Black Cat Bone

In terms of his political stances, I think Neil Young is a bit flaky. But the calibre of his work makes this meaningless anyway.

Favourite Album - If I'm honest, I'd say it was "Decade", but if we're choosing proper albums, I'll go with "After the Goldrush"

Favourite Song - It's probably "A Man Needs A Maid". I love the wacky lyrics that go from the silly to the truly heartfelt from one line to the next. And I love the overwrought arrangement, which completely runs against the grain of the standard Neil Young country-folk/electric freakout dichotomy.

Reading all the posts, people either love or get frustrated with NY because you can't put a finger on him, musically or personally.

My favorite, and the most mysterious artists, are like this. Wears his heart on his sleeve, but it comes across as either a pat on the head or a knock on the jaw. You never know what's coming til it's coming.

He's both liberal and a conservative isolationist re: the US. And coming from a Canadian who drove here in a hearse, no less.

I like all the Neils. Well almost all. I hate Trans no matter how sympathetic the back story. And Greendale is Young's self indulgence to the extreme.

Everything else I'm pretty cool with.

Clippernolan wrote:Favourite Song - It's probably "A Man Needs A Maid". I love the wacky lyrics that go from the silly to the truly heartfelt from one line to the next. And I love the overwrought arrangement, which completely runs against the grain of the standard Neil Young country-folk/electric freakout dichotomy.

Nice choice. That's a hell of a song.

the name is Coan wrote:

Clippernolan wrote:Favourite Song - It's probably "A Man Needs A Maid". I love the wacky lyrics that go from the silly to the truly heartfelt from one line to the next. And I love the overwrought arrangement, which completely runs against the grain of the standard Neil Young country-folk/electric freakout dichotomy.

Nice choice. That's a hell of a song.

Yeah, thanks John. Actually when I think about it, the flakiness I find in Neil is exemplified here too. But, I think that's what makes it such a great tune - it is both an eloquent statement of love and longing, as well as being an example of how hard it is to express it, because it reveals a kind of emotional clumsiness. It is a very human track.

I'm not sure what this BCB 100 business is about. Will these be tallied as votes or something, or is this just for discussion of particular artists?

My favorite Neil Young song is probably "After the Goldrush". That's the Neil Young song I put on my top 50 songs, anyway.

Favorite album is difficult to choose. Probably Everybody Knows This is Nowhere or Tonight's the Night

At least for the next ten minutes;

Favourite Album: Ragged Glory


(why no other votes for this - it is THE rock out album)


Favourite Track: Tonights the Night

Neil's palette is a rich one. One day something from one end of the spectrum suits better than the other - another day it is the other way around.

But though one day I might prefer to hear Harvest Moon or Sleps With Angels or Tonight's The Night, the album that always pulls me back is Rust Never Sleeps. And though it contains five or so of my very favourite Neil songs (in particular Powderfinger), it doesn't have the top one (which comes from an album I find very hard to love on any other level)

Favourite album: Rust Never Sleeps

Favourite song: Like a Hurricane

Favourite album: On the Beach
Favourite song: "Albuquerque"

Impossible to choose.
I default to "Tonights The Night", as its the one I most consistantly think represents his genius, but that is to deny how much I love Rust Never Sleeps, Everybody Knows, On The Beach, Trans and Time Fades Away.
A good cop-out would be to choose "Live Rust", as their isnt a single track on that album I dont love, and if I had to start somebody off on NY, I would hand them that.
Favourite track?
Contenders from outside the obvious suspects are "The Last Dance","Shots" from "Reactor","Revolution Blues", but for me my fave is "Thrasher" from "Rust Never Sleeps", with "Pocahontas" a close second.

andymacandy wrote:A good cop-out would be to choose "Live Rust", as their isnt a single track on that album I dont love,

"he com dan-sin a-pon de watah-man!"

andymacandy wrote:and if I had to start somebody off on NY, I would hand them that.

Great selection of songs on it - no doubt.
I'd still probably hand them Decade though.

The Slider wrote:

andymacandy wrote:A good cop-out would be to choose "Live Rust", as their isnt a single track on that album I dont love,

"he com dan-sin a-pon de watah-man!"

andymacandy wrote:and if I had to start somebody off on NY, I would hand them that.

Great selection of songs on it - no doubt.
I'd still probably hand them Decade though.

The cod-accent never really bugged me that much-it just seemed like another typical Neil foible.Really annoys others though, I know.
Decade is a better selection,I agree, but I think a huge component of his work is the live element.Hurricane, Cortez and TTN all come to life on the live versions, and those on LR dont turn into 25 minute,one note solos.

Album: After The Gold Rush

Song: Alabama

Eldorado.

But then I am a sucker for story songs.
Close runner up, The Needle & The Damage Done.

And I love the bit in Live Rust where the rain pours down, thunder crackles, and a voice says "Maybe if we all think very hard, the rain will go away."

Most overrated: Like A Hurricane. Goes on for a couple of decades too long.

Short Bald Bloke wrote:And I love the bit in Live Rust where the rain pours down, thunder crackles, and a voice says "Maybe if we all think very hard, the rain will go away."

Im pretty sure that's a sample from the Woodstock movie-not that that diminishes it in any way.

andymacandy wrote:Decade is a better selection,I agree, but I think a huge component of his work is the live element.Hurricane, Cortez and TTN all come to life on the live versions, and those on LR dont turn into 25 minute,one note solos.

Yeah.
I'd start them off with Decade, then give 'em Rust Never Sleeps and then hit them between the eyes with Weld.
Who could rsist?

Giving Weld an airing at the moment (well, in the car, anyway).

Love his cover of Blowin' In The Wind and I think I prefer this live version of Like A Hurricane.

Album: Tonight's the Night

Song: When You Dance I Can Really Love

Album-Harvest Moon, right now

Song- Powderfinger

Phenomenal Cat wrote:I prefer America.

I think Neil Young's music, at its best, gets to the bottom of something. Now, I'm not sure what, but it sure seems to be searching for something elusive nonetheless. Perhaps it's in the way his best guitar solos sound so wracked with pain (that middle section of "Cowgirl in the Sand," or the lead-in part on "Down by the River" after each time he sings "I shot her dead...", to take just two examples from Everybody Knows This is Nowhere).

Strangely, I do feel that Decade is the best way to listen to his music> It really is one of the great single-artist compilations, just the manner it picks tracks that summarise his varying approaches during his first 10 years or so. Coupled with the fact it's got one of my favourite Young vocals, the haunting "Down by the Wire."

As for albums, that's a tough one, perhaps it would be Rust Never Sleeps, for its infamous second side. The splintering, aggressively vicious sound, those rise-and-fall choruses, that howl of defiance. Kurt Cobbain liked it so much they brought the company (play Rust...'s "Sedan Delivery" to dispel any doubts on the matter).

Yet, ironically, the accoustic side has one of his loveliest tracks in the lilting, sweetly realised "Sail Away." It's one of those songs that really suits Young's pained vibrato, it's quite tender in its own way. However the LP suffers from something better known as "Welfare Mothers Syndrome," indeed a very strong ailment.

As a result, the other two up for strong consideration are On the Beach (I think it's in the desolate mood that LP evokes) or, of course, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, which is really in need of a punchy remaster. Such a vicious little record. I have to admit I'm very unfamiliar with his post-70s material, whether or not that's a bad thing is in the ear of the beholder I suppose.

So, to summarise

Favourite album (unofficial): Decade
Favourite album (official): Rust Never Sleeps, Welfare Mothers notwithstanding

Favourite song: Down by the River

Favourite Album: Come's a Time
Favourite Track: Look Out for My Love

Such a great body of work, but I can't help but predict that when the dust settles and his music is removed from all context, Come's a Time will be regarded as his most enduring work. Nearly perfect.