Neil Young hits out at Monsanto, Walmart

New York

MELLOWING at nearly 70, Neil Young has taken up his electric guitar for a frontal assault on the power of big corporations including Monsanto and Walmart.

While the Canadian folk rock giant has long been known for left-of-center politics, the new album is extraordinary in its directness by attacking specific companies, down to the title, The Monsanto Years. On the album, which was scheduled to come out on Monday, Young casts himself as the champion of family farmers, Mom-and-Pop shops and ordinary consumers who he believes are getting hoodwinked by powerful corporations.