neil young

oh shit decade

and #s of boots. sorry gang. read my lips, vote dead man

After The Gold Rush.

but On The Beach too. the title song makes me cry.

I voted Time Fades Away

this was already done.
Best of Neil Young studio records

This one has live albums.

Some of them, anyway. (Unplugged, Year of the Horse, Road Rock vol. 1)

Oh. The studio albums poll had the live albums too. Nevermind then.

I voted Ragged Glory because it needs more love and less rockism. That's a srsly good record, yo.

First person to vote "Old Ways" gets a dollar from me.

I voted for "Old Ways" just for the cash. You want my paypal address?

After The Gold Rush = the good songs are so good they make you forget about the bad ones

On The Beach = pretty much all good

I mean "When You Dance" is kind of endearing as a cornily sincere, b-level hippie artifact, but Cripple Creek Ferry is a real turd of a song, and Birds isn't great either.

I got to get away from this day to day running around

TRANS FTW!

Arc/Weld. The worst/best live albums ever.

Dead Man is actually really really good.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Tonight's The Night

closely followed by Goldrush and On The Beach

TTN is definitely my favourite - it's so fucked, so moving. Tender, ragged and rocking in equal measure.

Baby Mellow My Mind aches so hard - the swell of pedal steel, touch of lonesome barroom piano, and Neil's voice actually breaking up.

Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown rocks. It sounds so triumphant in its hedonism yet the undercurrent is utterly bleak.

Other favourites - Everybody Knows, Rust, Zuma, Time Fades Away, Sleeps With Angels, Live Rust. Hell, there hardly any poor ones. I've not heard the infamous Landing On Water, but Are You Passionate was bloody awful. Trans is ace though.

Ragged Glory is great fun, one of his most satisfying rock records, but I wouldn't quite put it in the top rung of Neil albums.

Harvest - handful of great songs and some dreary stuff too. Overall, it's too slick, too polite. I like Neil a little scuffed around the edges.

Rust Never Sleeps has Powderfinger, for the win.

Anyone else notice how Apatow kept dropping the cover of Landing On Water all over Knocked Up. What's the deal with that? Consensus aropund these parts on that album?

Rust Never Sleeps for "Powderfinger", but also because of the individually peculiar time and place in which I first loved this record. Also, it's an incredibly balanced album in so many ways I can't be bothered to expand on here.

Consensus aropund these parts on that album?

I noticed the curious product placement too, Tal. There's an interesting thread here devoted to Landing on Water.

no "none of the above"????

just snuck in a vote for tonight's the night. right in the nick of time.

emotion of the less contained and calculated variety

me for tonights the night, too. its so close though - there are better songs on zuma and everybody knows, and almost enough to give the nod to one of them, but TTN takes it

Yeah, Tonight's The Night would be my second or third and very close.

Rust Never Sleeps by a hair, for side one and Powderfinger alone (though nearly sunk by Welfare Mothers).

Oh c'mon, Welfare Mothers is great! My favorite Neil Young throwaway.

DIVORCEE

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

a 3-way tie this time then.

Fair result.

Wait. Zuma should've been much higher, though.

c'est vrai

Someone voted for Everybody's Rockin' again.

One vote for "Zuma"! No way!! This poll is corrupt!!!

"On the Beach" - there's an ILM album if ever there was one

Sleeps With Angels is way too high. And Freedom is way too low.

The fact that Zuma ranked below Trans completely invalidates this poll.

So, basically, I'm the only person who voted for "Zuma"? Don't believe it.

I wasn't around when CSN(and sometimes Y) were at their peak, so apologies for the following somewhat naive question:

How much of Neil Young's popularity in the 70s can be attributed to his association with CSN? The thought never really occurred to me until I was checking out CSN(Y)'s Allmusic entry today, which says "it was the only American-based band to approach the overall societal impact of the Beatles".

Personally, I like Neil Young exponentially more than CSN(Y), so my gut feeling is that the majority of Neil Young's fans were there on account of his own talent. But was there a certain contingency of fans who cheered loudest for "Ohio" and "Helpless", contemplating to themselves at the Live Rust concerts that it would be better if CSN were up on stage too? Or was it more like "Why the hell does Neil Young ever play with them? They butchered 'Helpless'..."? Just wondering what the prevalent view was back in the day.

When CSN and sometimes Y reunited for a predictably horrible album in 1988, Neil begged off the obligatory tour, saying, "I dunno man, those guys need some serious practice."

And that Allmusic statement strikes me as comically absurd.

Yeah, I admit it raised my eyebrow as well, but then I go the ILM search function, and the second thing I read on the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young C/D S/D thread is "i'm more interested in the fact that CSN(Y) (or whatever) were actually REALLY POPULAR and BIG -- as in springsteen in '85/outkast or britney spears BIG. that's such a radical sea-change in mass public musical taste that deserves some comment, no?"

On The Beach is very good, but would have voted Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, in fact i shall play it now

hi alex, how is the weather in denver? in frankfurt it has been raining most of the day. i would have voted <i>after the goldrush</i>, i think. but <i>on the beach</i> is a decent winner, too.

i will never learn the ilm html tags...

weird

it was the only American-based band to approach the overall societal impact of the Beatles

In their time their American album sales were HUGE. Their cultural cachet was such that their public greeted "Ohio" as a major statement. I'm wary of statements like AllMusic's, but the Shakey bio also makes the same suggestion.

CSNY were huge because the Byrds, the Hollies, and the Buffalo Springfield had all been huge before.

"bandit" is the first track on greendale to be alright, it's still a bit sluggish and neil's barely singing, mostly just whispering, but there's one really pretty section

greendale is great, bandit is a highlight

maybe give it a few spins, leave it, come back in a year or two

Greendale was love on first listen for me so I can't advise. The relatively laid-back vibe of the Horse is great for these down-home stories. And I think Neil's lyric-writing is at one of its all-time peaks here... less so on Sun Green and Be the Rain, where the soapbox overwhelms the storytelling, granted. But there are so many badass couplets and punchlines, almost everything rhymes but almost nothing feels forced... whenever I get to the fourth wall crumbling in Grandpa's Interview I'm pretty much guaranteed cry.

it's so dull! i can't care about the elaborate concept at all when the songs barely have tunes and most of the album is infinite plodding low-energy blues rock

prairie wind though is fine, similar in quality to silver & gold but with fuller instrumentation. the horns on a few tracks are maybe a bit much

it's so incredibly sluggish and these songs go on forever with nothing happening.

This is my opinion on all Neil after 1996 with the exception of a song or two that rises to the level of a C-. And I love almost all Neil before that point. He seems to have lost his ability to write original songs and is now writing in modes he previously used but now without any content.

-Obligatory Crazy Horse album (every album in GCD and is 20 minutes long)
-Folk mode concept album about an old muffler he found on the side of the road in 2001

"...marlon brando, that old muffler and me"

This is my opinion on all Neil after 1996 with the exception of a song or two that rises to the level of a C-

psychedelic pill is definitely way better than that - the epics do go on forever but it's really engaging jamming that rises well above how much of a bore greendale is. le noise is very unique and is pretty compelling overall. barn & toast are both decent enough (except "boom boom boom" which is dire) crazy horse albums even if neither really has anything new to say except the slight latin influence on some of toast.

I'm totally with ufo on the Greendale hate, and you didn't even mention the egregious use of bullhorn.

"ordinary people" rules, how did he not put it on freedom? this is easily the best thing from those sessions

i really don't like niko bolas as a producer though, the rest of chrome dreams ii has some alright tracks but somehow "ordinary people" demonstrates that bolas has gotten even worse at his job since the 80s. the mix is really ugly, the bass is barely audible and the drums have this really trebly sound that i thought people had left behind in the 80s but no it's somehow worse

"no hidden path" is by no means one of his better epics but it's alright and a huge step up from greendale in every way except the mix. it just seems to be really hard to mess up his epic jam vehicles but greendale's are reliably duds

I mentioned it upthread but the version of "ordinary people" from Bluenote Cafe is by far the best version

“Ordinary People” on chrome dreams II is actually a bluenotes recording from 1988, so that is probably the 80s element you’re hearing there.

No Hidden Path is such a warm & passionate song. Triumphant too. I spent a few years driving back and forth across the American West -- No Hidden Path is like the sonic version of how it felt to come up the highway and hit Grand Teton after hours traversing the Wyoming wind!

what i meant is that "ordinary people" is a recording that dates back to the 80s but sounds better than the rest of the album

hawks & dove is mostly forgettable. 3 decent outtakes & "the old homestead" (which i'm less fond of), then the second side is new country tracks which are bizarrely conservative but there's nothing else remarkable about them

reactor is just kinda unhinged. like, there's some decent playing here but the problem with "t-bone" is just how relentless that riff is, it's ridiculous. "shots" is the highlight but is similarly relentless and those gunshot noises are endearingly bizarre. also what was with all the overdubbed percussion on this album? they got really silly with it

My undying love of Side B of Hawks & Doves is probably where I truly go off the rails Neil fanhood-wise. I find it ingenious, and anything in the Neil decades ahead that reminds me of Side B of Hawks & Doves wins my heart immediately, which is why I go nuts over Fork in the Road and The Monsanto Years and the more numbskull songs on The Visitor. I love when Neil goes "bash-you-over-the-head simplistic". Those moves feel really canny to me in a way I cannot yet explain... Anyway, I always appreciated Christgau's H+D review: "what I want to know is whether the DEW-line boys in "Comin' Apart at Every Nail" launched a missile or let one slip through"

the problem with "t-bone" is just how relentless that riff is, it's ridiculous.

Which is what makes it great.

I also really like side 2 of Hawks & Doves--an EP's worth of bluegrass, like Trans being an EP's worth of vocoder fun, both discs filled out with unrelated tracks to make an album.

Even Everybody's Rockin' could be an EP's worth of '50s-style originals filled out with kinda obvious covers.

Also, Union Man is really funny. And thanks to how exactly they work out the "vocal arrangement", it never stops being funny.

Listened to Mirror Ball for the first time in a long time the other day, and damn! Always considered "I'm the Ocean" one of my fave Neil tracks, but this might be in my Top 5 of his albums.

Mirror Ball is vv underrated somehow, and it even was at the time of its release despite Pearl Jam still being a pretty hot commodity and Neil coming off one of his (i think) greatest albums.

world record is underrated!

mirror ball is a good album that came right after one of his very best three album runs and is unfortunately not on the same level as that

I’m surprised Mirror Ball landed at #5 in that year’s Pazz & Jop poll (with moderate enthusiasm, averaging over ten points per ballot). I’ll have to revisit it but “I’m the Ocean” and “Downtown” have always been favorites.

Also from the Mirror Ball sessions, we got Pearl Jam's Merkin Ball, two songs with Neil on guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB2W3vuzVGk

landing on water is confused but nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests. none of the songs are terrible but none are really great either. the big problem is the mix - why are the drums that high?
"weight of the world" is just a really scary song

life is the biggest surprise in that it's pretty decent, clearly the most successful of his 80s output. "inca queen" is lovely. all the 80s synths work well here straight forwardly for once

the big problem is the mix - why are the drums that high?

Because Neil is mad, and also because why would someone wish to mix Steve Jordan any lower!

i think it would have worked better with a drum machine really. the choir on a few tracks is a particularly odd choice. it's an endearing sort of mad at least

Also from the _Mirror Ball_ sessions, we got Pearl Jam's _Merkin Ball_, two songs with Neil on guitar: 📹

I Got ID is one of my favourite PJ songs and some of my favourite Neil guitar playing.

i'm probably not going to finish are you passionate? tonight but the problem seems to be that booker t. & the m.g.s provide incredibly slick backing but neil's voice doesn't work at all with that here, it's particularly rough at times. the songs are fine though

it's illuminating to compare "how ya doin'?" from toast to "mr. disappointment", "how ya doin'?" is wonderful and haunting while "mr. disappointment" is just awkward and every decision neil makes with his voice seems to be the wrong one

none of the songs are terrible but none are really great either.

"Hippie Dream" and "Drifter" are GREAT songs, canonical Young even.

there are better versions of "hippie dream" than the one on landing on water but in no world is it anywhere near his best work and neither is even the best on the album

I often don't pay attention to the lyrics, but these are unusually pungent ones, complemented by pungent riffs, so we disagree.

Also, I'm not so much a completist that I will inspect dozens of bootlegs for the Right Version. This isn't a putdown, it's just that time is short and albums are long.

i mean i don't really care if they are particularly strong lyrics when the music is what it is

i just looked around on youtube to see if there are live versions that might have illuminated what i might have been missing and quickly found that he's done rock versions of "hippie dream" live on a few tours and it's better like that but still nothing special

oh, I think it's a tune!

xpost I understand that attitude about bootlegs in the case of most artists besides Neil and Dylan, but they both made such weird and often wrong decisions about what they put out

i get the impression that neil's done a pretty good job at rectifying that with all the archival stuff at least

yes that's what I mean! as as Bob

Both artists' decision-making is almost perverse.

Both artists' decision-making is almost perverse.

Do you think the decision-making is perverse?

relistening to mirrorball now, this fucking cooks. i remember the uk press largely sneering at it on release, because outside melody maker and the metal mags pearl jam were roundly sneered at, and the nme snarked that, as a backing band, PJ made crazy horse sound like fela kuti's africa 70. but jack irons' drums are a treat throughout, and they are on fire throughout downtown. and eddie's backing vocals on peace and love are fantastic (as is the pipe organ). iirc eddie couldn't sing on more of the LP because he was dealing with all the shit around that woman who drove her car into his house because she thought he was jesus.

More Neil with "other bands": what really struck me about this was, despite the fact that Page McConnell's first solo album was made fun of by a usually diplomatic jamzine, his piano does okay here, and even, for me, opens up the song up a bit more---not really necessary, but refreshing(if it doesn't show, it's Neil and Phish at Farm Aid, "Down By The River"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuaMWxUcKY

Headline: Phish Actually Doesn't Suck (Here)!

And here he is w Led:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aFqjP1iuzY

neil almost unrecognisable with a beard in that phish video