No stranger to controversy, Neil Young [ tickets ] once again steps up to the plate and hits a metaphorical home run with his anti-war/anti-Bush album "Living with War."

Conceptualized and recorded in just a matter of weeks, Young and company released the album in its entirety in digital format earlier this month, with hard copies hitting the retail stores the following week. Don't want to pony up the cash? Well, Neil wants you to hear his album anyway--it's streaming on his website.

Another political album from an aging Boomer, but what about the music? Neil Young [ tickets ] has never been afraid to take risks, and that daring streak has led to some less than interesting fare from time to time (see: the 1980's catalog). But when he is on, he is on, and "Living with War" is turning out to be one of those moments, agenda be damned. This is a genuine rock and roll call-to-arms, Neil Young style.

Unlike the mostly acoustic 2005 album "Prairie Wind," "Living with War" sees Young don his rock-and-roll cap from the first track on out. Choppy distortion, boom-thwack drums, and call-and-response, choir-sung choruses reinforce the angst, questioning and rage that envelope the album. Taking on different characters' viewpoints and giving them a voice, Young can sing "don't need no more lies" and "let's impeach the President" without sounding heavy-handed. He succeeds here where some of his contemporaries, while well meaning (Steve Earle), have come off short of the mark.