Neil Young vs. Prince

TS: Neil's "Cinnamon Girl" versus Prince's.

TS: Prince's "Scarlet Pussy" vs. Neil's

That other thread missed a golden opportunity -

My name is Neil
And I am Shakey

tough call for me since I consider Prince a better guitarist than Neil & probably a better, certainly a more versatile songwriter but my #1 songwriter deal is jams that make me cry and "Sometimes it Snows In April" is great & all but Neil can break out three dread-of-living-with-all-this-grief tunes before lunch & still have time to shred a wicked solo

My name is Neil
And I am Shakey
I did not come to fuck around
Til I get yo weed I won't leave this town

I'm pretty sure Neil can perform an awesome, awesome version of "Purple Rain."

and I can hear Prince doing a desolate version of "Pardon My Heart."

man I just got wet thinking of Prince covering the entirety of Zuma.

I want songs that make me want to cry and dance at the same time, so prince, prince, prince.

There's a quite a few NY songs about dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKXHdqJXtSY&feature=related

There's a quite a few NY songs about dancing

yeah but if I were at a club dancing and somebody tried to play some Neil Young I would locate the DJ and beat his ass whereas if he plays Prince, he will get a generous tip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftfNzAeO4eY

Also "Dance Dance Dance"

about dancing is not the same thing as dancing. These songs do not convince me.

yeah, hope you don't break anything dancing to neil young

I could dance to "Sample and Hold."

yeah, hope you don't break anything dancing to neil young

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Wondering what would be Prince's most Neil Young-esque song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCC9HVx7Ba0

Eric Weisbard said that one's closer to eighties Lou Reed, and I agree.

Yeah, I was getting a Doug Yule era VU vibe while I was relistening to it.

prince's most neil young song "purple rain"

or maybe "batdance"

Yeah, I was getting a Doug Yule era VU vibe while I was relistening to it.

Nothing Compares 2 Yule

The greatest pop musician of the last 30 years versus some old rock & roll fogey - not a hard choice.

Don't think Prince would appreciate you calling him a fogey.

Neil Young 1990 to present versus Prince 1990 to present might get different poll results than this one

TBH the only Neil Young songs I know are "Piece of Crap" and "Knocking on Heaven's Door", but they're about as good as lesser Prince B sides.

You know "Piece of Crap"? Cool.

knockin on heaven's door is definitely one of his best

They used to play the music video a lot on Finnish TV when it was a hit, it kinda stuck to my head.

(x-post)

'piece of crap' is a song i dimly remember from the radio, but i've spent 16 years thinking it was frank black

schooled

Wait Tuomas you don't know 'Keep On Rockin' In The Free World'?!

lol Tuomas

but "Piece of Crap" is a Hootie & the Blowfish cover!

Neil was better for longer (and probably still has some interesting music in him, whereas I've written off Prince). But I dunno this is a tough call

Thread needs Lex to claim to have only heard "Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze" or sumhtin'

Wait Tuomas you don't know 'Keep On Rockin' In The Free World'?!

Oh yeah, that's the one I meant! I always mix it up with "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (which I guess isn't a Neal Young song at all).

Neil Young found that when using a vocoder when communicating to his son (who was born with cerebral palsy), he was able to elicit a better response.[citation needed] The emotional power of this experiment shows in the lyrics, particularly in the track "Transformer Man" with the lines "So many things still left to do / But we haven't made it yet."[original research?]

which I guess isn't a Neal Young song at all

LOL, Neale Jung

Neil did do a great version of "Knockin' Boots", though.

Neil covered "Gett Off" during one of his last Farm Aid appearances.

Neil Young found that when using a vocoder when communicating to his son (who was born with cerebral palsy), he was able to elicit a better response.[citation needed] The emotional power of this experiment shows in the lyrics, particularly in the track "Transformer Man" with the lines "So many things still left to do / But we haven't made it yet."[original research?]

"Every morning when I look in your eyes
I feel electrified by you"

could kinda boil this down to Rockin in the Free World vs. Sign o' the Times

When Hawks & Doves Cry

young. find me a prince performance where he looks as *truly* lost in the moment as young at glasto a few years back. plus youngs current band is much better than princes band who should prob be playing at someones wedding.

find me a prince performance where he looks as *truly* lost in the moment as young at glasto a few years back. plus youngs current band is much better than princes band who should prob be playing at someones wedding.

these are pretty arcane criteria man

didn't Prince cover Neil Young's "Mr. Tambourine Man" on one of his 80s albums, the one with the cover of that Hindu Love Gods song?

I'd vote for Neil over Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Robinson, Joan of Arc, Groucho Marx, etc. But, dispassionately, I'll concede there's a case for Prince.

xpost yeah it was a medley with Dylan's "Horse With No Name" iirc

Are you serious? Choice of session musicians is something you're that bothered about?

I've seen both Prince and Neil Young in the last two or three years and, great as Young was, Prince trounced him on pretty much every conceivable level.

depends what your levels are.

Musicianship - Prince
Songs - Prince
Singing - Prince
Stage presence - Prince
Energy - Prince
Crowd interaction - Prince
Awesome backflips - Prince

http://i46.tinypic.com/11rc652.jpg

Plaid shirts - Neil.

Inneresting words like "inneresting" - Neil.

Awesome backflips - Prince

Are you sure?

lol euler

and i think this whole poll should just be summed up as:
Neil Young - Neil Young
Prince - Prince

Whiny voice - Neil
Deranged stare - Neil
One note guitar solos - Neil
Twenty minute one note guitar solos - Neil

Canadian citizenship - Neil (always a plus).

I thought he was an American citizen these days?

He's not Canadian, he's from Minnesota (but close enough).

Musicianship - young. prince can play sure, but half the time its just being flash. which gets boring quick. plus half the time its prince playing great backed by a band that is not so great cos hes so egocentric.
Singing - Prince is more able but young does ragged and weary better than princes technically excellent but ultimately sterile and piercing falsetto.
Stage presence - ok, Prince
Energy - Prince. he does more medleys than anyone else. and rearranges his songs to make them sound shittier than they ever were better than anyone else.
Crowd interaction - this is really overrated. sometimes i dont want the artist to always try and get me involved. i paid the ticket to see the ARTIST move around and play. i didnt pay so i could do it for them.

I guess I assumed dual citizenship...Wikipedia still calls him "a Canadian singer-songwriter." Truthfully, not sure.

Pretty sure he's been an American citizen for a long time now

Neil has never been an American citizen and he isn't one now

also Prince is French

love rust-era neil to death, but i can't think of any sense in which i genuinely prefer him to prince

Wikipedia again (sorry): "he retains Canadian citizenship, which he has never wanted to relinquish."

wow, now I understand why ppl give tichy so much shit

princes technically excellent but ultimately sterile and piercing falsetto
princes technically excellent but ultimately sterile and piercing falsettoprinces technically excellent but ultimately sterile and piercing falsetto
princes technically excellent but ultimately sterile and piercing falsetto

fwiw i do own more prince albums than neil young ones lol

Neil hasn't started giving away his albums free with crappy British tabloids yet. So Prince wins there. Or does he?

no. hes basically reduced himself to a freebie/covermount status. like the crap you chuck in the bin after buying uncut or mojo.

Yes. Shame. But at least I don't have to actually buy his latest crap album.

actually the similarities between these two artists is kinda spooky. For instance did you know that Neil Young had a secretary named Nikki Prince who told him not to sign with Geffen? while Prince's mother's maiden name was Young, and his favorite doll as a child was a Pocahontas doll? And that "A Man Needs A Maid" was originally called "A Prince Needs A Maid"?

Prince's last name is Nelson. Admiral Nelson had an affair with Lady Hamilton. Hamilton is a town in Ontario. Neil Young sung a song about a "town in North Ontario"

young had an album called time fades away. prince basically created a group called the time (who also kinda faded away).

Dark-horse candidate for Prince's most Neil Young song: "Shy" off of The Gold Experience.

(It kind of reminds me of "Safeway Cart.")

I think Shy was kinda ill treated by the energetic rock arrangement Prince gave it. There's a white label remix of it out there which changes the backing to disco and reveals how good the tune is at heart.

Whoa -- never thought about that one ("Shy").

"energetic rock arrangement"? What planet are you on?

Another thing they share: big ol' rockabilly streaks.

Are you confusing "Shy" with "Endorphinmachine" or something?

oh wau @ at Neil Young covering "Endorphinmachine."

Would pay money to hear Neil do "Peach," specifically the line about "when her titties bounced." Bet NY would lean into that one.

*shudders*

Actually maybe Tuomas meant "Dolphin"? (btw LOL @ Neil Young covering "Dolphin")

Neil Young could have written "Dolphin"! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?

Both of them also have mile-wide nature-imagery streaks obv.

can someone make an animated neil gif so we can compare it to prince-sex-stare.gif back-to-back?

and Prince could have done a fantastic job with "Danger Bird."

"Like a Hurricane" vs. "Purple Rain" obv.

"energetic rock arrangement"? What planet are you on?

Sorry, I actually mixed up "Shy" and "Shhh" from The Gold Experience. My post was supposed to be about "Shhh".

You mean "Shhh" the languid R&B slow jam? Or something else altogether?

Yeah "Shh", it has there really pointless drum rolls and rock guitar breaks, the remix gets rid of them and makes it better.

the tevin campbell one is still better.

two of my favorite musicians ever -- probably like neil's classic material better than prince's these days, and neil's new material by a million miles over prince's new material, so ill go for neil, but prince certainly shouldn't hang his head about this one.

btw, irrespective of my overall preference, i always thought prince's gtr playing to be way overrated ("the cross" being a notable exception that rules pretty hard) and neil's to be way underrated.

Given that pretty much every time I've ever seen Neil Young's guitar playing mentioned by anyone who isn't a prog-head it's been discussed with real agog, I can't quite grok the idea that he's an underrated guitarist.

Yeah "Shh", it has there really pointless drum rolls and rock guitar breaks, the remix gets rid of them and makes it better.

I'll try to hear that remix but if you think his quiet-storm arrangement (w/drums and guitars, gosh) is "energetic rock" I'm going to continue thinking you're living on Mars.

No, no, Matos --69 meant Neil TENNANT's guitar playing.

i can see that some people might underrate neil (young that is) on a technical level. He plays that big, Crazy Horse style a lot of the time, but on some non crazy horse stuff you can hear that he's pretty accomplished.

haha "accomplished" (the lols are for the idea itself, not tylerw for bringing it up); NY's best playing is usually his sloppiest

When I tried to think of a Young song with "subtle" playing or picking I thought of "Pardon My Heart," "Thrasher," some of the other softer moments from On the Beach and ATGR; but then I realized I was confusing the delectable melodies for great playing.

NY's best playing is usually his sloppiest

oh yeah, i agree that the neil young "sound" -- that huge monstrous distorto fuzz -- is the best, for the most part. but there are live bootlegs where you realize that he's capable of doing a lot more. I mean, he's not Steve Vai or anything ... and thank god.

what i mean is, people who think neil young's "sloppy" playing is not underrated have overrated taste

i think we should lock titchy and tuomas in a room feeding each other misinformed opinion and poor research until someone's head pulls a scanners.

http://www.scifi-universe.com/upload/galeries/images_film/the_thing_with_two_heads/the_thing_with_two_heads_img1.jpg

^^^l-r: titchy, tuomas after ILM-mandated surgical procedure

leave room there for geir

i think we should lock titchy and tuomas in a room feeding each other misinformed opinion and poor research until someone's head pulls a scanners.

You think people actually do "research" for threads like this?

everything i write has been tested for accuracy.

I rely only on the most trustworthy of sources, i.e. my ass.

i dont even like neil young as much as prince, but it was obvious how this thread was going to go so i felt it necessary to root for young. plus prince has been shit for so many years i dont really have the fanboy love for him that i used to.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Prince,tho i flipped a coin to decide

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

sign o the times

whoa....squeaker. there are no losers in this poll

er guess I shoulda put neil young in the canon tournament

I like to assume Prince died sometime in the 90s, but c'mon ... he should've won by a mile.

i would've voted Prince.

surprised at this

I voted ny but only because I thought it was gonna be 3-1 prince

i don't remember if i voted or not. would've gone w/prince easily.

not to dis neil young but...

forgot to vote, but would've voted neil.

mile-wide nature-imagery streaks: I love "Be the Rain" (still would've voted Prince had I noticed this)

Argh, would have voted Prince and just came back to, but I was not logged in and at work when I saw it yesterday.

this is a classic example* of why "oh [x] is going to win by a landslide so I'll vote [y] to make it close" is not the best way to approach a poll

* btw, lol

ya, i don't understand that. nobody's feelings are going to get hurt one way or the other!

totally okay with these poll results myself, dudes are basically a tie in my book