Neil Young never sits still for long.
Just a few months ago, his Jack White-produced album “A Letter Home” traded in the Crazy Horse-driven bombast of 2012's “Psychedelic Pill” for brittle nostalgia rendered in solo acoustic tones.
Now, he's shifting gears again.
Young's new tune “Who's Gonna Stand Up?,” from his upcoming album “Storeytone” is an extremely on-the-nose environmentalist plea aided by overproduced instrumentation including a 92-member orchestra and choir. Incredibly, the song was recorded live with no overdubs or additional tracking.
The lyrics are as straightforward as it gets, asking listeners to clean up, recycle, stop fracking, and take on the Big Machine, with the chorus nicely tying it all together: “Who's gonna stand up and save the Earth?/This all starts with you and me.”
Listen here:
If it's not to your taste, Young offers two completely different versions of the track on his official web site, including a churning electric version with Crazy Horse, and a simple acoustic take more in line with his most famous “Harvest” material.
Take a look at the single artwork here:
“Storeytone” will be released in November.