Personnel includes: Neil Young (vocals, guitar, piano); Frank "Poncho" Sanpedro (vocals, guitar); Booker T. Jones (vocals, organ, vibraphone); Donald "Duck" Dunn (vocals, bass); Ralph Molina (vocals, drums); Pegi & Astrid Young (vocals); Tom Bray (trumpet); Billy Talbot (bass); Steve "Smokey" Potts (drums, bongos, tambourine).

Producers: Neil Young, Booker T. Jones, Duck Dunn, Poncho Sampedro.

Engineers include: Tim Mulligan, John Hanlon, Aaron Prellwitz.

Recorded at The Site, Marin County, California and Toast, San Francisco, California.

Neil Young had been playing with Booker T. & the MG's since the mid-'90s, touring heavily with the Stax house band, but the soul grooves on 2002's Are You Passionate?, the first album he cut with the group as a backing band, still come as a surprise. It could be because that even when he assembled the Bluenotes for the proto-neo-swing This Note's for You, he never tried to be as warm, seductive, and romantic as he does here. That's right, the title is no joke -- this is a romantic album, grounded with tight Southern soul rhythms and dressed in Young's signature fuzz-tone Les Paul. No matter the topic of the song, the essential sound is the same: a lazy soul groove, built on what Booker T. & the MG's did in the late '60s, vamping over Neil's three chords as he croons, usually in a falsetto but sometimes in a gruff lower register, while kicking out a variation of "I Can't Turn You Loose" (most notably heard on the opener, "You're My Girl," but rearing its head elsewhere). This is even true of "Let's Roll," a song inspired by the final words of Todd Beamer, one of the passengers on Flight 93 who helped overtake terrorists intent on flying a plane into Washington D.C.; though it's one of the first major post-9/11 songs, written by an artist notorious for his support of Reagan, it is neither reactionary nor all that moving -- mostly, it just sounds like another mid-tempo groover on an album filled with them. And that's the main problem with the record -- though it reads well on paper and is certainly more ambitious than any Neil Young record in years, the songs aren't distinctive or developed, and apart from the rather muscular, Crazy Horse-backed "Goin' Home," they're all delivered in the same fashion and all blend together. Instead of sounding like a refreshing change of pace, it's a muddled, aimless affair from an artist who's had too many middling efforts over the last decade. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

In combining members of his longtime band Crazy Horse and those of more recent accompanists Booker T. & the MG's, Neil Young effectively fuses the gritty guitar-rock of his salad days with churning soul grooves on ARE YOU PASSIONATE? The '60s R&B influence is clear from the start, with opening cut "You're My Girl," which sounds like a cross between vintage Motown and one of Booker T.'s lost gems, all chirping organ and faux-Temptations backing vocals.

Partially due to chronological circumstance, this album will probably come to be known to the larger world as the one that contains "Let's Roll." The song is Young's response to the World Trade Center attacks, the title coming from the reported call-to-arms of the passengers who brought down the plane targeted for the White House. In fact, ARE YOU PASSIONATE? is full of many more impressive tunes, not the least of which being "Going Home," which recalls Young/Crazy Horse's '70s work, the 3/4-time Otis Redding-style love ballad "When I Hold You in My Arms," and "Two Old Friends," perhaps the most striking tune, whose plea for tolerance rings truer and more open-hearted than "Let's Roll." As always, there's a boatload of Young's gloriously grungy guitar work to admire throughout the album as well.

Rolling Stone (4/11/02, pp.129-30) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Some of Young's breeziest groove music ever....Young as Soul Man? Believe it. This album hums on his timeless brand of fossil fuel: love that burns, faith that endures and guitar solos that keep searching for a heart of gold..."

Spin (6/02, p.103) - 7 out of 10 - "...Tapping into Soul helps Young emphasize the timelessness of his maverick-yet-marketable talent....and delivers a dose of that million-dollar guitar..."

Magnet (6-7/02, p.112) - "...The man proves as solid and reliable as a favored, aged steed..."

Mojo (Publisher) (April 2002, p.106) - "...Display[s]...the major qualitites inherent in Young's work - musical tension and decent-hearted profundity....ARE YOU PASSIONATE is an homage to Memphis soul and R&B..."

NME (Magazine) (4/6/02, p.36) - "...A collection fixated on how smashing his wife and family are....[Young] attempts to soften up his grizzled electric style with '60s R&B influences..."