A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

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Finally ready to go...Thanks again for the great response. There were 66 ballots in all, and 259 songs/covers drew votes. Four of us submitted a list of favourite album covers, so I’ll quickly do those first. Three were mentioned more than once: On the Beach (4 votes), Time Fades Away (4 votes), and After the Gold Rush (2 votes).

http://phildellio.tripod.com/beach.jpg http://phildellio.tripod.com/fades.jpg http://phildellio.tripod.com/gold.jpg

Arc, Comes a Time, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Hawks & Doves, Journey Through the Past, Lucky Thirteen, Ragged Glory, Mirror Ball, Tonight’s the Night, Trans, Weld, and Zuma were all mentioned once.

omg is "SCENERY" #1????

Hyped

First poll I've voted in for a while...keen!

Predict "Old King" to win btw.

I'll count down from #75 to #51 today, with about three or four minutes between posts. There's been so much Neil talk on the voting and other Neil threads, hopefully people will still have stuff to say.

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I voted for it.

aw, decent song, but i'm guessing this means my favorite bluenotes track won't make the cut, as I can't imagine two bluenotes tracks making the cut

Most of the images I picked connect fairly obviously to the song; with some, like the one above, I just liked the picture.

Meant to say that I voted for two other album covers, but those are my three favourite for sure. They get the music inside so right.

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ha, i remember reading about ordinary people way back in the 90s before i heard it -- can't remember where now, but it was this ridiculous, over the top praise, like "neil young has written the greatest song of the 1980s"! and then it was impossible to find. think i finally heard it on the "archives be damned" bootleg thing.
i'm actually excited about the prospect of a bluenotes live archives release.

Voted for Ordinary People. Lyrically the sum of the parts exceeds the whole but I like its torrential relentlessness. Would have had more impact in the 80s, given the arc of his career, Reagan, Iacocca, etc.

"Don't Cry" may feature his best OTT feedback.

"Neil knows NOTHING about 'Ordinary People'!"--David Briggs

am so bummed that i forgot to vote for American Stars N Bars as my fav album cover

Three things that made my head spin a bit: keeping track of 1) "Hey Hey, My My"/"My My, Hey Hey" votes, 2)"Drive Back"/"Drive By" votes, and 3) "Don't Cry No Tears"/"Don't Cry" votes.

don't cry is explosive. one of the scarier songs he's ever done.

"Hey Hey, My My"/"My My, Hey Hey" were counted as one song, right?

The 12:36 black and white 1988 "Ordinary People" on Youtube is pretty great.

No. People were very specific--sometimes voting for both--and to me, they're so different that wouldn't make sense. (Unlike the two "Tonight's the Night"s.)

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A+ photo.

ah. wish i'd taken the time to think about which i was voting for and make a note, then -- it's all the same song to me, just like lots of other songs on my ballot have good acoustic and electric versions. (xpost)

"Don't Cry" is a really cool song. Didn't vote for it, but it was close. Like his vocals a lot on that song.

xp When I voted it looked like the consensus was to group them together, later on clemenza clarified he was splitting them but I didn't bother rethinking my ballot.

Yeah, the live takes of "Ordinary People" from the late 80s were great, but by the time it made Chrome Dreams II I felt like it had passed him by a bit. Didn't vote for it, or for "Don't Cry" though both were on my shortlist.

"Cocaine Eyes" was #26 on my ballot. Worth the price of Eldorado on Japanese import CD right there.

I hadn't heard "Cocaine Eyes" till this poll. Maybe it'll grow on me, but one time through I didn't care for it that much.

That and "Heavy Love" usually run neck-and-neck for me, but I ended up putting "Cocaine Eyes" a few places higher.

In Shakey, Neil said he got the inspiration for the Eldorado EP after watching The Kids Are Alright on cable. "I wanna do something like that!"

That's Halston in the photo, right? He looks like Phil Hartman there.

Still waiting for Neil's Nash diss track...

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I wanted to do every image in purple words on a grey background, but it wasn't meant to be.

idle Neil thought - is there any other rock n roll artist who has both written and elicited so many "response" songs? (Circle Game, Sweet Home Alabama, Hey Hey My My is kinda a response to the Pistols, This Note's For You is a response to Clapton's ads etc)

like Ordinary People but agree didn't much like the chrome dreams version

chubby checker xpost

Sample and Hold was my #1! Such a great song.

yaaaaaaaaaay, i voted for Sample And Hold. so good.

I would like to confess that I am the owner of the "Sample and Hold" 12" with the "Dance Remixes" of it and "Mr. Soul" and yet it still didn't make my ballot.

Did I goof on "Ordinary People"--was it on another album prior to Chrome Dreams II?

xp ooh, I have never heard these "Dance Remixes", worth checking out (even if only as curios)?

nope, it was unreleased but heavily bootlegged until CDII

I wish there'd been a dance remix of "Words (Between the Lines of Age)."

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ah, here's the first one i voted for! this song is ridiculously beautiful.

In the mid-90s I saw a band do a trip-hoppy version of "Pocahontas". It was different.

I'd say if you really love the song and the Trans stuff in general then yes, absolutely worth checking out the Sample and Hold remixes. The single mix is different than the LP version too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH1Ivbe4wFU

I love the version of "Transformer Man" from unplugged but the original never did much for me.

Emperor of Wyoming dope choice buzza

That is a very cool set of photos and explanation, not that you owed me/us one - thanks. xps

xposting I'd be shocked if "Americana" played much of a part of the upcoming Crazy Horse tour. But maybe the unreleased (maybe never to be released?) other album will. Per Young, " [the tour] is going to be [songs from] the past, the present and the future."

I wouldn't mind a few songs from Americana but if he busts out the unreleased 20+ minute jam and it doesn't deliver I'm gonna be bummed!

Pretty obsessed with Jesus' Chariot on Americana. I wish this was the version of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain that comes out of my daughter's toy 20 times a day.

Here's my ballot:

Mr. Soul (Mono) - Archives Vol. 1
Everbody Knows This Is Nowhere - Everybody's Knows this Is Nowwhere
Down by the River - LIve at the Fillmore
Cowgirl in the Sand - LIve at the Filmore
On the Way Home - Live at Massey Hall
I'm the Ocean - Mirror Ball
Dreamin' Man - Harvest Moon
Rockin' the Free World - Freedom
Too Far Gone - Chrome Dreams version (unreleased)
Comes a Time - Comes a Time
Will to Love - American Stars n Bars/Chrome Dreams
Winterlong - Decade
Tonights' the Night - Tonight's the Night
Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown - Tonight's the Night
Albuquerque - Tonight's the Night
Mellow My Mind - Tonight's the NIght
Tired Eyes - Tonight's the Night
Don't Cry No Tears - Zuma
Barstool Blues - Zuma
Cortez the Killer - Zuma
Revolution Blues - On the Beach
For the Turnstiles - On the Beach
Out on the Weekend - Harvest
Heart of Gold - Harvest
Old Man - Harvest
Mansion on the Hill - Ragged Glory
My My Hey Hey - Into the Black - Rust Never Sleeps
Thrasher - Rust Never Sleeps
Pocohontas - Rust Never Sleeps
Powderfinger - Rust Never Sleeps
Sedan Delivery - Rust Never Sleeps
Pushed it Over the End - Citizen Kane Junior Blues
Hippie Dream - Landing on Water
Transformer Man - Trans
Time Fades Away - Time Fades Away
Helpless - Decade
Like a Hurricane - American Stars n Bars
I've Loved Her So Long - Archives
Shots - Re Ac Tor
World on A String - Tonights't the Night

Yeah "Jesus' Chariot" is the best song on that record

xpost

glad to see too far gone showing up on some ballots. kind of a perfect song imo. otm about the chrome dreams version being superior. the 76 live renditions are great too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ9AV7C7EX8

I would have voted for Clementine from Americana if I knew about it. That is absolutely killer.

^^My last cut.

really did not expect quite so much Thrasher love but i've always been into that one. In 1981 i spent tenth grade in Israel on a kibbutz and a few classmates were Canadians and Neil was our classes' go-to fave for singalongs and late night listening. I useda listen to RNS all the time for awhile there and Thrasher in particular always meant a lot on account of the fact that the lyrics, while kinda obtuse or impenetrable maybe, def seemed Zionistic considering our circumstances. i'm no Zionist these days but Neil still rules....

Who knew?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to9C_S7v0zU

I had to check, but I have that (called it an "ordeal" in the covers piece). Something I'd forgotten: Neil and Manson share a birthday (Nov. 12, eleven years apart).

This interview with Neil's longtime guitar tech is pretty cool

I duly acquired Trans and listened to it for the first time over the weekend. Love it. I can stop saying it's NY's best album just to be contrary now (<-- jk).

I heard "Old Man" last night at a Sunflower market, and immediately regretted that I never submitted a ballot for this.

Effexts this thread has on your life: watching Hell's Kitchen and the red team has a pulled pork punishment which involves them checking it hourly through the night. An alarm sounds which they cancel by pressing a "big red button at the side of the grill". So naturally I started singing that to the tune of "Don't Let It Bring You Down".

instant earworm, great

Big red button at the side of the grill
With the pulled pork piled high
Madman chef on everybody’s case
Makes a grown man want to cry

Cold wind ripping through the kitchen at dawn
As the cameras start to roll
Madman chef still frothing at the mouth
Makes a grown man lose his soul

Don't let it bring you down
It's only pulled pork grilling
Find someone who's chilling
And you will come around

(No excuse for that sort of thing, I know.)

Has this been posted here yet? Acoustic Albuquerque?
Maybe I'm just in a sappy mood today (I mean obvious I totally am) but this sounds like the most poignant thing on earth atm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNu8Ti1RhKg&feature=related

i was gonna put this in the "last movies you watched" thread, but it fits better here I think.

Last week I screened Dusty & Sweets McGee, Floyd Mutrux's faux-documentary on heroin addicts in '70-'71 LA, and was wondering if any Neil fans here had seen it? Even though you don't actually hear any of his music in the film (and there's a bunch of music in it), it's like Time Fades Away/Tonight's The Night: The Movie! I kept expecting to see Danny Whitten or Bruce Berry pop up in the background.

Here's the only clip I could find on youtube, which has a short monologue from the dealer character, a Texan who tools around in a '70 Boss 302 Mustang. I can't help seeing him as the guy from "Tired Eyes". (discussion in clip NSFW)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atAGpJSSsrg

How did you get hold of that (or were you streaming it)? Pretty sure I remember a big Sunset Strip billboard for Time Fades Away in Mutrux's Aloha Bobby and Rose.

Warner Archive MOD

Great--I've got to find somewhere that'll ship reasonably to Canada. I recently bought Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, which is a year later and the same terrain.

Would watch!

I took a few days to read this whole thread and listen to every song as I've been on a major neil young dive since discovering on the beach a couple weeks ago. had only heard harvest and some of after the gold rush before that (+ a few obvious singles). always wanted to try more but finally found a way in w/ on the beach. i love every song on there.

based on my newly found love for his music i would currently go with something like this for my top ten:

1. on the beach
2. thrasher
3. cortez the killer
4. down by the river
5. danger bird
6. motion pictures
7. will to love
8. like a hurricane
9. love in mind
10. don't cry

not really understanding how powderfinger won this thing but maybe it will grow on me.

think ive listened to every version of cortez the killer including all the live covers (lol @ satriani ... but the dave matthews one is not bad!).

he had such a rad guitar sound coming out of the gates (cowgirl, cinnamon girl, down by the river).

i think some of the songs off tonights the night might make there way up my list, really loving albuquerque atm.

neil young is good, is my main takeaway.

neil young is good

the tonight's the night songs, at least for me, were real slowburners, like over the course of 5-8 years, but gradually they became indispensable.

lately i have been appreciating the SNL performance of Rockin' in the Free World

feel like quite a bit of his stuff is going to slowburn for me.

always found Powderfinger overrated, but I will say that it's an awesome moment whenever at a Neil show the song kicks off with the lines "Look out, Mama, there's a white boat coming up the river"

neil young is good

karl otm

neil young is good

spottie otm

the snl 'rockin' in the free world' is phenomenal, one of the greatest tv musical performances ever imo

powderfinger might be my favourite neil lyric, just the right balance between poetic and specific

i saw a band cover "albuquerque" recently and it felt like a gift. i recognized it in like 3 notes and there was nothing particularly outstanding about it musically but what a pleasure to hear that song being played by people!

that SNL performance always cheers me up when i am feeling low. i feel like watching it over and over helps to reclaim that song from its truly awful fate as "escalator song" :(

sounds like you're travelling in some pretty rockin' elevators tbh

no elevators -- the escalator video of DJT & M descending to make his speech where he announced his candidacy that i will not link or ever watch again if i can avoid it

ALSO at the girls rock end-of-camp showcase last weekend a wee camper DJ played "rockin in the free world" during her DJ set and i shed a tear or 5

oh christ i'd forgotten about that ;_;

The “country ham” line in Albuquerque has always kind of taken me out of the moment.

what, the fried eggs are ok but not the ham?
i like that the line it rhymes with is super poignant. it elevates the ham.

definitely makes me want some fried eggs and country ham

As all music should.

nobody can make you feel an unexpected minor chord like neil

ha true!

neil young is good

can confirm

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These are the Neil Young alums ya need.

Zuma is a good shout for #1. No Live Rust? No After the Goldrush? SMDH

I like/love 'em all, really. Post-Ragged Glory albums I'd rank with his best: Harvest Moon, Greendale, Psychedelic Pill.

solid list for sure

the live at the fillmore east renditions of the everybody knows this is nowhere songs have taken over as the definitive versions for me in the last couple of years

when Keith Richards, recording his solo album, said he’d run out of material to write about, drummer Steve Jordan reminded him, “Think of Mick. Write about Mick.”

hahahaha that's amazing