Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 74

Thread: Neil Young - what's essential, or just merely good, and what's not

  1. #1
    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Delft, the Netherlands
    Posts
    0

    Neil Young - what's essential, or just merely good, and what's not

    I'm in a Neil Young-listening mood. So I'm curious about the favorite albums on this forum.

    Mine:

    Essential albums for me are pretty much all of the seventies studio-albums, with or without Crazy Horse, while the live-album "Live Rust" is also strong. Within these, "Comes a Time" is my favorite, although "Every Knows This Is Nowhere" and "On The Beach" rank highly in my fictive personal top 10. I think actually the acclaimed "Harvest" is the overal weekest, while still very strong.

    As for the 80s, I think "Life" is unexpected good, and I'm therefore planning to revisit "Landing On Water" soon, to see if it's a long-overdue sleeper. But as for "Life", this one has 'When You're Lonely Heart Breaks' and 'Long Walk Home'.

    At the brink of the 90s there's "Ragged Glory", a great album. I do also like "Freedom", although I can't stand 'Keep on Rocking in the Free World'. Further up, I think "Harvest Moon" is great. I actually like it more than "Harvest", as it actually resembles "Comes A Time" more, to me.

    From then on I lost track. I've sampled some, but they didn't last an enduring impression. Folks tell me I should at least listen to "Living With War" (which I've been told resembles "Life" a bit), "Crome Dreams II" and "Le Noise", and stay far far away from "Forks In The Road" and "Prairie Winds".

    So, cast your votes please!

  2. #2
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    16,529
    Too much to even think about, but my favorite is usually Rust Never Sleeps. I also really like RE-AC-TOR and Trans.Somewhere in the early 90s I lost track with his albums, because he's just too prolific to keep up with.

  3. #3
    For a Crazy Horse live album, I'd go with Weld. That's got some great stuff on it, including a 12 minute Like A Hurricane. I like the LP version of Trans. Key word is the LP, because when Neil finally got around to reissuing it, he remixed a bunch of the songs. The thing I remember was that he totally ruined the Sample And Hold intro, which originally was just electric guitar playing that riff for a bar or two, but on the CD edition he adds this wobbly vibrato effect and drum machine on the intro. I don't remember what changes he made to the other songs, but when I heard what he did to that one song, I thought, "Man, what a putz!".

  4. #4
    (IMO)

    The immortally great:

    Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
    After the Gold Rush
    On the Beach
    Rust Never Sleeps

    Garden-variety great:

    Tonight's the Night
    Zuma
    Live Rust
    Ragged Glory
    Arc/Weld (live)
    At the Fillmore 1970
    Live at Massey Hall 1971

    Excellent:

    Time Fades Away
    Comes a Time
    Trans
    Freedom
    Harvest Moon (I like it more than Harvest, too).
    Sleeps With Angels
    Mirror Ball
    Broken Arrow
    Year of the Horse (live)
    Silver & Gold

    Still Pretty Good!

    self-titled debut
    Harvest
    Re·ac·tor
    Unplugged
    Dead Man Soundtrack
    Prairie Wind
    Living With War
    Chrome Dreams II
    Psychedelic Pill

    There are other NY albums that I consider to be of the "generically good" variety, but I would only recommend those to dedicated fans.

    Young also has several albums that I think range from mediocre to bad, but considering the amount of his output, these are surprisingly few, by proportion, in comparison to his contemporaries, IMO.

  5. #5
    Member Jerjo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    small town in ND
    Posts
    6,432
    I've only got a few Neil albums but Live Rust and Tonight's the Night are just killer classics.
    I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart

  6. #6
    Just passing through Sheerah's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
    Posts
    0
    There's an amazing DVD of Neil Young at Ryman Auditorium (Grand Ol' Opry).
    Put it in and listen!

  7. #7
    Big Neil Young fan here. Not much to say about the 70s, if you're a fan you've probably got them all. Side 2 of On The Beach might be my favorite album side of all time. Like the Live Rust versions of Rust Never Sleeps material, but Thrasher alone makes Rust Never Sleeps essential. Good to see someone else rating Comes a Time, seems like that one is passed over when his greats are named. I agree with the conventional wisdom that his 80s were patchy at best though there are some good tracks scattered around, Re-ac-tor's Southern Pacific for instance. I rate Hawks and Doves a bit higher than most but think Freedom is a bit over praised because of it was the end his "Un-Neil Young" albums. From the 90s, Ragged Glory and Harvest Moon are essential, but Sleeps With Angels is probably my favorite Neil album of that decade. I also have a soft spot for Broken Arrow since I saw him on that tour.

    2000s have thus far been back to iffy with, for me, a whole lot of disappointing releases. I've been digging Psychedelic Pill far more than anything he's put out in years. As for live Crazy Horse, Fillmore East set that came out with the Archives a few years ago and Year of the Horse are the ones I pull out the most.

  8. #8
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    At your banquet
    Posts
    0
    Fortunately, even Neil's worst stuff is better than most. Unfortunately, there just so much of the goddamned stuff. As David Crosby once said - "Neil writes so many good tunes it pisses me off!".

  9. #9
    Member kenneth8446's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Posts
    2
    I have to agree re: Rust Never Sleeps. Thrasher and Powderfinger are just the best examples of Neil's pastoral and kickass sides. "Look out, Mama there is a white boat coming up the river...".

    The mid 80's to mid 90's are a bit of a mystery to me. The 70's are mre my forte so some other person will have to address that.

  10. #10
    On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. I don't need anything else.
    I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.

  11. #11
    Member Oreb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    80
    Arc/Weld, After the Goldrush, Tonight's the Night and Rust Never Sleeps are the ones to own IMO.

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

  12. #12
    Member Ten Thumbs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Canada west coast
    Posts
    177
    " It's all one song " Neil says on one of the live albums as members of the crowd yell out different requests. There's only three or four I don't have any use for. Lately I've been enthralled with the Billy Talbot 'Alive in the Spirit World' cd, sort of a Sleeps With Angels feel for me. Time to put Le Noise in the car for the next drive.

  13. #13
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    in a cosmic jazzy-groove around Brussels
    Posts
    6,091
    Quote Originally Posted by Facelift View Post
    The immortally great:

    Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
    After the Gold Rush
    On the Beach
    Rust Never Sleeps

    Garden-variety great:

    Tonight's the Night
    Zuma
    Live Rust
    Ragged Glory
    Arc/Weld (live)
    At the Fillmore 1970
    Live at Massey Hall 1971
    Almost totally agree with this, though I'd raise Live Rust one echelon and add the Rust Never sleeps DVD in there... and I'd drop Goldrush (only Southern Man saves this "country album"


    Quote Originally Posted by Facelift View Post
    Excellent:

    Time Fades Away
    Comes a Time
    Trans
    Freedom
    Harvest Moon (I like it more than Harvest, too).
    Sleeps With Angels
    Mirror Ball
    Broken Arrow
    Year of the Horse (live)
    Silver & Gold

    Still Pretty Good!

    self-titled debut
    Harvest
    Re·ac·tor
    Unplugged
    Dead Man Soundtrack
    Prairie Wind
    Living With War
    Chrome Dreams II
    Psychedelic Pill
    However I strongly disagree with this part of your list (save Psych Pill... that I haven't heard yet)

    Ok, this isn't the bottom third either (well Trans comes close >> I'd exchange it with Greendale or Stars & Bars in this particular list), but calling this "excellent and still pretty good" seems a little too fanboyish to me
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  14. #14
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    At your banquet
    Posts
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by Ten Thumbs View Post
    "It's all one song" Neil says on one of the live albums as members of the crowd yell out different requests.
    More accurately in response to someone yelling "It all sounds the same!". Hilariously clever on Neil's part.

  15. #15
    Member Wounded Land's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    A hotel where nobody stays
    Posts
    93
    I'm not nearly as aware of his discography as some of you (Facelift, dear God, man!), but the best I've heard is probably Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere.

    NP: Spock's Beard Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep

  16. #16
    Rust Never Sleeps and After the Gold Rush are two of my favorites, but I'll listen to any Neil. 1978-1979 was when I started buying a lot of my own albums. I remember Live Rust was one of the first. I wish I still had all that vinyl!

  17. #17
    Member progholio's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    st louis
    Posts
    786
    aw man, can't Neil & The Shocking Pinks' - Everybody's Rockin' get any love around here?

    that's the thing I've always loved about old Neil - the way he can release those great Crazy Horse records or something like Harvest and then veer way off course with things like Trans or Reactor or This Note's For You.

    not a clunker in the bunch if you ask me.

  18. #18
    It depends on the mood, so much to choose from I generally rotate thru them all. Higher frequency stuff

    Live at Massey Hall 1971
    At the Fillmore 1970
    Time Fades Away
    On the Beach
    After the Gold Rush
    Harvest
    Zuma
    Live at the Riverboat
    Comes a Time
    Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
    1st
    Sleeps with angels

  19. #19
    Member Oreb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    80
    With the exception of the stunning "A Man Needs a Maid" I've never understood the love for Harvest. Mostly boring faux-country stuff IMO.

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

  20. #20
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    At your banquet
    Posts
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by Oreb View Post
    With the exception of the stunning "A Man Needs a Maid" I've never understood the love for Harvest. Mostly boring faux-country stuff IMO.
    Yep. That one sucked.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Banquo View Post
    Yep. That one sucked.
    And I didn't care for Hawks and Doves, either

  22. #22
    Member nosebone's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Stamford, Ct.
    Posts
    1,528
    Quote Originally Posted by polmico View Post
    On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. I don't need anything else.
    Yeah and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

  23. #23
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    42°09′30″N 71°08′43″W
    Posts
    6,262
    I probably have more than 2/3 of his stuff and the only ones I don't really ever listen to are the Geffen ones.

  24. #24
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Coastal California
    Posts
    798
    I loves me some Neil, but never did the deep discography with him. My experience with his sprawling discography is pretty scattershot.

    IMO, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is an immortal rock record. I'd say the same for Live Rust.

    That said, Weld is a monster. It just depends on how much live Horse you want. I have a personal fondness for Freedom too. Neil feels invigorated on that one.
    Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.

  25. #25
    I always enjoyed what I heard of Neil on the radio in the '70s and '80s, but I didn't really become a fan until Freedom. My favorites since then are Ragged Glory, Sleeps With Angels, Harvest Moon (probably my favorite Neil album of all), Chrome Dreams II, and Psychedelic Pill.

    I've never gotten around to buying the older albums, but I love the Decade comp.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •