul into his music more directly than ever before.

Indeed, the first cut, “You're My Girl,” rather forthrightly evokes the Temptations’ "My Girl.” Throughout the album, the music bridges the gap between Young's garage rock attack and the slick Motown and gritty Atlantic/Stax sound, and thus augments the dominant theme of Young's best work from Rust Never Sleeps and beyond: the gap between youthful idealism and the reality of experience. Young is such a prolific songwriter that it's difficult to guess if the emotions evoked in his lyrics are indeed personal or if he's telling a story (the way country music artists say they do on radio station promos), but there's no doubt that on this batch of (mostly) love songs, Young is passionate to the max. The only contemporary CD I can think of that evokes such despair, hope, compassion, and loneliness, all inspired by love or the lack thereof, is Dylan's Time Out of Mind.

Like Dylan, Young has no problem writing about current events. The first song from this CD to gain media attention is “Let's Roll,” which were the last words spoken via cell phone of passengers who thwarted one set of hijackers on 9/11. Clearly this was an idea that could have been mawkish and awful, just the sort of thing the writers for The Onion were thinking of when they wrote their satire of President Shrub asking ballad singers to exercise restraint "because the nation has suffered enough.” Instead, the lyrics evoke the grim determination those citizens must have felt when they realized 9/11 was a good day to die. As with the rest of the album, the instrumental backing is stark and resolute. It's followed by the only contribution that Crazy Horse makes to the set: the pounding garage rock of "Going Home". It's one of the few occasions when Young's guitar really cuts loose, and the emotional release of the song proves that Young has not only grown as a writer through the years, he's become an excellent programmer as well.

I realize Neil Young is an acquired taste. You either find his voice evocative or it sends you screaming from the room. I don't believe this CD will change anyone's mind about him, but for those who are willing, Are You Passionate? is highly recommended.

—Arthur Byron Cover