neil young 60's/70's guitar epic POLL

"Powderfinger" is epic. But is it an epic?

Why ins't Danger Bird on here?

I would have voted "Danger Bird"

cortez the killer in the live rust version, that's the one.

aw, but the Weld version is better, because neil doesn't attempt a cod-jamaican accent in the closing minutes

"Cortez" -- followed closely by "Down By The River". Those are the ones I'm always excited to get to on live tapes. Though "Cowgirl In The Sand" on that recently officially released Fillmore show is out of sight too. And oh jesus, there are some good live 76 "Hurricanes"... this is tough.

The cod Jamaican accent is the best part!

Never cared for the early jams. "Cortez..." is the one; and, yeah, where the fuck is "Danger Bird"?

Gotta go with "Down By The River" which was actually one of the first songs i heard from Neil. Ahh, nostalgia.

"Cowgirl in the Sand"; would have considered the Weld version of "Cortez the Killer".

cowgirl >>>>>>>>>>>>>> cortez > down by the river >>>>>>>>>>>> like a hurricane

ive actually never heard rust never sleeps???

cowgirl. never really gotten the love for cortez.

Song = "Down By the River". Guitar playing = "Like a Hurricane".

Cortez the Killer by a wide margin

I forgot to put:

Combination of Song + Guitar Playing = "Cortez the Killer"

Cowgirl on the Fillmore thing is indeed sick.

That whole thing is incredible, it's probably my favorite Neil Young record at this point.

thats definitely what gave cowgirl the edge for me, but the studio version is my fave these days

theres something so profoundly loud but controlled about the way the gtrs kick in after the lil prelude, and its so swingy

yeah as much as i love live neil young, there is something crazy/weird about cowgirl/down by the river in their studio incarnations. those super dry guitars mainly. did that record sound weird when it came out do you think? i can't think of other albums from the period that compare to it.

Like A Hurricane is the only one of these I've seen him play live, but it was a 25 minute version that probably went beyond Caspar Brotzmann in scorched earth intensity, so I'll vote for that. Is the Jamaican mon section of Cortez on Rust Never Sleeps the most hamfisted attempt at white reggae ever?

Is the Jamaican mon section of Cortez on Rust Never Sleeps the most hamfisted attempt at white reggae ever?

That's a pretty crowded field of runners you got there

Tom D completely OTM. Opening squalls of "Like A Hurricane" - my ringtone. But "Down By The River" is the best thing Neil ever did.

"River" has got those lethal eighth-note punctuation-bursts, and "Hurricane"'s got that anguished Fender Reverb Unit abuse; but "Cowgirl"'s got everything, so that wins.

"Cortez" is, at least to me, the only one that feels like it needs its entire length in order to work. that slow, sprawling sound is so central to the song. I could imagine trimming "Cowgirl" or "River" down to normal pop song length and still having something decent, but a 3 1/2-minute version of "Cortez" would just sound half-finished. which is interesting, since it's the shortest of the bunch (studio versions, anyway).

I'm kinda feeling title track from On The Beach merits inclusion. Some of those solos...

this would be an epic road trip CD

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Like a Hurricane", although for me this isn't as much about the long guitar parts as about the fact that it's a great song. "Down By The River" comes close because of some great harmonies in the chorus.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

shasta OTM. jesus i love neil young.
does "on the beach" not count as a guitar epic?

guess we gotta do a 80s/90s/00s guitar epic poll now ... though there really aren't a whole lot of epics in the 80s ... "Touch The Night"? "T-Bone"? ... Plenty in the 90s: "Love and Only Love", "Love To Burn", "Loose Change," "Slipaway" "Big Time", "Change Your Mind"...

"Like An Inca"!

haha, is that a guitar epic? i guess it's pretty epic. mostly acoustic though right? with all the chirping birds and shit ... "southern pacific" is kinda epic -- esp. in its int'l harvesters incarnation. "ordinary people" and "crime in the city" are epic, but not in a guitar solo-y way ...

for the later poll, if you're including acoustic songs, include "Natural Beauty". And maybe "Sample And Hold", though I guess it's not too heavy on the guitars. And for sure "I'm The Ocean", which would get my vote.

dunno, might be better to do a separate acoustic epics poll ... "Last Trip To Tulsa", "Ambulance Blues", "Thrasher", "Natural Beauty", ummmm ... help me out here people ... "Will to Love" of course ... "like an inca" might work here.

maybe "Razor Love" on the acoustic epics?

maybe "On The Beach" too? It's not acoustic, but it's a mellow guitar epic, if that's possible.

oh shit "The Old Homestead" would work

best vrsion of like a h has no guitars but rather organ

Over and Over: At long, long last, dig the NEIL YOUNG EPICS poll