The Official Neil Young Thread

[Anders]

I saw them in 1996.

[liebzz]

That 97 show was the HORDE tour that year: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Beck, Primus, Soul Coughing, Ben Folds, Cake Like, and Toad the Wet Sprocket were the bands we saw that day.

[MadTIGERmaN]

I've seen Neil 5 times, in 5 different lineup/settings.

1 - with Pearl Jam, Toledo 2004
2 - first half of the show was sit down acoustic, 2nd half was with a band from 2007
3 - With the "Electric Band" in 2008
4 - Farm Aid 25, 2010
5 - w/Crazy Horse during the Psychedelic Pill album tour

1 was amazing, even if it was only 5 songs
2 was, disjointed. The full band portion was so much better than the first half of the show
3 Was a really great set / great vibe, and that 3 song run to close the show... Cowgirl In the Sand, RITFW, A Day In the Life (Beatles) was probably the best 3 song run ive ever seen in person from anyone
4 - way to short, 7 songs total. Down By the River and Ohio sounded amazing solo on an electric. Neil did a lot of talking (way more than any other artist) I would never knock that, it was farm aid. It was expected
5 - 14 songs total for a 2 hour show... so typical NY/Crazy Horse. Walk Like a Giant is such a great song, even with its 5+ min outro

Anyway, I would have loved to see him with CSNY or with Buffalo Springfield, or a full PJ show, but cant complain getting 5 different versions of NY

[joostone]

I've seen NY 6 or 7 times in the last 20 years. The best performance was with 'promise of the real', they sounded great!

It was an 3.5 hour performance....amazing! https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-you ... fe4c6.html

[makeshift]

Horde was cool. Primus then The Horse.

[Farmer John]

I've seen NY 6 or 7 times in the last 20 years. The best performance was with 'promise of the real', they sounded great!

It was an 3.5 hour performance....amazing! https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-you ... fe4c6.html

I wish I had seen him with the Promise of the Real. They sound great from the clips I've seen.

That version of Revolution Blues from Amsterdam is so good.

[joostone]

I've seen NY 6 or 7 times in the last 20 years. The best performance was with 'promise of the real', they sounded great!

It was an 3.5 hour performance....amazing! https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-you ... fe4c6.html

I wish I had seen him with the Promise of the Real. They sound great from the clips I've seen.

That version of Revolution Blues from Amsterdam is so good.

That show is in my top 10 alltime best shows Ive attented. He just kept going...more than 3.5 hours..

[VinylGuy]

Listening to Psychedelic Pill for the first time in a long time.

[digster]

Finally doing my full run through of the catalog; I've heard most of the big hitters, but not in a little while, and have some gaps to fill in, particularly in the 80s onward (and I'm including the albums that were recently released for the first time). I'm up to American Stars n' Bars, and a few thoughts;

- I do think On the Beach may be the finest in the Ditch Trilogy; the trio of songs at the end could be Neil's finest moment in the studio.

- I love Homegrown; it's the Harvest band filtered through the warped mindset of the guy (and bands) during the Ditch. I haven't gone back to his catalog in a long time, so I didn't have too big a problem re-contextualizing songs I'd originally heard in other places on this record.

- Does Zuma usually get placed up with the Ditch work? I feel like it should, if not; it's certainly lighter on its feet, but it has some of Neil's best work.

- I actually find it really fun to go through the albums in quick succession, as Neil's catalog feels much more rewarding as viewing the albums as chapters in a longer narrative (I also think PJ actually works best through this lens), rather than seeing each album as its own totemic edifice, like I might view Radiohead albums. However...

- Neil's catalog is tough for me because his studio work seems so wrapped up in his live and unreleased stuff. I feel like in going through the studio records alone, you're only getting half the story if that. I'm going through now, thinking I'll go back and fill in the margins with the live stuff and Archives, but it's possible I'm missing the fullest picture.

From what I've heard up to now in this listen...

On The Beach
Zuma
Tonight's the Night
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Harvest
Homegrown
After the Gold Rush
Time Fades Away
S/T

[rick malone]

-I agree with you about On The Beach. Probably the top Neil album The vibe on the last three songs is intense. A reviewer years ago said you have to understand Don't Be Denied and the last three songs of On The Beach to really get Neil.

-Zuma was a turn to a somewhat more professional sound(relative to Neil, it would be considered messy by any other major player). It is still plenty ragged and has a certain something that only a great could produce.

-Stars n' Bars has some all timers(Bite The Bullet is underrated) but Hey Babe and Hold Back The Tears are kind of weak IMO. Will To Love is just zany enough to work.

[digster]

It feels really odd putting Time Fades Away and After the Gold Rush that low, and I feel like it can switch around pretty easy. Going back to the songs, there's a few on Time Fades Away I might put above almost everything on Tonight's the Night.

[epilogue]

It feels really odd putting Time Fades Away and After the Gold Rush that low, and I feel like it can switch around pretty easy. Going back to the songs, there's a few on Time Fades Away I might put above almost everything on Tonight's the Night.

It was weird seeing ATGR so low on a list. But I feel the same way about some of the albums further down on my own list, so I wasn't gonna bust balls about it. Dude just has such an amazing catalog. And I'm finding by doing my own journey that a lot depends on mood, for me.

[Strat]

That Neil and horse show I saw at red rocks before psychedelic pill was mind blowing. It was everything I ever wanted from Neil. Neil and the horse doing whatever the fuck Neil wanted. New album nobody heard. Just them hammering the songs out and making the crowd uncomfortable. Throw in three hits and call it good. Fuck yes.

Also they closed with days that used to be and I was just in heaven.

People hated those shows and I legit thought it was one of the best I’d ever seen. And I’ve seen Neil maybe ten times and three times with the horse

[Birds in Hell]

That Neil and horse show I saw at red rocks before psychedelic pill was mind blowing. It was everything I ever wanted from Neil. Neil and the horse doing whatever the fuck Neil wanted. New album nobody heard. Just them hammering the songs out and making the crowd uncomfortable. Throw in three hits and call it good. Fuck yes.

Also they closed with days that used to be and I was just in heaven.

People hated those shows and I legit thought it was one of the best I’d ever seen. And I’ve seen Neil maybe ten times and three times with the horse

I've seen NY twice, once in 2009 (with Rick Rosas, Ben Keith, etc.) and again in 2013 with Crazy Horse post-Psychedelic Pill.

Both were great, but that last show is hands down the best live music experience I've ever had.

Just a really incredible night.

Been listening to Hitchhiker a fair bit this week, this song in particular is really hitting right:



A really enjoyable "minor" song.

[Kevin Davis]

I absolutely love the solo piano version of "The Old Country Waltz" from Hitchhiker. I was just thinking the other day how happy I've been with all of the NYA releases so far -- I don't have the big box set but unless I'm missing one, they're up to 12 standalone releases now, and all of them feel (to me) like vital entries in Neil's catalog. The release schedule has been steady, and each release has been manageable to digest -- as much as I love Dylan's Bootleg Series releases, the box sets ranging from 6 to 36 discs, with sometimes not a lot of time in between to digest, I feel like has left a lot unlistened to. But all of these NYA releases have been more or less completely absorbed into my experience of Neil's catalog -- it's been great. Also, between Homegrown, Hitchhiker, the two '73 shows, and the '76 Bernstein tapes, I wonder if we haven't seen a significant chunk of of what would have come out on the long-awaited "Archives Vol. 2" on individual releases already.

[Farmer John]

I think I've listened to Hitchhiker more than any other of his albums since its release.

[tragabigzanda]

[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

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

I'm most looking forward to "Odeon/Budokan".

Neil's still hoarding the primo Crazy Horse.

[VinylGuy]

yeah, i agree that these releases are great, and they feel like something you must hear. Homegrown feels vital to me these days, like a new album.
The live shows i listened are great, Hitchhiker is great.

I want that live show with Pearl Jam.