May You Live in Inneresting Times: The Neil Young Voting Thread (deadline July 8)

Just sent my ballot.

Come on y'all, Sunday night is doable, just close your eyes and hit "send".

Similarly, why does he rarely dust off stuff from "Freedom," "Ragged Glory" or "Sleeps With Angels," albums that were critical/commercial successes?

2009 set lists had "too far gone," "rockin'" "love and only love" "mother earth," "change your mind" - are you actually looking at his setlist or just assuming?

also "mansion," "fucking up" and tons of Harvest Moon, if anything it seems like 1989-1994 gets more revisiting than anything else since the 70s

The LeNoise tour was pretty stiffly setlisted, but that tends to be the case when he's performing a difficult album that isn't even out yet. did the same "brand new material + plus some hits for that guy shrieking OLD MAN!!!" thing with harvest moon and greendale.

How often did he play those songs you mentioned? Because I do occasionally gloss over setlists, actually. But not, like, obsessively. Or obsessively enough, I guess.

http://sugarmtn.org/year.php?year=2009

since this tour all he's done is the LeNoise run and the Buffalo Springfield tour. Give the guy a break!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLAPcf4KyoA

How are Crazy Horse thought of, generally? There doesn't seem much to distinguish them from any bar band, imo, except for the bass always being mixed high and sounding slightly weird, like the kind of thing McCartney might lay down on an early take.

they just sound like Neil Young's band to me. if i've heard much loud electric NY with different backing musicians i haven't really been able to tell the difference.

as someone on here said recently, even Pearl Jam basically do their best Crazy Horse impression on Mirror Ball

it's actually pretty hard to mistake jeff ament for billy talbot on much of the album. part of what makes "I'm The Ocean" so exceptional is that Crazy Horse would have a collective coronary trying to keep that up

Both true. AMG describes them on Mirror Ball as much swingier, rhythmically, but not sure I can hear it (though Crazy Horse do sound pretty stiff to me, sometimes).

Crazy Horse don't swing, they lumber in unison. Nobody quite sounds like them; it's really hard to rhythmically lurch like they do. Closest I've heard in terms of feel is Across Tundras on their album Old World Wanderer.

yeah i can't talk to technical issues much, but the poncho-era horse have a pretty distinct sound/clomp compared to the volume dealers, the stray gators, etc.

I wouldn't mind hearing Ben Chasny and friends as a Neil Young backup band.

I didn't like the rhythm section on Freedom / Eldorado, just sounds like some hard-hitting rock dude on drums. Crazy Horse are more individual than they sound, if that makes any sense.

Freedom is an amalgam of different eras, isn't it?

copyright-wise, not band-wise

Well the songs with Chad someone-or-other on drums. Crazy Horse "lumbering in unison" is a great way of putting it, better musicians aren't capable of doing that! Maybe they just work with NY cos everyone's used to it.

Son, don't wait till the break of day--if you're heading out for the weekend, remember to get your list in today. Otherwise, Sunday night, and if it comes in Monday, okay. Results will be posted starting Tuesday morning, Riverboat Cafe time.

Something I bought a few months ago:

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/images/thumb/c/ca/MusiCares_Tribute_to_Neil_Young_DVD_cover.jpg/320px-MusiCares_Tribute_to_Neil_Young_DVD_cover.jpg

I was hoping I could find some free software to lift mp3s off and add them in with all my Neil covers. No luck--truthfully, I still haven't played it.

I love Crazy Horse like I love Redfoo and John Kruk: a little unkempt, but lots of spirit and they get the job done.

Okay, my first list came in at 80 tunes.

This is gonna be difficult.

never thought i'd see DJ Redfoo namechecked on the Neil Young thread

I think the key to Crazy Horse is that the band is without ego, and that sort of like classic Dylan sidemen seem to have no issue with only getting one shot at a song. And like Dylan, Neil has no problem letting sloppy playing or outright wrong notes through the filter. But of course, sometimes Crazy Horse is totally in the zone, too, like on "Sleeps with Angels" and "Ragged Glory," which aren't nearly as sloppy as the group's reputation. Now, the new record, on the other hand, or "Zuma" or even "Everybody Knows...", there are a lot of awesomely slapdash playing going on there. Perfect fit for Neil, really.

Freedom is I think Chad Cromwell (who plays on a bunch of Neil albums) and ... Pino Palladino and Rick Rosas on bass? The rhythm section of Cromwell and Rosas gets used a lot by Neil.

i actually think that neil makes crazy horse play a lot sloppier than they're capable of -- at least those 70s horse records aren't as sludgy/lumbering as their things w/ neil.

Curious if anyone is voting for unreleased (officially) tunes at this point? I'm going through my Rock N Roll Cowboy set today and finding a bunch of gems that never came out.

yeah, i've got at least two on my ballot. which i need to finalize NOW.

On first pass, I've got four, but I don't know if all four will make my final ballot. For sure "Love Art Blues" and "Traces" will though.

this one's on my ballot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmtDGQ5eIY4

Re: live shows, I went to see him in 2008 expecting a contrarian set and was amazed by what he played. There's a good chunk of my ballot on this setlist.

Set 1
From Hank To Hendrix
Ambulance Blues
Sad Movies
A Man Needs A Maid
No One Seems To Know
Harvest
Journey Through The Past
Mellow My Mind
Love Art Blues
Don't Let It Bring You Down
Cowgirl In The Sand
Old Man
Set 2
Mr. Soul
(Buffalo Springfield song)
Dirty Old Man
Spirit Road
Down by the River
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
Too Far Gone
Oh, Lonesome Me
The Believer
Powderfinger
No Hidden Path
Encore:
Cinnamon Girl
Like a Hurricane

dang

Give Me Strength is a helluva song. Good call.

that's a great set -- totally crowd pleasing, but still w/ awesome deep cuts -- "no one seems to know!" might have to put that on my ballot.

Ambulance Blues
Sad Movies
A Man Needs A Maid
No One Seems To Know
Harvest
Journey Through The Past
Mellow My Mind
Love Art Blues

^^^ amazing sequence!

Has Neil gone back to the Patty Hearst/kidnappers verse in "Ambulance Blues"? When he sang it with R.E.M. in the late '90s, he changed it to a Monica Lewinsky verse; maybe it's meant to be flexible and accommodate the headlines of the day.

yeah i think he's reverted to the original lyrics?
Here's another great 2008 acoustic setlist -- whole show is downloadable here: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2011/05/27/neil-young-rai-theatre-amsterdam-february-20-2008/

1. From Hank To Hendrix
2. Ambulance Blues
3. Sad Movies
4. A Man Needs A Maid
5. Try
6. Harvest
7. Love In Mind
8. Old King
9. Love Art Blues
10. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
11. Campaigner
12. Old Man

Man "Give Me Strength" is another one I had on a bootleg that I never knew the name of. This thread already proving to be gold for me as far as reconnecting dots. Thanks Tyler!

no prob. pretty devastating song!

Yeah, so simple and rough.

if you own only one neil young bootleg, the bernstein tapes should probably be the one. maybe.

I had a different version of Give Me Strength I believe, but I have no idea what the bootleg was. I just had a dubbed cassete copy. Had the "honey slides" live set on the other side, so whatever live set that is (which has maybe been released officially now) was one of the other bootlegs that I wore the hell out of in college. Didn't even listen to albums for a while, just these two cassetes that had a bunch of Neil live stuff and outtakes and unreleased stuff.

if you own only one neil young bootleg, the honey slides live set should probably be the one. maybe.

I own no bootlegs so thanks for the tips!

i posted upthread, alfred, but if you want a good overview of unreleased 70s neil -- http://ow.ly/c41hx

What is the honeyslides set typically known as?

if you own only one bootleg, Citizen Kane Junior Blues should probably be the one. maybe.

xp goes under the name "Citizen Kane Jr Blues" or just "Bottom Line 1974"

the main thing is that one boot ain't enough.

correct.
[http://ultrasoundlounge.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/neil-young-the-bottom-line-nyc-51674/]

Ah yeah, Bottom Line! Thanks

worried about mediafire tbh