I can always remember, I don't know, I must have been no more then 5 or 6 coming home from school of a lunch time and finding my mum and grandma sitting as close to the radio as possible listening to desert island discs, how, I wondered at the time, could music be so important to peoples lives, so important infact that other people would want to give their time to listen to other peoples favourite songs.

Well of course now after being involved with music for well over 30 years I can quite understand how certain songs stick in your mind forever and although I would find it very hard to choose my 12 favourite songs of all time I know for a fact that 1 or 2 of them certainly would be by Neil Young.

Ever since I was introduced to the now classic "Harvest" and "After the Goldrush" I've been captivated by Young's ability to tell stories through music and "Are You Passionate" his 38th album to date and his first since 2000s "Silver and Gold", simply reinforces Young's position as a master singer/songwriter.

For "Are You Passionate", Mr. Young has teamed up with members of Booker T and the MGs so it comes as no surprise to tell you that passionate has a very soulful tone to it, evident from the opening number the outstanding "You're My Girl".

Elsewhere the despairing "Mr. Disappointment" and the motown-tinged "Be With You" also stand out as does the bluesy "When I Hold You In My Arms" and the 9 minute epic "Going Home" which includes the entire Crazy Horse line up.

But I couldn't finish this review without mentioning one more song, "Lets Roll", this was inspired by the tragic events of September 11 but unlike a lot of songs that are around at the moment this one is done with so much care and quality it simply reinforces what I've said earlier about Young being a master of his craft.

Quite simply "Are You Passionate" is living proof that quality never goes out of fashion, long may you run Mr. Young long may you run.
Highly recommended.

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Review by Andy Wagstaff