Neil Young records anti-Bush album

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― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 14 April 2006 17:48 (twenty years ago)

he also drew criticism from the left for pro-Reagan comments many years ago

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 April 2006 17:51 (twenty years ago)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 14 April 2006 17:51 (twenty years ago)

The magazine continued: “Details are pretty scarce, but the featured track, titled ‘Impeach the President,’ features a rap with Bush’s voice set to the choir chanting ‘flip/flop’ and the like.”

uh-oh

― bangelo (bangelo), Friday, 14 April 2006 17:55 (twenty years ago)

do any of you youngsters recall way back when--when this guy was capable of being subtle and ambiguous?

― pappy, Friday, 14 April 2006 17:56 (twenty years ago)

whatever, i eagerly await a new trans

― A nervous goat is a force to be reckoned with (teenagequiet), Friday, 14 April 2006 17:56 (twenty years ago)

this could cost the republicans votes, if back-to-nature organic hippie canadian libertarians voted.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 14 April 2006 17:58 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure Celine Dion recording an anti-Bish album would have more of an impact.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:01 (twenty years ago)

Or even an anti-Bash album.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:03 (twenty years ago)

does anyone hear the bullwhips crackin'?

― ronnie, Friday, 14 April 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

koritfw

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

koritfw

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:15 (twenty years ago)

oh neil, what have you done?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:18 (twenty years ago)

I have never been more excited for a Neil Young album in my life, and I've been a fan since 6th grade.

― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:20 (twenty years ago)

are you graham nash?

― croz, Friday, 14 April 2006 18:21 (twenty years ago)

I was about to say "I wish!" but then I'd have to sit next to David Crosby for 40 years.

― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:29 (twenty years ago)

at least with 147 other singers, you won't have to listen to The Wife's tuneless vocalizing...one hopes.

― linda, Friday, 14 April 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

I find this idea amusing... gotta hand it to Neil for continually being willing to do weird/stupid/unpredictable things.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:45 (twenty years ago)

It's Better to Fade Away Than to Record Painfully Obvious Sing-With-The-Choir "Protests' Whose Only Real Fans Will Be Fat and Greying NPR Moms and Fifty-Something Schlubs Whose Sole Gig Is Writing For Harp

― ronnie, Friday, 14 April 2006 18:50 (twenty years ago)

It now seems we're all the southern man who doesn't need Neil around...

― js (honestengine), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:53 (twenty years ago)

neils, we luvs ya, but please go away.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Painfully Obvious Sing-With-The-Choir "Protests'

have lyrics posted yet or the track leaked? cause last time he tried this, on Greendale, the song was oddly cynical and slightly moving and altogether more complex than one would give him credit for.

― dan. (dan.), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Having Fun With Neil Onstage

― Little E, Friday, 14 April 2006 18:55 (twenty years ago)

something onb Greendale was complex and moving? I missed THAT. Which of the 16 versions Neil was peddling did you buy?

― ronnie, Friday, 14 April 2006 18:57 (twenty years ago)

i don't mind him making bad records.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 14 April 2006 18:59 (twenty years ago)

but do you mind he hasn't made a good one in well over a decade?

― stephen, Friday, 14 April 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

It proably helps that I saw it in the context of the film first but the singalongy "be the rain" wasn't the eco-dreck it should be.

Also, Greendale was probably the best thing he'd done since Hawks and Doves.

― dan. (dan.), Friday, 14 April 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

"since Hawks and Doves. "

I was actually going to get angry until i read this part.

― dallas, Friday, 14 April 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

Actually he used that kids choir on that record too and that wasn't half bad.

― dan. (dan.), Friday, 14 April 2006 19:13 (twenty years ago)

now make a case for "road rock," dan

― ronnie, Friday, 14 April 2006 19:15 (twenty years ago)

wow, from "let's roll" to this in five years. (please, someone else remember "let's roll!")

― baby, disco is fuck (yournullfame), Friday, 14 April 2006 19:40 (twenty years ago)

Neil's politics have always been rather amorphous and unformed, to put it kindly.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 14 April 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

"but do you mind he hasn't made a good one in well over a decade?" no, Sam. he's the one person i have zero expectations for. (which sounds worse than it should). i guess happy with being on the planet during the time he made some really good music and quite enjoy, for some reason, alot of the bad stuff too.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 14 April 2006 19:44 (twenty years ago)

If it has a Rust-style guitar solo, this could be awesome.

― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Friday, 14 April 2006 20:43 (twenty years ago)

"Neil's politics have always been rather amorphous and unformed"

and now all his records are the same way. Does the guy ever wrie A SONG anymore? One with A MELODY and LYRICS worth remembering?

― gregr, Friday, 14 April 2006 21:25 (twenty years ago)

write. Stills gave me some bad coke

― gregr, Friday, 14 April 2006 21:27 (twenty years ago)

http://www.bloomington.in.us/~kasreyn/Hail%20Satan.jpg

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Saturday, 15 April 2006 09:40 (twenty years ago)

All the signifiers of utter crap are there: "protest," getting press in Editor and Publisher of all places, the choir. Yawn.

Has there ever been a thread on ILM a la "Songs with a choir that don't utterly suck?" Should be.

― someone let this mitya out! (mitya), Saturday, 15 April 2006 13:07 (twenty years ago)

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" to thread.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 April 2006 13:19 (twenty years ago)

No, it sucks.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 15 April 2006 13:46 (twenty years ago)

"do any of you youngsters recall way back when--when this guy was capable of being subtle and ambiguous?"

I remember when he recorded Are You Passionate. I still can't tell whether "Mr. Disappointment" is about Bush, or whether "Let's Roll" is ironic.

― prince rupert, Saturday, 15 April 2006 14:13 (twenty years ago)

also as i said upthread, "be the rain" at least in the context of the movie is completely ambiguous in that it mocks the protagonist and works as a hippi-sing-a-long at the same time.

― dan. (dan.), Saturday, 15 April 2006 14:51 (twenty years ago)

I was hoping he was teaming up with Pearl Jam again for another "Mirror Ball" style LP, but this time they would be focusing on bringing Gavin Rossdale down a peg or two.

ZING!

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Saturday, 15 April 2006 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Only a "ZING!" if you remember who Gavin Rossdale is. (Was?)

― someone let this mitya out! (mitya), Saturday, 15 April 2006 15:14 (twenty years ago)

""be the rain" at least in the context of the movie is completely ambiguous in that it mocks the protagonist and works as a hippi-sing-a-long at the same time."

And to no great effect. As in, it sucks. This song says something to you? It evokes a feeling? You've listened to it more than three times? I thought it was gibberish, and musically grating in a way achieved previously only by CSN albums from the eighties. The singular thing "Be the Rain" prompted in me was taking it out of the player and throwing it against the wall.

― gavin., Saturday, 15 April 2006 18:49 (twenty years ago)

and I don't think it is redeemed by the "who's side is he on?" alleged ambiguity you suggest.

― gwen., Saturday, 15 April 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5333/neilposter9el.jpg

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Monday, 17 April 2006 15:34 (twenty years ago)

'bout time someone took on gavin rossdale

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, 17 April 2006 15:36 (twenty years ago)

LIVING WITH WAR

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 April 2006 15:55 (twenty years ago)

This song says something to you? It evokes a feeling?

If you read what I wrote, I'm pretty sure I said it was merely slightly moving and even then, only in the context of the movie. I only brought it up in the context of the ambiguity and one-dimensional politics discussion. That said, Greendale is still great and I can't imagine what one would expect from that record that would make them want to throw it against a wall. It was sold a soundtrack record for a Neil Young directed movie. That should tell you more than you need to know.

― dan. (dan.), Monday, 17 April 2006 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 31 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Sounds like we have the first great Neil Young album of the 2000s

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 28 April 2006 12:56 (twenty years ago)

NYT on LWW

― erklie (erklie), Friday, 28 April 2006 13:20 (twenty years ago)

neil young + choir = arcade fire

― Simon H. (Simon H.), Friday, 28 April 2006 13:33 (twenty years ago)

neil young + choir = arcade fire

seriously? aw man i can't wait to get home.

explicitly antiwar albums, though - yaieee.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Friday, 28 April 2006 13:48 (twenty years ago)

It's a really strong record. Neil is great when he's playing loose, and this sucker is loose as all hell. To a fault in some places -- the verse in "Let's Impeach the Prez" where he mentions steroids in baseball is out of place. The trade-off is for the sense of urgency that drives the whole album. The choir works better than I'd anticipated. Few places I wished it was a screaming guitar instead of a choir, but ah well.

― erklie (erklie), Friday, 28 April 2006 13:52 (twenty years ago)

I'm surprised. It's actually pretty good... I haven't enjoyed a Neil Young album in a while...

― Jacobo Rock (jacobo rock), Friday, 28 April 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

This is both sad and hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utryGZ25dg&eurl

― Jacobo Rock (jacobo rock), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:01 (twenty years ago)

I hope this streams better soon, choppy as hell here (UK broadband) maybe it's in high demand right now.

― fandango (fandango), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:15 (twenty years ago)

the ending of that video was a lol

Anchor Guy: "Anyone who says this album is motivated by the need for publicity... I think that's ridiculous."

Anchor Girl: "Meh."

― ath (ath), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

my comment was not exactly a compliment. the first few tracks are decent but it loses steam frequently.

― Simon H. (Simon H.), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:29 (twenty years ago)

This is great (on only track 2). Buffering with no interruptions yet on UK broadband.

I love the messy drawl of the guitar!

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:18 (twenty years ago)

best touch is the tiown-hall gathering chorus of hundreds on the vocals. That's great. Songs themsleves are mostly so-so, though the streak from Shock & Awe and Let's Impeach the President is terrific.

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 17:37 (twenty years ago)

My officemate was playing it and I thought it was a mid-seventies NY album I didn't know! Way, way better than I'd've expected.

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:30 (twenty years ago)

I guess it sound OK but...I can't help thinking how much better this might be if those lovely amateurs from Crazy Horse were playing on this.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

Crazy Horse wouldn;t have mattered. Besides, how much different would it sound?

This things sounds really frighteningly similar to Mirrorball, btw. Also, anyone else catch him qouting the melody to "Barstool Blues?"

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

Cake just called ... they want their trumpet back ...

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 19:11 (twenty years ago)

The guy from Cake WISHES he played that badly.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:12 (twenty years ago)

Ha!

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 19:15 (twenty years ago)

just finished listening to it--i think it's GOOD that crazy horse isn't on it. The drummer here is kind of kicking neil's ass, in a good way. and the choir sounds exciting--not as cheeseball as i thought it would be. obviously, the lyrics are about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but on first listen, the album as a whole is pretty good.

― Tyler W (tylerw), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:24 (twenty years ago)

Hey, who needs subtlety in their protest music? Even's the best of Dylan's folk anthems can't really be called subtle, right?

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 19:28 (twenty years ago)

The drummer here is kind of kicking neil's ass, in a good way

I see your point but, Ralphie, much like Charlie Watts, doesn't need to kick ass to get the job done.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:32 (twenty years ago)

I like how Neil names it "AmericaN the Beautiful," btw. A cheesy-ass version, must say ... but it makes its point.

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

please, someone else remember "let's roll!"

I remember it well, actually ... one of Neil's best songs of this decade. It ain't "Carmichael," but it's a terrific little rocker. That song isn't really pro-Bush, btw, just an honest little tribute song. I'm excited for United 93, btw ... we could use the cathartic reminder right now of basic American heroism.

― Chris O., Friday, 28 April 2006 19:54 (twenty years ago)

"Let's Roll" is more embarassing then "Southern Man" because that whole fuckin story was fabricated, and Young was a schnook who fell for it. He fell for shameless "911" propaganda, which was used for Bush's global imperialism that Young is now protesting. He's like all those Democrat senators who felt just awful about the attacks but who voted for wars, torture, and attacks on civil liberties and who are now feebly protesting and feeling so fuckin' stupid. Young feels cheated because he was duped. And hopefully, if he is a man of values the he will write a song that says, "I was duped by conpsiring imperialist war mongers when I wrote 'Lets Roll.' That's right. I fell for the scam of the century."

― QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Friday, 28 April 2006 20:34 (twenty years ago)

Hmmm..

I mean, Bush were really, really crap. A bunch of Brits trying to sound American, that is always a big pile of shit.

But making an entire anti-album, against a band long since over the hill anyway, isn't that going a bit too far?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 28 April 2006 21:42 (twenty years ago)

Having Fun With Geir Onstage

― thecroz, Friday, 28 April 2006 21:52 (twenty years ago)

You should hear the reactionary anti-Clinton album... I mean hell, Parliment was the shit, mange!

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Friday, 28 April 2006 21:58 (twenty years ago)

Power pop chords and melodies, blunt rage, full choir, slightly subdued version of Neil's deranged idea of guitar playing and recorded like an early Stooges record: sorta brilliant.

― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Saturday, 29 April 2006 04:59 (twenty years ago)

It's really good! It works so surprisingly well.

It actually reminds me of recent material by D+ (Bret Lunsford, ex-beat happening's band with Karl Blau and Phil Elverum backing him up) but with less clever lyrics. that same sort of urgency and sloppiness and anger

― Kevin Erickson, Saturday, 29 April 2006 08:27 (twenty years ago)

It kinda reminds me of Re*ac*tor.

I mean, it's not very good, but nice try, absolutely.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 1 May 2006 12:52 (twenty years ago)

I am so not impressed with thie record. It sounds like a rushjob to me, and not in the good, "immediate" way it was intended. It doesn't make me want to hear more Neil Young.

― Simon H. (Simon H.), Monday, 1 May 2006 13:34 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure that's his point.

― dan. (dan.), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:10 (twenty years ago)

"lookin for a leader" is uberroffles

― zappi (joni), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 21:58 (twenty years ago)

so this is his Springsteen album

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 5 May 2006 05:03 (twenty years ago)

guys, "Living with war" is the best Young alnum since "Rust never sleep".
i know lots of people who thought he will never put out a "classic" album again, saying he is too old - that he lost it etc..

so how come ILM seems to be not so excited, or they just can hide it?
cause im about to lose control and i think i like it.

p.s. with it's anthem songs structure, a lot of the songs will get into the classic Young arena of songs,(including "hey hey","keep on rocking","hurricane" and so on),especially the title song, which might be the best song in this great album.

― momo the kid, Sunday, 7 May 2006 10:33 (twenty years ago)

sorry about the overload of the word "song"...

― momo the kid, Sunday, 7 May 2006 10:36 (twenty years ago)

Because it's not as good as "Ragged Glory"?

― J (Jay), Sunday, 7 May 2006 11:09 (twenty years ago)

never liked Ragged glory too much.
I can only remember "Fuckin' up" - and i dont think it's such a good song.
something about the choir,and the "tonights the night" style of the fast recording production makes it a better record - it's not polished, it comes from the heart.

― momo the kid, Sunday, 7 May 2006 11:26 (twenty years ago)

"Living with War" is at least the best Neil Young album since his last one, and like the last one it has its expiration date built in. Timeless music it is not, not even as a snapshot of the times, and though I enjoy it while it's on I can't imagine listening to it again in a year. In this sense, a minor rush (in every sense) of an album, like "Re*ac*tor," seems about right.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Sunday, 7 May 2006 13:08 (twenty years ago)

well, the first three songs (as well as Roger and Out)are better than anything on the new Pearl Jam "protest" album...I think if it wasn't Neil I might make fun of this (especially something like Looking For A Leader) but because its Neil I got choked up at one point, you can tell his heart is really in it, even if its lacking subtlety

― Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Sunday, 7 May 2006 13:12 (twenty years ago)

on first listen it's really overlong, if he's gonna do the digital thing now for his "we did this in a week" stuff, he could probably make it into an EP. The drummer sounds bored, throwing all kinds of unnecessary frills (in the Neil sense) that in previous years, would have gotten him fired (anybody read Shakey? "I TOLD YOU TO STAY OFF THAT HI-HAT!!!"). These elements really remind me of Mirror Ball, where Pearl Jam were fine on the fast numbers but on the slow ones Jeff Ament would start popping his bass because that's what "real" musicians do when there's space for it. If there's an "I'm The Ocean," one song that really makes the trip worthwhile, it's either "Living With War" or the one where Neil sounds like he's breaking down as he screams "don't need no more lies" over and over. The line really does get to the core of his problem with the Prez in a real pure, cathartic sense. Dude wants his heroes, and unlike "The Great Communicator," Bush is shitacular at giving him that illusion.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 7 May 2006 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Oh and don't look at that as an invite to describe the public records of Reagan fuck-ups. I'm not saying Reagan's faults weren't more than evident, I'm just saying he's a millionaire hippie-cowboy who lives a really isolated life, only taking in random bits of info from the outside and if one bit strikes a nerve, he'll go bonkers for it, at least for 6 months. In the 80s he saw a "Morning In America" ad that reminded him of that great Grand Canyon rescue episode, this year he saw footage of Katrina.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 7 May 2006 13:19 (twenty years ago)

I feel vindicated. Part of being a fan of Neil's is gettin' burned once in a while while he follows every dream and you, the listener, sometimes get lost. I've been teaching myself to like the last few records, but this one is immediate - like all the truly great Neil Young albums before it.

MUCH better than Mirror Ball, just as good as Reactor, and just a hair short of the excellent Ragged Glory, I say. "The Restless Consumer" is my favorite, even though that "don't need no more lies" part sounds like he's doing his best Fred Schneider. Neil is still king.

― Out of ILX Retirement to Defend Neil, Sunday, 7 May 2006 15:32 (twenty years ago)

Neil is still king.

― sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Sunday, 7 May 2006 20:43 (twenty years ago)

so ... anybody else bump up the soundscan today? I'm really enjoying it so far.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

five years pass...

you know

this is kinda fucking awesome

"I TAKE A HOLY VOW TO NEVER KILL AGAIN!"

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 22:39 (fourteen years ago)

plays that one just after down by the river

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 23:20 (fourteen years ago)

Found a used copy of the "raw" version, it's pretty great

― da croupier, Wednesday, 1 February 2012 03:20 (fourteen years ago)

What's the raw version?

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 1 February 2012 03:32 (fourteen years ago)

Basically all the tracks without the choir. Unfortuantely saddled with a DVD for a rather prohibitive price.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_with_War:_%22In_the_Beginning%22

― da croupier, Wednesday, 1 February 2012 04:05 (fourteen years ago)

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