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.

I will be sure to pencil this in and buy a ticket the night before.

rumours of hyde park show on july 11/12 but could just be wishful thinking

I think Neil's gone out of my price range for good. Just saw the prices posted by subscribers with early access and not surprisingly they're just as steep as last year if not moreso.

Jones Beach is the closest one to NYC, and prices including fees are:

GA Pit: $257
Orchestra: $349
100s: $198, $258
200s: $136, $197
300s: $108

(The more affordable seats are too far away for me to make it worthwhile.)

Neil's tickets face value are high priced but he wants credit for trying to restrict resale of them at even higher prices (in the places that allow that)

Neil Young wants to give fans, not scalpers, the best chance to buy tickets at face value. To make this possible, they have chosen to use Ticketmaster's Face Value Exchange. If fans purchase tickets for a show and can't attend, they'll have the option to resell them to other fans on Ticketmaster at the original price paid. To ensure Face Value Exchange works as intended, Neil Young has requested all tickets be mobile only and restricted from transfer.

*New York, Illinois, Colorado, Virginia, Utah and Connecticut have passed state laws requiring unlimited ticket resale and limiting artists' ability to determine how their tickets are resold. To adhere to local law, tickets in this state will not be restricted from transfer but the artist encourages fans who cannot attend to sell their tickets at the original price paid on Ticketmaster.

Ha, fuck that. Neil, I love you but your tickets are too expensive, and no matter what you charge they will still be bought up by scalpers and bots. And approaching August, literally six months away, a good number of those tickets will pop up on secondary at inflated prices, but a handful will be resold at relatively reasonable prices by people who had something come up. Or maybe you will cancel again. Or maybe it will be rained or climate changed out.

Dude's charging PONO money

At these prices, the tour will certainly be lossless

yeah I just paid close to $200 a piece for tickets for this...but I've never seen Neil shamefully.

Got my copy of the Freedom/Ragged Glory - Smell The Horse/Weld/Arc box in today's mail. Thinking about buying a physical copy of Way Down In The Rust Bucket as a companion.

i love Weld but Way Down in the Rust Bucket is the definitive "if you must own one from the live Ragged era"

Not about ticket prices, and if you love Neil unreservedly, skip this.

Still intermittently trying to catch up with every studio album--presently at 37/44 (according to Wikipedia). I fill gaps when something turns up cheap. Found the two Promise of the Real albums in a CD sale bin last week; $2.50 each, perfect shape. (I've got everything up to Life on vinyl, also Freedom; everything else on CD.)

Got through each of them once in the car. My ears perked up momentarily during a couple of guitar bits on The Monsanto Years, otherwise found it ordinary and preachy, crossing over into smug on "People Want to Hear About Love" (which struck me as oblivious to Neil's own history--"Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Down by the River" are far better political songs than anything on Monsanto if political just means capturing something about the moment instead of standing there with a lectern and a pointer. The other one, The Visitor, was worse, maybe even worse than Landing on Water (bottoming out: "When Bad Got Good" and "Carnival"). Not a song on either one I'll keep on the hard drive.

Thinking about buying a physical copy of Way Down In The Rust Bucket as a companion

FYI, the price for the deluxe edition (complete on vinyl and CD with the DVD) can be found for ridiculously cheap now, like $30-34 brand new, probably due to huge supply and already satiated demand.

I don't own a turntable and would never watch the video, so it's just gonna be the 2CD set for me if anything.

Rust Bucket is a really good live album.

that London show with Van Morrison and Cat Stevens is definitely happening, £125 for standing.... think i'll hold out until nearer the time for a cheaper one on resale.... or just hang out in the park on the day for free and listen in free of the £8 warm pints and boomers with blankets.

in case that was unclear, it would be free.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/neil-young-plots-free-ukraine-gig-european-tour-1235913404/

Free Ukraine show is being added

think i'll hold out until nearer the time for a cheaper one on resale.... or just hang out in the park on the day for free and listen in free of the £8 warm pints and boomers with blankets.

when he did a similar show a decade ago the tickets dropped to like a tenner in the week before.

i think he's in a weird spot where he's hugely famous and yet may not actually have the level of big songs that would make a show that big sell out at that price point; compared to a Bruce Springsteen / Rod Stewart / Fleetwood Mac etc who can. i think i also got tickets for the 2014 show (with The National ?) there for £5 or £10 each just before the show. the same happened with the Black Sabbath show there around that time...

Yeah, I got dead-cheap Sabs tix that year. Great to see FNM and Soundgarden one last time (RIP Chris), but Sabs were fairly awful iirc. I didn't see Neil - our daughter had just been born a couple months before and we weren't really leaving the house much - but I remember Twitter being full of people who were like "Really excited to see Neil Young who I love at Hyde Park" and then being "He's playing lots of v v v long guitar solos through Down By The River (maybe it was Cowgirl) who wants this just play the hits!!1!" and I was like, you do not deserve Neil.

haha amazing. I'm going to get tickets to avoid disappointment, but it's interesting to hear about the possiblity of cheapo ones on resale...

yeah at that show he started with 2 or 3 10-20 minute jams; Love and Only Love, Love to Burn included. then said "here's one for all you sad bastards, stop crying and complaining" and then did some acoustic bits.

Hahahaha that is my DREAM Neil show, tbh.

I remember the last time I saw Thundercat a few years back at Shepherds Bush (I think) he opened with like a 45-minute acid-funk excursion that just peeled off punters like banknotes, an absolute clearout. It was brilliant! And then, after that, he played the 'hits' to a half-full room.

"here's one for all you sad bastards, stop crying and complaining" and then did some acoustic bits.

Strong Tonights The Night tour vibes there

"Here's an old song, one you've heard before"

*Love and Only Love opening chords ring out again*

Really excited to see Neil Young who I love at Hyde Park" and then being "He's playing lots of v v v long guitar solos through Down By The River (maybe it was Cowgirl) who wants this just play the hits!!1!"

I've mentioned this before, but back when "Le Noise" came out I was listening to an advance of it on headphones and bumped into a friend. He asked what it was then exclaimed "I love Neil Young, how is it!?" I told him it was a great but loud, and he frowned and grumbled "oh, I only like his quiet stuff." (I assume that means "Harvest").

My other fave story is a friend who saw him on the "Greendale" tour, and the person behind him started chanting "normal show! normal show!"

Harvest is one of those albums - the kind that draws millions of passionate fans who otherwise don't care about said artist's other (and likely better) work.

Neil with Old Black will always be my favorite - if I had to pick between that or an acoustic concert, without hesitation, give me Old Black, especially if it's with Crazy Horse. But I have to say the one great exception is Greendale - surprisingly when it's just him on acoustic and harmonica and telling stories in-between as on Live at Vicar St., the project's surprisingly engaging. But with Crazy Horse, it was surprisingly dull, as if the concept weighed them down so much it gave them no room to move except to lumber in place.

(Used "surprisingly" way too many times there.)

when i saw Neil w/my kid at the Greek in summer of 2023 it was pretty glorious, it was one of those weird Neil shows (basically what you hear on Before and After) and it was mostly a crowd of people who were completely okay with his thing (his thing being have something like six different pianos/pump organs onstage and using them either once or not at all iirc) and pausing to play with his train set encircling the stage. it was great to see him in the mindset to do a tour like that focused heavily on Sleeps with Angels and Mirror Ball and other non-hits. he did eventually throw some red meat to the crowd w/some CSNY and Harvest stuff. I told my kid this was exactly the type of show you'd hope to see, something that he just had never done before and would never do again.

When we see him in 2009 or so (not long after the aneurysm), he had someone onstage painting on a large canvas throughout, and he played the most amazing cover version of A Day In The Life.

Was checking a nearby rep for something else and came across this:

https://princesscinemas.com/movie/neil-young-costal

Misspelling in the URL...I had no idea Daryl Hannah had directed three Neil films already.

I loved her film about the making of Barn.

I saw Hannah's "Coastal" film that is about Neil's solo tour of the US west coast just after the Covid pandemic. It was boring. She wanted to make a cineme-verite film and so you get way too much footage of Neil on his huge tour bus looking out the window as his longtime driver makes small talk. You get to see twice, not once but before before 2 gigs, a roadie carefully placing a harmonica holder around Neil's neck. You also get to see twice Neil right after he has finished zipping his pants after coming out of the bathroom. No, you don't see anything down there. This short Guardian review is pretty accurate on the movie.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/apr/16/neil-young-coastal-review-music-legend-on-the-road-filmed-by-his-wife-daryl-hannah

No, you don't see anything down there.

Saving it for the Archives, no doubt!

Archives, Vol VI: Neil's Bits and Literal Bobs

The few segments of Neil performing onstage were good, but a film-making buddy who I attended the screening with, said Hannah should have used more cameras. Hannah didn't want any interview segments, so you very quickly see Joni Mitchell backstage after first gig of tour but you don't hear from her.

Sounds as boring as you'd imagine. Would happily watch hidden camera footage of Neil crew members grousing about how weird he is though.

It sounds like Daryl Hannah is trying to direct as many flawed Neil Young films as Bernard Shakey has

Neil mentioning how he thinks he might have bought his pump organ that he has onstage was kind of interesting, maybe it was a furniture store and not a thrift store he says; He also says quickly how an acoustic guitar he is playing he got from Stephen Stills. But him playing those instruments onstage was more scintillating of course.

Saving it for the Archives, no doubt!

PENO

It sounds like Daryl Hannah is trying to direct as many flawed Neil Young films as Bernard Shakey has

this does sound a fair amount like Muddy Track, though probably much less riveting

Just wait for the revisionist take 50 years from now of Daryl Hannah, misunderstood nouveau cinéma vérité pioneer.

in an inevitable devlopment, I've started a Neil Young podcast — behold ... ALL ONE SONG! https://www.talkhouse.com/all-one-song-steve-gunn-on-will-to-love/

https://64.media.tumblr.com/430314e967f8c9527cb4ba1cb894d1b9/53bdc3cb77caa8f4-b0/s1280x1920/ca309b5fc27b001444953da7af6850149cecf246.jpg

congrats, excited for this tyler. hell of a guest/song combo for the first ep: steve gunn on "will to love"!

Got an announcement of that podcast in my feed a few days ago and I said Hey I kinda sorta know that guy! Looking fwd to listening.

hope you enjoy! podcasting is ... hard? anyway, i have a newfound respect for people who do it really well.

stoked for the doghouse episode

*high five*

stoked for the doghouse episode

PODCAST, POD CAST

guests so far have been too cowardly to select "doghouse," Neil's greatest work