neil young

strong supporter of the enhanced laughter sequence in 'over and over'

ha ha ha ha!

I had to go check how the studio version of The Days That Used To Be ends because the repeated "people say don't rock the boat" sounds like he forgot the real lyrics - but there aren't any there.

Appealing review by Erlewine. incl description of music x career context:
Recorded in 1990 at a small Santa Cruz club, this joyous live document flips the energy of 1991’s Weld on its head, swapping out incendiary arena rockers for oddball picks and warm, woolly vibes.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/neil-young-and-crazy-horse-way-down-in-the-rust-bucket/
Note ref to this being the 12th live album in Young’s ongoing (and now absurdly active) Archives series

the Dume disc has very good vibes

the good vibes of 'stupid girl' lol, but i get what you mean. llama handclaps really kick off the vibes.

Appropriate that the Archives Vol. 2 box shows up at the same time many of us can open our windows again for the first time in months.

yes perfect timing. disc 1 was the soundtrack to firing up the grill yesterday - feel like my Middle Aged Backyard Guy vibes were coming through very strong.

got my CDs - bummer the packaging on the non-deluxe version is a real step down from the archives I box

still, been great to listen to this away from my desk and headphones, without dealing with NYA

the version of "everybody's alone" on the tonight's the night disc might be my fav version of that song

it is so awesome, agreed

I set an informal goal to finish this year with every regular-issue Neil studio album--I won't worry about keeping up with Archive-type reissues and ephemera, and I won't overpay. I'm down to about six or seven more. (Everything through to Life on vinyl, the rest on CD.)

There's a store in Woodstock (Ontario) that has a great CD clear-out section, where I found two I'd long avoided for $2 each: Are You Passionate? and Living with War. I avoided them because of "Let's Roll" and "Let's Impeach the President"--strong dislike for both at the time. (Ditto his COVID song--his knack for politics seems long-gone to me.)

Once through in the car, I thought Are You Passionate? was pretty good. There are only two other thump-thump songs like "Let's Roll," and they're both a little better. The other eight songs I liked. It'd sound dismissive to call them pleasant or agreeable, but I don't mean it that way--simply that they're good driving music. He's written a million love songs, so I'm not sure how much more he has to say on the subject--and there were lyrics in "Quit (Don't Say You Love Me)" that were so obvious I was literally able to fill in a verse myself the first time--but the melodies are there. My favourite is the title song; I think the title's a little clunky, so that surprised me. But I was moved by both the five-note riff the title phrase wraps itself around and the on me/on you parts. In the car for a while tomorrow, so I'll move on to Living with War.

I think I bought Walter Becker's Circus Money in that same Woodstock store, my brother-in-law's family used to live there (now they live in Paris, Ontario, I'm not sure how far that is from your town).

I'm very patient and don't mind waiting to hear all the records made by artists I like, but I always believe that I will eventually. I don't think that Neil would be one where I'd search out all the records post-'95 (though my older brother seems to hear most of the newest ones). There's probably a thread for this topic; the "completist" thread seemed to be more about physical collecting .

clemenza - there's also living with war - in the beginning, a kind of let it be....naked thing where it's just the band and no choir, which gets overbearing on the regular release

Thanks. That's the kind of thing I won't worry about, for the time being anyway--maybe down the road.

(xpost) St. Marys, so pretty close to both (45 minutes to Woodstock). Looks like it was a great store at one time; like everyone, they seem to be hanging on and clearing out a lot of stuff.

I've got the completist problem for sure, but with the Neil albums, it hasn't been an obsession at all--I've been filling in gaps every so often for a couple of decades. And, as I say, I don't have any urge to start buying all the Archive stuff. (I have the first, the last "payment" I ever received for a review.) I'm close enough now, though, that finishing up seems like the thing to do. When I finish, I'm going to write up a big Consumer Guide for all 39 (I checked) of them.

Of the ones you've heard, which is your least-favourite?

Landing on Water, easily. But This Note's for You is still out there, waiting.

I think Old Ways might be my least favorite

"Hippie Dream" on Landing on Water is great

He's done more boring than Landing on Water. Although this fella with an immunity against '80s drums sounds recoils from this one, "Hippie Dream," "Pressure," and especially "Drifter" are second-tier classics.

I think Old Ways might be my least favorite

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

yeah this is dreadful: closer to a hipster takedown of country, especially excruciating from someone whose sensibilities and the pieties of his favorite country would seem to align.

I only know the videos from the two albums just mentioned, and never rushed to hear the whole things. Of the twenty I've heard, Long May You Run is forgettable and Hitchhiker is redundant.

I like the long Crazy Horse track on Are You Passionate? - IIRC it's from the same sessions that yielded the soon(?)-to-be-released Toast.

With Living with War, I only kept two tracks - the opener "After the Garden" and "Let's Impeach the President" (more as a representative of the album - unapologetically didactic with no subtlety, but I get a kick out of it for being a direct, honest statement unafraid of pissing anyone off.

Landing on Water was so rock-bottom for me, I haven't gone back to it even once since 1986 (I reviewed it, so I would have listened to it a couple of times at least). There's not an album up to Reactor I don't consider good-to-great (not counting the Stills-Young Band); it all started to go south for me (until Freedom) with Trans.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it--I haven't heard those mid-'80s albums in forever.

Living on Water is great.. “violent side”, “hippie dream”, “pressure”, “touch the night”...

Pretty striking to hear that “long walk home” solo version kicking of archives ii

Lol landing on water

Landing With War?

I've heard re.ac.tor two or three times and might like it less than the two I mentioned, but I haven't decided yet. I'd heard that "Shots" was the Big Song on the record, kept my hopes up through the first seven songs, and was really underwhelmed. People who heard it in 1981 might have a different perspective on it as a Bold Statement in that context.

the 78 Boarding House acoustic version of "Shots" is the definitive but I like the record version too

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

the bridge around 4 minutes isn't on the record iirc

I probably don't have the deep knowledge of you guys, but of the 17 Neil records I own, "Life" is easily the least memorable, in fact I can't remember a single thing about it other than its slightly odd production sheen. Maybe I should go back to it!

"Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll" has become the go-to track, but I dig "Around the World" for its wtf chorus.

I probably don't have the deep knowledge of you guys, but of the 17 Neil records I own,

*wipes bead of sweat off of forehead, continues reading thread*

it's all relative when you're deep in the Neil game!

it so true :)

i'm up at 4:48 am on the couch, can't sleep. i think it's time for Harvest Moon

it's!

I've heard re.ac.tor two or three times and might like it less than the two I mentioned,

"T-Bone" is genius, I wish it was 20 minutes long. "Opera Star" and "Shots" are also great. You know what is terrible though? Side 2 of "Hawks and Doves", what a waste of vinyl.

Harvest Moon the archetypal bookstore-at-3-p.m. album.

I feel the same way about Comes a Time, perfectly pleasant but it does wash over you a bit. Still more substance to both than Life though.

When I was deep in my getting-into-Neil phase, I remember being underwhelmed by Re.ac.tor and never went back after my initial listens. The two songs off that album that are on Rust Bucket are pretty good so I will probably pick up a cheap vinyl copy if I see one.

Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.) at 4:57 17 Mar 21

I've heard re.ac.tor two or three times and might like it less than the two I mentioned,

"T-Bone" is genius, I wish it was 20 minutes long. "Opera Star" and "Shots" are also great. You know what is terrible though? Side 2 of "Hawks and Doves", what a waste of vinyl.

oh you gotta hear the live "t-bone" off of the way down in the rust bucket, so bonkers

I would imagine Neil's worst songs would still be decent given the Rust Bucket treatment - that guitar sound is the best.

that's why he don't wanna be good

Landing on Water, easily. But This Note's for You is still out there, waiting.

I actually like This Note's For You. And there's a recent (2015) live album from the same era, Bluenote Café, that's even better, and sheds more light on that whole project.

Yeah Bluenote Cafe in its own way might be the most impressive of the Archives, for putting an era most people, myself included, clowned

I know I won't convince clemenza or alfred that anything but the properly released studio albums are vital but I don't think the Archives are ephemera at all, it's more an alternate history, or a look in to what could have been if Neil had made better decisions...

Also evaluating Crazy Horse on studio albums alone is just invalid

but Bluenote Cafe I finally got ok he was on to something

I love "Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll."

As my premature dismissal of Are You Passionate? indicates, I have a bad habit of avoiding certain albums because of one song. So the title track has kept me clear of This Note's for You to this day--I'm sure I'll like some of it. I didn't mean ephemera as a putdown--just a handy term for non-album stuff. It's as much the cost. After I get those final few studio albums, I may move onto other stuff.

I love the way over the top version of “Prisoners” on the Year of the Horse live album.

year of the horse is fun, overlooked in the crazy horse live catalog

The greatest start to any Neil live album — someone in the audience shouts "They all sound the same!" and Neil replies "It's all one song!"

haha love that part

I'm not a fan of the album, but "This Note's for You" is a keeper. Still hilarious.

Bluenote Cafe is an improvement. The first CD does nothing for me, but the second CD is a LOT better thanks to three epics: the definitive electric version of "Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero)" ("Got thrown out of Bible school for giving the finger to the preacher!"), "Ordinary People" and a great version of "Tonight's the Night."

"Doghouse" is on the second disc