Seasoned Neil Young devotees will appreciate the subtle beauty of this record, and will find themselves licking their chops at particularly gripping performances such as the nostalgic "Buffalo Springfield Again," which is as powerful as Neil gets when it is just the man and his guitar.

More casual or younger fans might have difficulty with less accessible tunes like the languid but gorgeous "Red Sun," which has a Celtic tinge to it and showcases Emmylou Harris on vocals, or the equally subtle "Distant Camera" and "Razor Love."

Silver & Gold is billed as Neil's first truly "solo" album, and so you will only hear Neil singing most of the time. Gone are the power punch choruses, teeming with multiple voices that pump the songs full of fire as on Neil's best folk records. Where past songs like "Hank To Hendrix" and "Old Man" launch out of the speakers with fully realized vocals and tight harmonies that are the stuff of radio hits, Silver & Gold offers the lonely crooning of a songwriter who has seen everything, traveled to the limits of desire and back, and confronted every emotion and experience imaginable.

But where the songs don't deliver rich choruses, they make up for it with tasty bursts of guitar, drums and harmonica that are destined to get listener's heads bobbing around. Like 1974's On The Beach, the intimacy of these songs make you feel like Neil recorded this album in your living room; it is some of the most comfortable music he has ever put to tape. Like Lou Reed's recent Set the Twilight Reeling, Silver & Gold is the relaxed chronicle of one genius's 50-plus years of experience. Hopefully, this album marks a continuance, and not an end, to that remarkable run through generations of fans.