taking sides: folky acoustic Neil Young v. electric feedback hell Neil Young

Ah.

I have a friend that is a Neil Young FAN, while we played cards a few weekends back he had that recent live CD Road Rock and I have to admit some of the long jammy songs get bogged down, slow and sluggish. I love the songs, but these were not tight and fiery performances.

The Reactor and Mirror Ball albums are other examples where turning up doesn't really equate killer music. The songs on Long May You Run or Old Ways are definitely not as good as the acoustic music on "After the Goldrush" or "Harvest"

That being said, I really like the acoustic song "Will to Love", which many think is corny, but I love the weird effects on his voice.

In a way, the song "Sleeps with Angels" is a weird song that seems to mix a bit of both of these styles.

"On the Beach" should be in print, nuff' said.

Heart of Gold vs Piece of Crap FITE

But respect for bringing out Arc Weld.

On the Beach & Time Fades Away are his two best.

Trans was alright, but hard to listen to ... "Little Thing Called Love" is a great, typically-Neil song.. Mr. Soul was great live or on extended single (guitar solo ripped it up) .. Computer Age - I'll have to agree that Sonic Youth did it better. Like an Inca was a great sequel to Pocahontas (or Cortez..)

I even liked Everybody's Rockin'

Dead Man - I've never heard it without watching the movie at the same time.. so I don't know if it would stand on its own.. but it was great music for the movie. (If you've never seen it - highly recommended..)

Jim: "What he brought to the film lifts it to another level, intertwining the soul of the story with Neil's musically emotional reaction to it - the guy reached down to some deep place inside him to create such strong music for our film."

Tonight's The Night was always an electric album in my mind. Probably for "Cmon Baby Lets Go Downtown" being my favorite song from the album.

Of his live albums Time Fades Away and Live Rust are my favourites. Actually I think I prefer him rock live than on a studio album.

if you twist my arm...I say "feedback neil". Just cuz I like noisy music a bit more..."old ways" ain't a bad disc either...nice to hear other people liked "Trans".

Impossible to choose. (Saw him in Antwerp yesterday)

http://www.kevin108.com/kevin108/vwyinyang.jpg

Will not take sides.

I turned on BBC4 when I got in last night and found a Neil Young night in full swing. There was a half-hour Harvest-era set, then a career documentary (a bit too much CSNY for my liking, but there was one twenty-second shot with Crazy Horse playing in a garage that was just great). Anyway, it was the acoustic set that had me most transfixed, so I take that side for now - I don't know what the docu was called, but the acoustic bit'll be on the iplayer for a few days.

I won't choose either, but he writes really pretty melodies for the acoustic stuff.

Live at Massey Hall disc is live solo acoustic & brilliant. That said, can't take sides here.

this new 'live at the cellar door' set is killer, like some golden mean between the best tones on 'after the gold rush' and 'harvest'. what a hot writing streak he was on to be playing "see the sky about to rain" four years before he had a place for it on a studio album

kind of like..............................live at massey hall?

pretty much! but this cellar door disc is really good.
thought this revive would be about the folk covers album neil is putting out sometime soon. he recorded it in jack white's weirdo record booth. covers of jansch, ochs, hardin, etc.

xps, just curious -- cool to hear that it's a good record. neil was incredible during this period but is there anything cellar door offers that massey doesn't?

piano versions of "cinnamon girl" and "flying on the ground is wrong"... some different jokes.

And a piano version of Expecting To Fly.

I was listening to the stream of the album and it sounds like he plays some of the songs in a slightly different key (if that's the right word).

right, "expecting to fly," that one is great too. yeah, as said on the archives thread, it's not *exciting* as a release, but it is pretty terrific anyway. neil young in 1970!

A few years ago, when "Le Noise" came out, I told my friend that I had the new Neil Young, and he got really excited. But then he quickly backpedaled and quickly added "But I only like his acoustic stuff." And it struck me how little of Neil's stuff is folky acoustic stuff.

sounds like this new one will be the folkiest ever

from Washington Post detailed nostalgia piece on the Cellar Door club in DC

And Young, at the beginning of a 1969 Cellar Door run, handed Lofgren a Martin guitar and liked what he heard enough to buy the kid “a cheeseburger and a Coke and a table for four shows,” Lofgren says. Young invited Lofgren over to his Arlington hotel to talk shop the next afternoon. A year later, Lofgren was part of Young’s stable of studio sidemen for the recording of the “After the Gold Rush” album. His dreams of being able to make a living at music were on their way to being realized.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/neil-youngs-live-at-the-cellar-door-is-a-window-into-dcs-musical-past/2013/12/09/f61da75e-6104-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story_1.html

I think I like his more subdued electric stuff (e.g. title track of On the Beach) better than his heavy feedbacky electric stuff or his acoustic folky stuff.