Prairie Wind, if you can believe it or not, is Neil Young's 30th studio record to date, and is his first album since his nearly fatal brain aneurysm last year. It's also his first album since his father's passing, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to hear that's primarily what's on his mind. Bound in country roots like previous releases such as Harvest, Comes a Time and Silver & Gold, Prairie Wind is an album that looks to the past fondly, and certainly feels like a tribute to Older Youngs. On the excellent "Falling Off The Face Of The Earth," Young sings in a broken heartfelt voice "I just want to tell you, you sure mean a lot to me. It may sound simple, but you are the world to me." And on "Far From Home," thoughts of dad are definitely at the forefront with the opening lines "When I was a growing boy rockin' on my daddy's knee, daddy took an old guitar and sang 'bury me on the lone prairie'".

Even with all the country inflections and being recorded in Nashville, Prairie Wind has to be the least country sounding of Young's so-called country records. Young and producer Ben Keith might as well have recorded this album at Muscle Shoals with all the horn arrangements that are scattered about here. And to be honest, the horns hinder, not help most of the songs. Also, the string arrangements on the overly long "It's a Dream" are overbearing to say the least. Overly long is actually the perfect way to describe half the songs here. Instead of being tightly knit, most of Prairie Wind, especially the self-titled track, feels drawn out and half-baked. But as far as sincerity goes, this is Young at his most personal; and I'll take an album like this over previous recent messy disasters like Are You Passionate? and Greendale any day of the week.