Paradox (2018)

If I’m reading Neil Young Archives right, most of Paradox was recorded and filmed in the middle of recording The Visitor in 2017. That’s surprising, given how different Paradox feels from The Visitor. The sound of Paradox is like a combination of Peace Trail and Dead Man, although the Paradox version of “Peace Trail” with Promise of the Real is unfortunately more akin to the commercialized smoothness of The Visitor than its album rendition. Of course, the film Paradox is very much not commercial, and so some inconsistency of sound and style throughout the soundtrack is very fitting. Its useful to divide the soundtrack into a couple categories:

1. Legacy Neil Young songs: previously released songs presented as is or in live versions
2. Freeform interstitial music: instrumental passages like Dead Man
3. Campfire songs: Frequently led by Lukas Nelson or Promise of the Real

The film Paradox was written and directed by Daryl Hannah and stars Neil, Promise of the Real, Elliot Roberts, and a few others. The story is ostensibly about a band of outlaws hiding out in the mountains, but it’s really about a band hanging out in period dress and occasionally playing some songs. The “acting” is not great and the filming of the actors reminds me a lot of film school productions I saw in college. On the other hand, there are a lot of thematic scenes that are simply gorgeous tableaus of Colorado, that could have worked as a movie in their own right.

The majority of the music on the soundtrack are referred to as “passages” and this is overall the best stuff for me. It’s frequently just Neil on Old Black playing atmospheric instrumental score like Dead Man. In fact, combining those passages with the Dead Man passages would be a pretty cool instrumental album. Occasionally there will be some acoustic strumming as well, including a clip of the “Show Me” riff (which is included in its full Peace Trail incarnation as well). Some day, I’d love to hear Neil do a purely instrumental record. His acoustic playing is simply gorgeous, and Old Black sounds like no other guitar.

“Show Me” is the first legacy Neil song that shows up on the soundtrack, but there are a few others as well. There is the very sanitized and less interesting “Peace Trail” with Promise of the Real that I mentioned above. I really dislike their backing vocals on this. One of Peace Trail’s strengths was how stripped down and rough it felt. This version is made for easy listening. The next song is a 2014 pump organ rendition of “Pocahontas.” I understand why Neil used this here, but I’m not a fan of this version at all. Neil’s voice is awkward and the pump organ does not work as well as an acoustic on this song for me. However, it’s followed by “Cowgirl Jam,” which is an instrumental version of “Cowgirl in the Sand” Neil and POTR performed at the festival Desert Trip in 2016. It’s pretty great, definitely a highlight of this album. I’m not sure what inspired Neil to leave out the vocals on this classic, but the song has always been a jam song in concert, so this is kind of the purest form of it in some ways. It lacks the rough abandon of Crazy Horse, but POTR replaces that with a solid foundation for the guitars to go wild on. The last Neil song is “Tumbleweed,” in the Mixed Pages of Storytone version. This feels included mostly because it’s about Daryl. Which…aw.

The last category of music on the soundtrack is what I’m calling “campfire songs” (many have a location credit of “Campfire Pit, Malibu”) and it’s basically all the times Neil and the band play music together on set in a casual way. There are two highlights among them. “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” is a very beautiful cover of the Willie Nelson song and sung by his son, Lukas Nelson of Promise of the Real. It’s somewhat magical and was reportedly a very spontaneous performance. The other song I want to mention was actually recorded in a studio, but it has the feel of an off the cuff jam, “Running to the Silver Eagle.” Its my favorite piece on the soundtrack and feels completely natural and original, something I don’t often get with Neil’s work with Promise of the Real. What I said with The Visitor was that often it sounds like Neil guesting on someone else’s songs. Maybe because it’s instrumental, but this feels like a great collaboration between them, creating something original. I’d like to hear that more. For all the criticism I have, they are talented musicians.

Top 3:

1. Running to the Silver Eagle
2. Cowgirl Jam
3. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

Cut song: this version of Peace Trail

A short word on the film Paradox. There are moments of startling beauty here and I’m fine with loose narratives as long as it all adds up to something memorable. I’d have to say this is not memorable, though. The acting is awkward and feels like all those moments in 80s music videos when musicians try to act. That said, I applaud everyone involved for giving their all to such a big undertaking. I truly believe they did this in the spirit of art and friendship, and that’s a worthwhile endeavor no matter the result.

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