21st century Neil Young studio albums poll

i'm with Josh in Chicago who has the last post still on the Americana thread:
"As major an album as minor albums get". totally agree. only tune i don't really like is god save the queen but i do like it conceptually and as a album closer. holding off voting since Pill might just rule but today it's his latest. and i've owned or own all of these except living with war fwiw

Haven't heard more than a track or two from any of these except Le Noise, which I kinda sorta liked for five minutes. But I'm genuinely looking forward to Psychedelic Pill.

Le Noise is really good.

Le Noise was the only one that i'd accidentally stumble upon tracks from when listening to stuff for my NY tracks poll ballot on Spotify that actually sounded good on first impression

That's all those tracks do -- make a good first impression.

idk Hitchhiker

surprised there aren't more hits on this thread. tbh this period is a blind spot for me, i've only really listened to chrome dreams II (liked it) and a little bit of living with war (sounded good.)

I'll vouch for the loveliness of Silver and Gold if no one else will. If you like the Comes a Time/Harvest/sweet & soft side of Neil Young, you could do worse than this album. 'Razor Love' is beautiful.

Harvest Moon too, forgot about that one

Silver and Gold is beautiful, one of my favorites in his catalog, maybe, and if not for Le Noise, would have been an obvious vote for me. But Le Noise because it's his first bonafide masterpiece in like twenty years. The rest of these are forgettable at best, unlistenable at worst, and seeing them all listed together here reminds me of what a crappy run this has been. 80s Neil > 90s Neil > 00s Neil

i've heard excellent things about 'prairie wind'. i should probably revisit 'silver and gold', i remember enjoying it ok but i don't think i gave it enough of a chance.

prairie wind seems like it should be good, but i always am pretty bored when i revisit it. silver & gold is the only thing approaching a masterpiece here. but they all have their moments. I made an 00s comp of neil recordings a while back and it was great.

i don't like silver & gold but i also don't like drag city singer-songwriters

i feel like i've seen a cross-over between those audiences

My wife has had "Silver and Gold" in the car for a few months and I gotta say I have grown to really like it. There is some great playing on it, really subtle touches that add up to a good listening experience all the way through. "Razor Love" is definitely the standout, but it works best for me as an album, i.e., listened to in full, as opposed to a great set of songs.

wrongly, in retrospect, i think i stepped away from neil a bit b/c after ragged glory/harvest moon/sleeps with angels/mirror ball (loved em all), broken arrow felt like a goats head soup kinda move. good stuff but sounded uninspired in places. though year of the horse is better, admittedly.

something i wrote on my blog that's reductive but basically where my head's at on the period

With the recent Archives release A Promise offering a more flattering look at Neil’s time with the International Harvesters, I’ll argue that the most negligible period of his career now stands as the run that followed the death of David Briggs, his long time producer and ditch aesthetic Jiminy Cricket, in 1995. The wake with Crazy Horse may have been slight, but worse were the following unconscionable attempts at professional benignity with CSNY, the Stray Gators and Booker T & The MGs (that no songs from these albums appeared on the concurrent live disc, Road Rock Vol. 1, is no surprise). It wasn’t until he grabbed his oldest living rhythm section for a blues-rock opera that things got “inneresting” again.

But Le Noise because it's his first bonafide masterpiece in like twenty years.

My middling experiences with Greendale and Living With War meant that I stayed away from a few of these -- I never heard Prairie Wind, Silver & Gold, or Are You Passionate (or Road Rock). But Le Noise strikes me as an obvious standout. Americana's even better, and I imagine Psychedelic Pill will be mindblowing, so I'll wait to absorb that one before voting.

it makes me happy to see all the love here for silver and gold. haven't listened to it in a couple of years, but razor love, without rings and title track are magnificent, and the album as a whole just has a great contemplative, emotional old man vibe.'without rings' especially is a really slept-on NY classic, imo.

Silver and Gold is the closest thing to a great record here, it's a really nice listen. I do quite like Le Noise and Greendale too but this is definitely a weaker collection of albums than his '90s run (although I haven't heard Chrome Dreams II, Fork in the Road or the new one).

definitely waiting for psychedelic pill before i vote, have high hopes

ditto. have only heard about half of these, Chrome Dreams II would be my vote before hearing PP, with Silver & Gold second.

This is a difficult poll. Neil has written many, many great songs over the past twelve years but hasn't released a single truly great album. If he chose to release an album every 3 or 4 years instead of every year, he would have easily produced a masterpiece by now. Like, imagine he took the best 10 or so songs from Chrome Dreams II, Fork in the Road, and Le Noise and released them together in a single album. Of course, he would never do that, that's not his m.o., but it means that instead of a few really great albums we have a lot of so-so albums. Will wait to hear the rest of Psychedelic Pill before voting.

guess every album will get a vote. Quite surprised by the affection for Le Noise tho

i'm more surprised @ the silver & gold love. it's the only Neil i've ever heard that i didn't want to listen to more than once.

xp

It's the only one of these that has resonated with me at all, totally agree w/this:

Le Noise because it's his first bonafide masterpiece in like twenty years.

le noise sounds so awesome and i think half the songs are good and one of the songs (hitchhiker) is great

i'm more surprised @ the silver & gold love. it's the only Neil i've ever heard that i didn't want to listen to more than once.

for me that's what Prairie Wind was like

I think it sounds monotonous and the songs vaporous. tbh even the ones I listed above I don't play very much.

it = Le Noise

have you ever listened to Le Noise.....on weed?

me neither :/

I have listened to Silver & Gold naked.

Good To See You ... Naked

are you passionate is such a weirdo record, not even sure what I think of it. some of it is pretty cool.
feel like there should be a ghost option for TOAST.

did toast ever leak?

Butter or jam?

I've gotta sit this one out. One CD (Silver & Gold), two songs I like a lot ("Razor Love" and "Roger and Out"), 90% of the rest unheard.

toast never leaked. there are two songs he was playing live w/ crazy horse in the early 00s that haven't come out, and i think they were slated for toast.

I think "Goin' Home" off AYP? was from Toast.

Americana, although that could change once Psychedelic Pill comes out

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

huh did not expect to be the lone psychedelic pill vote

ILM is not passionate

Actually looks about right, except, yeah, Psychedelic Pill should have definitely received more votes, and I can't even believe Are You Passionate?, Living With War and Greendale even got a vote apiece. That's just...crazy. Did the people who votes for those maybe not hear some - any - of the others?

i kinda dig living with war, it's worth checking out the version he released with the choir removed, but are you passionate is pretty trash except for that one horse jam

greendale is really really boring

I am passionate...I don't really feel any of the others more & "Differently" is a jam

haven't heard the two new ones yet, still getting around to it, the Horse demands patience

Greendale is the one I return to

Greendale would have received my vote as well, that whole album somehow fascinates me. Although I think the one album that really should have deserved way more votes is Psychedelic Pill.

I think 'Living With War - In The Beginning' is much better than the standard release.