Are You Passionate? (2002)

I love Otis Redding. I’ve been listening to Otis, Stax, and soul music as long as I’ve been listening to Neil. My wedding dance was Otis. I’m looking at an original 45 of “These Arms of Mine” on my office wall. So when I press play on Are You Passionate? and hear that classic Memphis soul sound, I’m primed to be favorable. Booker T. and the MGs are as legendary as the Meters in the world of soul. They shaped the Stax/Volt sound. So why didn’t I listen to this album when it came out? I’m sure I was down the wormhole on some other music at the time, but honestly, I just didn’t know or pay attention to the band on the album. I’m glad I decided to listen to the recently released Toast before diving into this album. There’s a lot of context from that knowledge that will inform this review.

I quite enjoy “You’re My Girl.” It’s exactly what it’s meant to be, a song that sounds like a Stax song, but with Neil singing on it. Neil doesn’t quite have the vocal force to pull this off, though, which is something that will be systemic. But the band sounds perfect. This is not a song shared with Toast, but “Mr. Disappointment” is (“How Ya Doing?”) and I really think the Toast version is much better, if only for not having the gravelly, fake sounding vocal Neil uses here. The low menacing guitar growl is pretty cool, though. Honestly, Neil’s whole guitar part on this sounds great. But that vocal style! No, Neil, no.

Not much of a fan of “Differently,” as it doesn’t sound like Neil or the MGs. It’s more like an 80s soft rock song, with a pretty lackadaisical vocal and a too polished rhythm. “Quit (Don’t Say You Love Me)” is quite similar to the Toast version, so much so that I needed to check this isn’t a shared recording (there’s one of those later), but perhaps a tad tighter. The strangest song on this strange album is “Let’s Roll,” the ubiquitous 9/11 anthem that finds Neil putting on a lame country rock voice as he inhabits a member of United Flight 93. It’s very bad. Not only does it lack any nuance, but it sounds like a parody of The Sopranos theme song, zapping it of any sincerity. Of all Neil’s cringiest moments, this might take the cake. And that it’s situated in the middle of a soul music meditation on the nature of his marriage is the most bizarre aspect.

Moving on, the title track is akin to “You’re My Girl” in that it feels like it plays to the band’s strengths again, but somewhat letdown by Neil’s range. Overall, this album is Neil doing that 80s experiment again, taking on a new persona to explore a type of music he loves (he’s a true fan, too) but feeling too awkward to pull it off. “Goin’ Home” is the true overlap between this album and Toast, since it’s the same recording with Crazy Horse, although a slightly different mix. It’s a great song in both places, but makes no sense on Are You Passionate? Pounding, almost tribal drums and up front lead guitar riffs is not a staple of soul music. It’s a curious addition when Toast was a finished product on the shelf.

“When I Hold You In My Arms,” aside from Booker’s lovely organ, is a bit half-baked. It’s so close to be a good track, but never quite locks in. The backing vocals and the guitar solo sound like they are from separate songs. To illustrate what’s wrong with that song, look no further than “Be With You,” which is a perfect replication of the Stax sound, it should have been the template for the album. “Two Old Friends” is an odd amalgam of Neil’s folk side and soul side, but with a lot of overdriven guitar for some reason. Again, it seems to belong on another album. It’s not a bad song and Neil’s guitar tone is quite nice throughout. It’s just straddling too many worlds at once.

The last song, “She’s a Healer,” is another Toast remake and I prefer the original (“Boom Boom Boom”). They are close, but the song benefits from a looser, more raw feeling that Crazy Horse gives it. The drums alone patter along too much like a looped backing track to give the album any of the blues it’s striving for. Which takes nothing away from the rock solid Steve Potts. It just doesn’t fit the vibe of this song, and based on Toast’s take, this song is all about the vibe. Ultimately that’s what’s lacking from Are You Passionate? By using a professional backing band used to playing a particular style of music with precision, it robs Neil of that loose “in the moment” atmosphere he has cultivated in his career. It’s what ultimately makes Neil, Neil. Impeccable songwriting with all the scaffolding kicked over. When the scaffolding is too buttoned down, he loses the source.

Top 3:

1. Be With You
2. You’re My Girl
3. Goin’ Home (To be honest, this song is the best song on the album, but “Goin’ Home” really belongs to another album and my top two are the best examples of this album’s predominant sound.)

Cut song: Let’s Roll (Kill it with fire, please.)

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