Neil Young – Mirror Ball

Mirror Ball is the 23rd studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, and features members of American rock band Pearl Jam. As grunge peaked in popularity in the early 1990s, some of the bands expressed admiration for Young’s career and influence. At least one music writer noted a similarity in ethos and style between the emerging genre and Young’s work, dubbing him the “Godfather of Grunge”. Of the younger groups, Young had a particularly close relationship with Pearl Jam. He explains, “We’re sympathetic. They’re definitely old souls—they’ve been around. Musically there’s youthful energy, but without the sound of inexperience. And our musical styles are compatible; it’s like a big wall of sound with a lot of nuances in there. Mirror Ball captures a loose rock sound. The album has a very raw sound to it, with songs ending in feedback and band members talking at the start and at the end of many songs, including Young remarking at the end of “Downtown”: “Well, we know that one. That’s funky.” Young wrote all of the tracks for the album except for “Peace and Love”, which was co-written by Young and Vedder. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic said “Pearl Jam boasts spirited rhythms and dense guitar interplay that Young makes excellent use of in a series of songs built out of simple, melodic riffs.