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Best Neil Young Album


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I don't have any one favorite, it alll depends on my mood. Buut some are:

 

Down By the RIver/Cowgirl in the Sand

Everybody Knows this is nowhere

Barstool Blues

Cortez the Killler

Old Man

Captain Kennedy

Southern Pacific

Like a Hurricaine

Powderfinger

Pocahontas

Comes a time

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if it's hard to pick an album, go figure about picking just a song. too many to mention. but the best Neil Young track i've ever heard is the Live At Fillmore '70 version of Cowgirl In The Sand.

Cheers on the username, Zimmy.

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  • 10 months later...

Neil has at least 10-15 essential records, depending on how hardcore of a music collector you are, and how hardcore of a Neil fan you become; I've yet to hear every single record, but of the ones I've heard, On The Beach is my favorite; Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, Harvest, Tonight's the Night, Zuma, Rust Never Sleeps, Freedom and Ragged Glory are also essential. If you prefer Neil's so cal folk hippy side, you'll probably also like Comes a Time and Harvest Moon; if you're a Crazy Horse nut, you'll probably like Sleep with Angels and Mirrorball, though I admittedly haven't heard either.

 

Neil also has several live albums. the two Archive releases (Massey Hall & Fillmore East), Live Rust, and Arc Weld (one disc of bizzare noise and feedback, one of blistering concert performance) are all worth picking up.

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Neil has at least 10-15 essential records, depending on how hardcore of a music collector you are, and how hardcore of a Neil fan you become; I've yet to hear every single record, but of the ones I've heard, On The Beach is my favorite; Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, Harvest, Tonight's the Night, Zuma, Rust Never Sleeps, Freedom and Ragged Glory are also essential. If you prefer Neil's so cal folk hippy side, you'll probably also like Comes a Time and Harvest Moon; if you're a Crazy Horse nut, you'll probably like Sleep with Angels and Mirrorball, though I admittedly haven't heard either.

 

Neil also has several live albums. the two Archive releases (Massey Hall & Fillmore East), Live Rust, and Arc Weld (one disc of bizzare noise and feedback, one of blistering concert performance) are all worth picking up.

 

 

Sleeps with angels-the 'tonight's the night of the 90s' and beyond!

craig

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can't believe it's been almost a year since i bought Everywhere. i think i only got around to listening to it once or twice - not because i don't like it, i just don't sit down and listen to vinyl too often.

 

interestingly enough, just last week i was at the same store and saw Stephen Stills 2 and Reactor on the floor in the $1 stacks so i got them. 2 actually sounded pretty good, but i'm guessing it was in the $1 for all the scratches. Reactor.........for other reasons.

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Favorite Neil songs hmmm:

 

01. "Ambulance Blues"- favorite song quote ever...you're all just pissing in the wind. I totally half-ripped this song off with one of my own...and I'd do it 100 times over. It really ranks up with the best closers ever ("A Day in the Life", "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", "Train in Vain" what have you...)

02. "Cowgirl in the Sand"- this song helped me get through a rough patch when someone I was really into got engaged...."Old enough now to change your name" still gets me.

03. "Cortez the Killer"- This song is just so fucking haunting...my body temp drops 4 degrees everytime I hear it.

04. "Thrasher"- This is my favorite Neil song lyrically. I think it's as good or at least nearly as good, as anything Dylan wrote.

05. "Helpless"- This song didn't hit me till I saw Last Waltz; then it was all over. Everything about this song is perfect. Just the right amount of everything. I still have a special spot in my heart for Last Waltz version, seeing Neil tear this song up with 6 more of my musical heroes (Joni, Robbie, Rick, Richard, Garth & Levon) is really great.

06. "Mellow My Mind"- I love when Neil goes high in the chorus; his voice is so ravaged and bonkers (a little off key) but so affecting "lonesome whistle on a rail road TRaaaaaaaaaack."

07. "Powderfinger"- This along with Thrasher are my two favorite Neil Young narratives. It's such a righteous piece of proto-grunge; great raucous performance, great lyric, great song.

08. "Like a Hurricane"- What can I say? Neil's so great that even his least praised 70s record has an undisputed classic.

09. "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere"- This song is a nice precursor to his softer rock sound, but still contains that great Crazy Horse bite.

10. "Harvest"- This is a little lightweight of a song, but what a gorgeous dreamy melody. I randomly burst out singing "Dream Up dream up let me fill your cup."

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speaking of neil, after several listens, chrome dreams II is not good. about 3 good songs on there. OP is way too long and the other bad ones are toss offs. worse than LWW which had 4 good tunes.

i am really disappointed by this because i had decided last year that Neil was my all time favorite artist and i set up this expectation that he could do no wrong and that i must love everything he does. unfortunatly, that's impossible.

craig

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speaking of neil, after several listens, chrome dreams II is not good. about 3 good songs on there. OP is way too long and the other bad ones are toss offs. worse than LWW which had 4 good tunes.

i am really disappointed by this because i had decided last year that Neil was my all time favorite artist and i set up this expectation that he could do no wrong and that i must love everything he does. unfortunatly, that's impossible.

craig

 

Love everything he does? :lol

 

As far as CDII goes, it's not his best, but far from his worst. I like Ordinary People a lot. Other goodies off his latest include No Hidden Path (my favorite song from 2007), Dirty Old Man, Spirit Road, Ever After, and The Way.

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Neil has at least 10-15 essential records, depending on how hardcore of a music collector you are, and how hardcore of a Neil fan you become; I've yet to hear every single record, but of the ones I've heard, On The Beach is my favorite; Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, Harvest, Tonight's the Night, Zuma, Rust Never Sleeps, Freedom and Ragged Glory are also essential. If you prefer Neil's so cal folk hippy side, you'll probably also like Comes a Time and Harvest Moon; if you're a Crazy Horse nut, you'll probably like Sleep with Angels and Mirrorball, though I admittedly haven't heard either.

 

Neil also has several live albums. the two Archive releases (Massey Hall & Fillmore East), Live Rust, and Arc Weld (one disc of bizzare noise and feedback, one of blistering concert performance) are all worth picking up.

 

I've heard every single one. And Mirror Ball is with Pearl Jam, not El Caballo Loco. Also, Comes a Time strikes me as more of a country record than a Southern Cali/folky/hippie one. I listed 10 in my earlier post, but other "essential" Neil records (if you're an irrational Neil fan like myself) could be expanded to:

 

Zuma

Freedom

Greendale

Comes a Time

Sleeps With Angels

Broken Arrow

Mirror Ball

Silver & Gold

Prairie Wind

Chrome Dreams II

 

If you were looking for a place to start, then Decade is where it's at.

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Love everything he does? :lol

 

As far as CDII goes, it's not his best, but far from his worst. I like Ordinary People a lot. Other goodies off his latest include No Hidden Path (my favorite song from 2007), Dirty Old Man, Spirit Road, Ever After, and The Way.

 

 

okay, so CDII is not worse than Are You Passionate? or Landing on Water. I like Beautiful Bluebird and Ever After. Shining Light and The Believer are just so lazy. Neil sounds really really old on those and it breaks my heart. Spirit Road is okay, but Hidden Path just meanders. Ordinary People, as I said, is way too long and i hate the keyboards and horns. If it had been about 8 minutes and produced like Spririt Road, then I would dig it. The Way is nice. It's a new direction for Neil, the Beatlesque pop song. Hate the Boy Choir though. Prefer the old version of Box Car. The thing about this album is that it could have been amazing. An electric side with less self indulgent versions of the aformentioned tunes, and an acoustic side with the shitty songs reworked as classic neil with just a little drums, bass and ben keith.

so there's my review. Prairie Wind was tight, at least. Some clunkers on there, but very listenable. Living With War was a toss off and sounded like a demo, but had some great songs: After The Garden, Flags Of Freedom, Families, Roger and Out.

for his next project, i hope we get a grizzled old neil young too tired to do anything but sit down with his guitar tuned low and singing some old songs and new songs and calling it Hitchhiker. That would be amazing!

c

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Reviving an oldie. . . .

 

Top 10

Harvest Moon

After the Gold Rush

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Ragged Glory

Harvest

Tonight's the Night

On the Beach

Rust Never Sleeps

American Stars 'n Bars

Time Fades Away

 

American Stars n' Bars

 

that's fucking hardcore.

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