True or False: Neil Young has recorded the greatest percentage of the best records ever recorded.

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IT IS A FACT.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

Wait, you mean like he has the biggest single share of the total great albums pie? I say no.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:24 (twenty years ago)

Yes, that's exactly what I mean.
I said this jokingly to a friend yesterday, but I might have convinced myself that it is in fact true.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

Probably Miles Davis.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:32 (twenty years ago)

The 80s drags Neil down. Bob wins!

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:34 (twenty years ago)

By my count he's got at least thirteen or fourteen records that I would classify as "some of the best records ever."
That's more than anyone else I can think of, for sure. xpost

xpost--
The only miles davis I really find myself getting into is the electric stuff.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:34 (twenty years ago)

but, that said, miles davis is probably as good a candidate as any.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

That would be Bowie og Genesis, considering Beatles broke up too early to be a contender.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:37 (twenty years ago)

yeah I think of Bowie first, then Dylan or Young

― Shlomo Shemesh (Shlomo Shemesh), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

As far as Dylan, I honestly don't think much of his work in the seventies is that great, excepting Blood on the Tracks and the Basement Tapes.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

bowie = definition of a singles artist! bwahahahahaha

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:40 (twenty years ago)

Also depends on your definition of "records" of course. Particularly if you count every single (good) recording of their work, I guess Mozart and Haydn are serious contenders here. :)

(And if you think that Bowie is a singles artist, then you miss out on about 80 per cent of the best music he has made)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:41 (twenty years ago)

also, my count of neil young records doesn't include the first two buffalo springield albums! xp

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:41 (twenty years ago)

bowie made a lot of good albums, only a handful of great ones

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:41 (twenty years ago)

X-Post
The first two Buffalo Springfield albums are better than anything Neil Young has ever released as a soloist though. As is also "Deja Vu".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:42 (twenty years ago)

neil's greats off the top of my head:

after the gold rush
everybody knows this is nowhere
rust never sleeps
harvest
time fades away
tonight's the night
on the beach
ragged glory
zuma
comes a time
freedom
harvest moon

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:43 (twenty years ago)

Bowie greats:
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
Ziggy Stardust
Alladin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Station To Station
Low
Heroes
Lodger
Scary Monsters
Let's Dance
1.Outside
Earthling
Heathen

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:45 (twenty years ago)

(And I'd only count "After The Goldrush" and "Harvest" among Young's greats)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:46 (twenty years ago)

xpost

i'd add live rust to that list, gear. i think in doing my count i also included trans, but i might have reservations about really recommending that album as "one of the best records ever."

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:46 (twenty years ago)

oh shit, live rust! yeah. i would put trans in there for myself, too.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:47 (twenty years ago)

american stars n bars = underrated, too, but not ESSENTIAL.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:47 (twenty years ago)

yes, so true

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

Nothing Neil Young has done after 1972 is essential. He was great before that though.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

i've also got love for 'sleeps with angels'

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

his work since then is either too sludgy or too twee, but there are definite bright spots

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:50 (twenty years ago)

now where's stormy davis to defend reactor?! xpost

geir you're off yer rocker. ZUMA!!!

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

i remember listening to 'mirrorball' for a solid week after i bought it, but then i got really annoyed with how tight the band was and vedder's vox were unbearable on some of those tunes

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:52 (twenty years ago)

"Zuma" has none of the great songs and harmony singing that made "Deja Vu" and "After The Goldrush" great.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:52 (twenty years ago)

lol cuz i like the looseness of crazy horse coupled with neil, see

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:52 (twenty years ago)

You don't think Through My Sails is a great song? Or Cortez The Killer? or Don't Cry No Tears? xp

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Perhaps. Had they been arranged the same way as on "After The Goldrush", or maybe had Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and David Crosby providing harmonies. :)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:54 (twenty years ago)

Neil Young could certainly record better genre exercises than Bowie.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

The only Bowie album that was a "genre exercise" was "Earthling". Other than that one, he has been innovating genres rather than doing exercises in already existing ones.

And, the best thing, whatever he does he sounds very much like David Bowie.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

and the best thing about neil young is whatever he does he sounds nothing like david bowie

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:03 (twenty years ago)

geir even more wrong than usual!

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:08 (twenty years ago)

TAKING SIDES: Neil Young -vs- David Bowie

― Stephen Bush (Stephen B.), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:23 (twenty years ago)

True.

Bowie? Please.

― Digestive System (Roger Fidelity), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:27 (twenty years ago)

Hm. Definition of "great album," please?

― M. V. (M.V.), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 00:07 (twenty years ago)

I'm with goth fest. ZUMAAAAAA!!! Danger Bird got me thinking about going on a shamanic pilgrimmage in some far off desert tripping balls on peyote. Haven't done it yet because I don't want to get caught up with some burning man cult thing, but STILL.

― Andi Headphones (Andi Headphones), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 02:36 (twenty years ago)

i went and listened to Danger Bird and i can see what you mean (i think).
That astonishing moment when two apparently skew harmonies collide for one mega-harmony,.. wow. The elegance and grace of some hallucinatory ceremony indeed.

― george gosset (gegoss), Friday, 20 October 2006 19:56 (twenty years ago)

i'd add hawks & doves to that list. criminally underrated. comes a time and harvest moon i am not too hot on but silver and gold is quite solid and i also have a soft spot for greendale. live rust has to be one of the best live albums ever. trans is an experiment gone wrong, come on.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:14 (twenty years ago)

about half of trans is really awesome

i've always kinda liked reactor

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:15 (twenty years ago)

"Trans" is kind of fascinating in some weird kind of way. But I still stand by that Young hasn't made a really good album since "Harvest", even though he has made several decent ones, and several great songs, since then.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Trans is great. And Ragged Glory and Freedom are easily up there with the best of his 70s work.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:23 (twenty years ago)

Fela Kuti is standing behind this thread, menacingly.

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:25 (twenty years ago)

I've never liked young. or bowie. or dylan, for that matter.

therefore everyone else in the world is wrong, wrong, wrong.

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:36 (twenty years ago)

and you're british, even.
all strikes against thee

― Dr. Alicia D. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

I can't help that. any of it.

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Friday, 20 October 2006 20:51 (twenty years ago)

all Young albums have some songs i like and some i hate, so i'd vote for Trans and Reactor that both have some great songs. It's taken a long time for more people to finally come round to Trans and not treat it as folly, so maybe it's still a bit ahead some ways.

― george gosset (gegoss), Saturday, 21 October 2006 12:42 (twenty years ago)

bowie greats: hunky dory, aladdin sane, ziggy stardust..., low, heroes, scary monsters

that's six greats, a fairly high proportion

the beatles: rubber soul, revolver, sgt. pepper, magical mystery tour, beatles, abbey road

again six

neil young: after the goldrush, tonight's the night, rust never sleeps, on the beach, everybody know this is nowhere.

five

dylan: freewheelin', bringing it all back home, highway 61 revisited, blonde on blonde, john wesley harding, blood on the tracks, the basement tapes...i'd also add new morning and possibly time out of mind on a given day.

so yeah, dylan has a whole bunch and would be difficult to top in the genre of rock

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Saturday, 21 October 2006 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Dependant on one's point of view of course, but it's a little surprising that Van Morrison's name hasn't been mentioned.

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 21 October 2006 15:28 (twenty years ago)

The Pet Shop Boys have as many as Neil Young.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Saturday, 21 October 2006 18:49 (twenty years ago)

EK: Mike Sniper says "You can go suck on a dildo in hell forever."

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Saturday, 21 October 2006 19:51 (twenty years ago)

miles wins by so much here.
birth of the cool, sketches of spain, kind of blue, in a silent way, bitches brew, jack johnson, live evil, on the corner, miles smiles. thats not even counting the records that are just really really good likes miles in the sky, nefertiti, esp, filles de kilimanjaro, get up with it, seven steps to heaven.

― jonathan - stl (jonathan - stl), Saturday, 21 October 2006 21:00 (twenty years ago)

jazz don't count. gear > geir. and the answer is probably led zeppelin.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Saturday, 21 October 2006 23:29 (twenty years ago)

why doesn't jazz count?

― jonathan - stl (jonathan - stl), Saturday, 21 October 2006 23:40 (twenty years ago)

hey does jandek count?

― gear (gear), Saturday, 21 October 2006 23:44 (twenty years ago)

;-) just merriment

― gear (gear), Saturday, 21 October 2006 23:44 (twenty years ago)

The Pet Shop Boys have as many as Neil Young.

Pet Shop Boys easily a better contestant than Bowie, yes.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 22 October 2006 00:00 (twenty years ago)

I actually thought of Jandek was a possible contestant for this thread, Gear, but didn't want to bother trying to convince people that 15+ of his albums are worth their time & energy.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Sunday, 22 October 2006 00:10 (twenty years ago)

I just have a slight problem with his voice...

― Portable Dorkness (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 22 October 2006 00:38 (twenty years ago)

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Sunday, 22 October 2006 00:42 (twenty years ago)

haha, oh that's rich

― Portable Dorkness (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 22 October 2006 00:48 (twenty years ago)

i think jandek's done a lot great stuff, but neil's got the edge in percentages probably.

― gear (gear), Sunday, 22 October 2006 00:49 (twenty years ago)

It's not all neil: half the credits go to chris.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Sunday, 22 October 2006 01:00 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 22 October 2006 09:39 (twenty years ago)

sorry i gotta go with geir here -- bowie has more great albums than neil young. (others in contention would be (a) velvet underground (3/4 -- never did like loaded), (b) prince (up until that "batman" soundtrack at least), and (c) wu-tang clan (debut + solo records up to and including wu tang forever).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 23 October 2006 06:35 (twenty years ago)

If "best records" includes singles too, I think Duke Ellington will take the price.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 23 October 2006 08:24 (twenty years ago)

To Eisbär: I think this is more about number of great records than percentage of total recorded output or nobody would be able to beat The Beatles anyway.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 23 October 2006 09:33 (twenty years ago)

If "best records" includes singles too, I think Duke Ellington will take the price.

In total size, a single counts for about one tenth of an album. :)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 23 October 2006 09:34 (twenty years ago)

Well, yeah but he did quite a lot of them in about 50 years, plus he recorded lots of albums too when the LP era came.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 23 October 2006 09:39 (twenty years ago)

i'd be more interested in what studio engineer has actually recorded, as in, pressed "record", the greatest percentage of the [dopest] [rockinest] [killer] albums ever recorded

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 23 October 2006 10:02 (twenty years ago)

Alan Parsons

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 23 October 2006 10:38 (twenty years ago)

Steve Albini

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 23 October 2006 11:07 (twenty years ago)

― King-a-Ling (King-a-Ling), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 02:31 (twenty years ago)

Osmium
Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow
Funkadelic
Maggot Brain
America Eats Its Young
Cosmic Slop
One Nation Under a Groove
Electric Spanking of War Babies
Chocolate City
Mothership Connection
Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
And others I'm probably leaving out

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 03:13 (twenty years ago)

ian and gear win. i'll usually take neil over dylan most of the time.

― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 03:22 (twenty years ago)

there are lots of good records on this thread being described as great. I'll take neil over dylan often, but he hasn't made as many great records.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 03:34 (twenty years ago)

you're right, neil's made more.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 03:57 (twenty years ago)

you're forgetting the Basement Tapes

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 05:02 (twenty years ago)

and privileging Hwy 1 over Hwy 61

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 05:03 (twenty years ago)

must listen to zuma now

― dmr (Renard), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 05:16 (twenty years ago)

freak out
absolutly free
lumpy gravy
we're only in it for the money
chungas revenge
uncle meat
just anotehr band from la
overnite sensation
one size fits all
joe's garage
roxy and elsewhere
hot rats
the grand wazoo
apostrophe
zoot allures
sheik yerbouti

― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 05:25 (twenty years ago)

i think walter might be right (if jazz doesn't count). every time i'm like "okay, here comes one of those 'lesser' funkadelic albums," it ends up kicking my ass. and i've only heard about half of them.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 07:13 (twenty years ago)

Totale's Turns
Grotesque (After The Gramme)
Hex Enduction Hour
Room To Live
Perverted By Language
Fall In A Hole
The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall
This Nation's Saving Grace
Palace Of Swords Reversed

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

SexyD nailed the Fall suggestion on the other thread that grew out of this one--Funakdelic/Parliament is a good choice too.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 21:22 (twenty years ago)

everybody knows this is nowhere
after the gold rush
harvest
time fades away
on the beach
tonight's the night
zuma
decade
rust never sleeps
live rust
freedom
dead man
ragged glory
harvest moon
live at the fillmore east (haven't heard it, but srsly)

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 21:26 (twenty years ago)

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