Search and destroy: Neil Young

hrm.

to know Neil is to abide his creative floundering. To love him is to know the burn. The $16.99 burn. He is all and everything else is small. There is no one greater than Neil and there probably won't ever be.

Certainly OTM regarding the last sentence.

This might've been acceptable when the guy still cared, but I think it's a bunch of bullshit now. Young hasn't made even close to a solid album in over a decade now. It's all been half-baked, half-finished and even--dare I say it?--half-hearted. This whole 'the-song-comes-to-me-and-I-write-it-down-in-five-seconds' approach has (with very few notable exceptions, say, Bandit) has led to a very barren prairie. How interesting that he's chosen fading away over...well, you know the other one.

I don't think I'd destroy any of it. Certainly "Everybody's Rockin" and "This Note's For You" you should get LAST, but you should still get 'em.

About 9 or 10 years ago I saw him play with Crazy Horse, and the first note he played blew my god damned mind to bits. It was (and remains) the hugest, warmest, and intensely all encompassing sound I have ever heard. There is no possible way I could ever explain it, and none of the many live recordings I've listened to even come close to capturing it. Additionally, I would pit the slow-motion, stretched out feedback finale notes they dropped at the end of each song against any Sunn 0)) gig in a contest of sublime amplifer worship. The shit was massive indeed, and over-joyed to hear he's still doing it. This is why the fellow remains relevant, or at least the only living purveyor of 'Neil Young's guitar sound' - which is something you must hear live, not on a live album, in your lifetime.

Search -

Buffalo Springfield - Mr. Soul, Expecting to Fly, Broken Arrow, Nowadays Clancy...
Neil Young - The Loner, Emporer Of Wyoming, The Old Laughing Lady
- every beautiful note of-
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
After the Goldrush
Harvest
Tonight's the Night
On the Beach
Rust Never Sleeps (although I'm not as into this one as everyone else in the world)

Once you're in deep I'd recommend appreciating some of his weirder shit -

Trans - where Neil Young combines his own bad self, some synths he had his roadies steal from Rush, and Bruce Haack's futuristic prairie soul into an unparrelled mess of weird and wonderful.
Freedom - his most linear 'story telling' with some harsh 80's bad vibes.

and the song 'Touch the Night' from Landing on Water.

Once you've read Shakey you can appreciate '...and the Shocking Pinks'

On Film - Rust Never Sleeps 'A Concert Fantasy'

Destroy -

Most of his shit in the last 15 or so years. It's really 'law of diminishing returns' at this point, but if you really dig there's a few quality songs.

i don't particularly care for harvest moon or zuma. even some of harvest is worthless.

Yes. I'm The Ocean is the best Neil Young song in probably 20 years. It's a towering achievement and should be searched. Also search Fallen Angel from the same record, which is I'm The Ocean's coda.

Other great, somewhat obscure Neil songs: Big Time and Music Arcade from Broken Arrow.

Don't Be Denied & Last Dance from Time Fades Away

also Yonder Stands the Sinner!!!

I heard a live version of "Hello Cowgirl in the Sand" yesterday when I was shopping in an Italian gourmet food store, and I thought: this is really a depressing song, and no wonder I don't listen to Neil Young more, as good as he is. And I thought they really shouldn't be playing that song. I was tired and my allergies were bothering me, which was making me extremely emotionally hyper-sensitive. Let's all think about loss and disappointment and raw pain while we are trying to find something nice to carry home and eat.

I need someone to defend Landing on Water.

I've heard a total of 5 Neil Young records, over and over: Everyone knows this is nowhere, After the Goldrush, Harvest, On the Beach, Zuma, and Trans.

Out of those, I would say Harvest and On the Beach are mindblowingly good. Zuma I've only had for a few weeks, but I love. I've listened to Cortez the Killer over and over, never gets old. Tonight's the Night, I feel it overrated, at least at this point of my life. Maybe I haven't been shitfaced enough. It seems like a record that's more interesting if you know the backstory of the artist.

hmmm 'tonight's the night' is one headfuck of a phenomenon. somehow just so consistently good, despite the lurking threat that the whole thing's about to collapse any second under the weight of its own shaky, volatile foundations. sloppy, flippant at times, and infinitely better for it. then again, maybe it's just a fantastic set of songs, regardless of the delivery, level of tangible emotion, and drunkenness of it all!

and i'm sorry, what the hell is 'a man needs a maid' about? sure it alludes to loneliness, but where does the maid thing factor in?

Neil Young does a shitty job of keeping his house clean.

Is 'Man Needs a Maid' ridiculous?

Live at Massey Hall is what you want. Relaxed, in great form, playing the best songs he ever wrote.

hahah ilm. a thread for every purpose! cheers, stormy

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/lolsobadatyoutube.jpg

they love music

I think Stars & Bars gets a bad rap. there's some crapola (like all of Neil's records) but on balance I would def say 'search'

dumbfucks! AMERICA did "No Rain."

anybody who has the reservoir dogs soundtrack knows that.

Can anyone recommend a couple of artists that made/makes music that sounds similar to Cowgirl in the sand, Down by the River and Like a Hurricane?

Also, were there artists that before Neil Young made that kind of duelling guitar thing that's going in these songs? A few years back I thought Television were the first ones to do that!

...

duelling guitar solos wasn't really common pre-late 60s

You should check out Captain Beefheart's Mirror Man LP.

Search mainly what he did up to and including "Harvest". Destroy his 80s output in particular, but also some of the stuff from 1995 onwards.

Can anyone recommend a couple of artists that made/makes music that sounds similar to Cowgirl in the sand, Down by the River and Like a Hurricane?

search: arboretum, black mountain, stephen malkmus, sun kil moon, songs:ohia, uncle tupelo

Don't destroy re-act-or, coz it's the crankinest, and don't destroy Trans, if you are at all interested in music that sounds like nothing else you've ever heard. Don't destroy Living With War.

Do destroy Broken Arrow, do destroy Chrome Dreams II. Destroy Landing On Water

oh man, everyone OTM about tell me why, one of my favorite songs period

Only two notes, really:

1) No "Cocaine Eyes" is the difference between me and Hyden, and our definitions of the verb "to rock," in a nutshell;

2) The version of "Like a Hurricane" on Live Rust is better than the version on Weld.

definitely not denying that his time with csn influenced the harmonies on that record and his approach to harmonies in general. hyden's particular flavor of bill simmons-y music is sports brain is just nails on chalkboard to me

me as well, I totally agree with you and was trying to take a shot at hyden's tossed-off received wisdom brainlessness, but i probably wasn't being clear there

just gotta chime in, on team "tell me why" 100%

me too, although at this point it's hard to say i don't have a pavlovian response to it, since it heralds yet another time i get to listen to one of my very favorite records

"Cocaine Eyes" is in my top ten Neil Young songs."

Re "Tell Me Why": I've grown to like it but it...took a while. I needed Zuma to loosen me up.

was it hard to make that arrangement with yourself?