The Official Neil Young Thread

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[epilogue]

What I've heard (updated ranking):

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
After the Gold Rush
On The Beach
Silver and Gold
Long May You Run
Rust Never Sleeps
Mirror Ball
Zuma
Homegrown
Harvest Moon

Prairie Wind
Le Noise
Chrome Dreams II
Tonight's the Night
Harvest
Comes A Time
Are You Passionate
Freedom
Living With War
Neil Young

Greendale

[Farmer John]

It pains me to see Greendale at the bottom. Separated by a gap, no less!

[liebzz]

Rust Never Sleeps is totally solid. I can see what people love so much about it. And it's definitely better than I'd remembered -- especially the songs that aren't widely considered hits and/or are included on a lot of compilations (Ride My Llama for example).

I probably do have it ranked too low on that last ranking that I did. But there's no way I'd put it #1. It doesn't begin to touch Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, or On The Beach.

Still, wonderful listen and I'm glad I gave it another spin. This dude has too many great albums.

Thumbs up. I love Ride My Llama.

[epilogue]

It pains me to see Greendale at the bottom. Separated by a gap, no less!

The gap is just numbering. I'm putting spaces after 10 albums.

Greendale is another one that I haven't listened in forever. I spun it several times when it first came out but it's been since that year (or the following) that I've given it a full spin.

Maybe I should just do a full catalog listen. Start at the beginning and go all the way through.

[epilogue]

Rust Never Sleeps is totally solid. I can see what people love so much about it. And it's definitely better than I'd remembered -- especially the songs that aren't widely considered hits and/or are included on a lot of compilations (Ride My Llama for example).

I probably do have it ranked too low on that last ranking that I did. But there's no way I'd put it #1. It doesn't begin to touch Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, or On The Beach.

Still, wonderful listen and I'm glad I gave it another spin. This dude has too many great albums.

Thumbs up. I love Ride My Llama.

That one and Sail Away both really hit me this time. Both were pure joy to hear. Great fucking songs among a record of zero real duds. Welfare Mothers is the closest to a "filler" or "stinker" track. I'd also entertain an argument that Sedan Delivery is overlong. But I'd also entertain an argument against that argument.

[tragabigzanda]

[Farmer John]

It pains me to see Greendale at the bottom. Separated by a gap, no less!

The gap is just numbering. I'm putting spaces after 10 albums.

Greendale is another one that I haven't listened in forever. I spun it several times when it first came out but it's been since that year (or the following) that I've given it a full spin.

Maybe I should just do a full catalog listen. Start at the beginning and go all the way through.

I would support you in that journey.

But I also like the current method of everybody yelling at you to listen to a certain album, so LISTEN TO SLEEPS WITH ANGELS AND BROKEN ARROW NEXT!

[epilogue]

As I've said before, Neil Young has always been more of a 'singles' artist for me. I've listened to a handful of his albums all the way through but I don't tend to revisit entire albums all that often -- certainly not as much as I do with other artists. I like making playlists and mixes that span Young's career.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and After the Gold Rush are the only two that I know really well and continue to spin start to finish frequently. So, going through full albums over the last week has been a lot of fun and really interesting for me. I'm glad Homegrown came out. It really sparked this renewed interest.

[epilogue]

It pains me to see Greendale at the bottom. Separated by a gap, no less!

The gap is just numbering. I'm putting spaces after 10 albums.

Greendale is another one that I haven't listened in forever. I spun it several times when it first came out but it's been since that year (or the following) that I've given it a full spin.

Maybe I should just do a full catalog listen. Start at the beginning and go all the way through.

I would support you in that journey.

But I also like the current method of everybody yelling at you to listen to a certain album, so LISTEN TO SLEEPS WITH ANGELS AND BROKEN ARROW NEXT!

SLEEPS WITH ANGELS WILL BE THE NEXT ONE BUT I'M GONNA TAKE A BREAK FOR A BIT IF THAT'S FINE BY YOU

[Farmer John]

It pains me to see Greendale at the bottom. Separated by a gap, no less!

The gap is just numbering. I'm putting spaces after 10 albums.

Greendale is another one that I haven't listened in forever. I spun it several times when it first came out but it's been since that year (or the following) that I've given it a full spin.

Maybe I should just do a full catalog listen. Start at the beginning and go all the way through.

I would support you in that journey.

But I also like the current method of everybody yelling at you to listen to a certain album, so LISTEN TO SLEEPS WITH ANGELS AND BROKEN ARROW NEXT!

SLEEPS WITH ANGELS WILL BE THE NEXT ONE BUT I'M GONNA TAKE A BREAK FOR A BIT IF THAT'S FINE BY YOU

I'll allow it.

[epilogue]

I'm hoping to get to it tomorrow at the latest.

These are the three I have on deck for this week:

Sleeps With Angels (first time)
Broken Arrow (first time)
Tonight's The Night (revisit)

[Hatfield]

Rust Never Sleeps is totally solid. I can see what people love so much about it. And it's definitely better than I'd remembered -- especially the songs that aren't widely considered hits and/or are included on a lot of compilations (Ride My Llama for example).

I probably do have it ranked too low on that last ranking that I did. But there's no way I'd put it #1. It doesn't begin to touch Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, or On The Beach.

Still, wonderful listen and I'm glad I gave it another spin. This dude has too many great albums.

I had an intense life transition connected to Rust Never Sleeps which moves it up on my list, but objectively, you are completely correct.

[liebzz]

Since I did the whole thing in order last year, I can definitively say that it is quite rewarding but it’s a real ride that could take a long time. It also is tough because there are a lot of albums I didn’t like on the back end of the journey (Promise of the Real albums and a few others I just didn’t get). The 80s stretch has some real rough patches too, particularly the second half of the 80s for me. I love Re-Ac-Tor, Trans, This Note’s For You, and evening the rockabilly album (it’s quick and painless so you just have to be ready to listen and move on and it is actually an enjoyable experience to shake things up), but I hated Life and Landing On Water.

[epilogue]

Rust Never Sleeps is totally solid. I can see what people love so much about it. And it's definitely better than I'd remembered -- especially the songs that aren't widely considered hits and/or are included on a lot of compilations (Ride My Llama for example).

I probably do have it ranked too low on that last ranking that I did. But there's no way I'd put it #1. It doesn't begin to touch Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, or On The Beach.

Still, wonderful listen and I'm glad I gave it another spin. This dude has too many great albums.

I had an intense life transition connected to Rust Never Sleeps which moves it up on my list, but objectively, you are completely correct.

Those personal connections are so important. I totally get that. Music is such a wonderful (and sometimes painful) vessel for those emotional and sense memories. It's all tied up in the music. That's a big part of why I love it so much.

[epilogue]

Since I did the whole thing in order last year, I can definitively say that it is quite rewarding but it’s a real ride that could take a long time. It also is tough because there are a lot of albums I didn’t like on the back end of the journey (Promise of the Real albums and a few others I just didn’t get). The 80s stretch has some real rough patches too, particularly the second half of the 80s for me. I love Re-Ac-Tor, Trans, This Note’s For You, and evening the rockabilly album (it’s quick and painless so you just have to be ready to listen and move on and it is actually an enjoyable experience to shake things up), but I hated Life and Landing On Water.

Landing On Water is the other one that people told me to avoid.

[liebzz]

Yeah, avoid it.

I recommend reactor because it’s Neil going full stream of consciousness. I don’t know that it is as essential as his greatest albums, but the album is really entertaining and fun to take in without having to look to deep into what he is doing. Trans is also worth listening to but you got to give it a bunch of listens (1) because it is completely jarring at first and (2) because there’s a lot to take out of it despite it being off-the-f’in-rails.

[VinylGuy]

Zuma is wonderful. Just wonderful.

The production is so fucking good.

[Kevin Davis]

Rust Never Sleeps is totally solid. I can see what people love so much about it. And it's definitely better than I'd remembered -- especially the songs that aren't widely considered hits and/or are included on a lot of compilations (Ride My Llama for example).

I probably do have it ranked too low on that last ranking that I did. But there's no way I'd put it #1. It doesn't begin to touch Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, or On The Beach.

Still, wonderful listen and I'm glad I gave it another spin. This dude has too many great albums.

I had an intense life transition connected to Rust Never Sleeps which moves it up on my list, but objectively, you are completely correct.

I don't have an intense live transition connected to Rust Never Sleeps and I still think it is better than all three of those albums, though I can understand why one would think After the Gold Rush and On the Beach are stronger. Incidentally, Everybody Knows is probably the Neil album that feels most overrated to me; "Down By the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" are such monolithic tracks that I think it's hard for what comes between to tie them together, even though the title track is one of my favorite Neil songs ever. It also didn't help that by the time I bought the album I'd already become overly familiar with "Cinnamon Girl," "River," and "Cowgirl" via Decade, lessening the impact of the record overall and making it harder to judge as a complete work.

I just love the gradual build of Rust Never Sleeps, starting off with the solo acoustic tracks before finally arriving at the sludgefest of "Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)," yet at the same time ending right where it started. And every song is more or less great.

Greendale has a cool sound and vibe, and -- much like Fork in the Road, and some others I'm sure -- is much more enjoyable if you just totally leave your expectations and that door and embrace the absurdity of what Neil is trying to do with it.

[liebzz]

KD, you nailed it with that post, particularly describing the impact of Rust Never Sleeps. It’s almost like there’s some sort of mirror image going on between side 1 & side 2. Starting and ending with the same song (two ways) is one of those things I really love about it.

Every time I think you listen to NY in album format you need to check your expectations. He swings wildly from one format to the next so if you are in it for Cinnamon Girl, Comes a Time is problematic. But if you just sit back and soak in whatever Neil’s got for you, more times than not it is everything you need.