should have said "Side A or Side B?" Better file this post away in the archive for a few decades.
― the warm seafood salad that exists (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:00 (three years ago) link
what is this weird obsession that good songs that have already been released now cease to be enjoyable?
Not sure if that means me or not. Not really what I meant...I still love "Little Wing"; I can't pretend not to notice, though, that I associate it with another album. If Bob Dylan had stuck the Highway 61 version of "Like a Rolling Stone" on his new album (to use an extreme example), it wouldn't stop being what it is, and I'd still love it. But it wouldn't be ideal, either.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:03 (three years ago) link
but they also serve to make this feel less like some big event to me somehow
I'll second that, too. This album has been hyped and hyped for years. 25% of it--the three songs in their original versions (I won't count "Homegrown"), I already have.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
Anyway, I said I like the album, and I'm glad I bought it. What I don't understand--I went through this with the last Tarantino film--is that sometimes, with very large and revered names, that's not accepted as enough; it has to be a masterpiece beyond reproach.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:09 (three years ago) link
honest q: are people saying that? i'm not sure i've read any piece on it other than tyler's. personally i wouldn't call it a masterpiece...(though i would be comfortable calling OTB and TTN and ATGR masterpieces and pretty comfortable calling EKTIN and Rust Never Sleeps masterpieces)...but i think it's just really great
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:13 (three years ago) link
i guess don't worry about it being a "big event" and just enjoy it for what it is — a (mostly new) Neil Young record from the mid-70s. No one is saying it's beyond reproach. maybe live with it a little while? I felt a little bit underwhelmed when I heard it back in March, but it might be what they used to call a "grower."
― tylerw, Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:16 (three years ago) link
even if you somehow discount the tracks that surfaced elsewhere, 8 "new" peak-era songs from one of our greatest living artists isn't an event?
― mozzy star (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:16 (three years ago) link
An event that feels a little anticlimactic, at least to me. (And, to be fair, the almost constant flow of new and rumored and abandoned Neil projects probably contributes to that.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 July 2020 21:37 (three years ago) link
not to be a pedant but I count seven new songs and one of them is a spoken word piece. And part of my being underwhelmed could also be blamed on archival / reissue / remaster fatigue in general. It isn't exactly novel these days to see "unearthed" studio recordings from artists of this era. I mean, there are box sets of the stuff...
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 14 July 2020 23:01 (three years ago) link
We are home, groaning itt
― a morley steve vai bad horsie what? (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 23:10 (three years ago) link
that ol' light whine is a friend of mine
― a morley steve vai bad horsie what? (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 23:41 (three years ago) link
we got lots of time to groan together if we try
― mozzy star (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
lol you squares are just not getting it
this is the FOLLOWUP TO HARVEST. it's a context thing. who gives a shit what happened to some of these songs afterwards? it was all 100% new when released. you can look through your shit-colored glasses of historical reassessment and alt-version snobbery, but the true heads all know what's up here.
y'all need to suck down some honey sliders and make like you've been eagerly awaiting this moment without any preconceptions, you are hippies who dig Neil and it is 1973, time to put the new album on.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:12 (three years ago) link
this was recorded after on the beach was released
― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:13 (three years ago) link
Paul go forth and be unhappy
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:14 (three years ago) link
xp whatever, you see my point. read Tyler's article!
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:16 (three years ago) link
same producer, same musicians, same cover artist, anyone seeing this back in the day if it had been released as planned would have seen the similarities immediately.
from Tyler's article:
“To be honest, I remember Harvest much more than I remember Homegrown,” Elliot Mazer says as he tries to cast his mind back to the sessions that began in November of 1974 at Nashville’s Quadrafonic Studio, the same spot where “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man” had been cut a few years earlier. And who can blame him? Harvest topped the Billboard charts for two straight weeks and ended up as the best-selling record of 1972 in the U.S. “It gave me a whole new career,” Mazer says.
But where the making of Harvest was relaxed and joyful, the Homegrown sessions were markedly different. “It was a different feeling — there was more stress,” Mazer recalls. “I didn’t think the songs were as good. He didn’t have ‘Heart of Gold.’ But believe me, you do not tell Neil Young that song A is not as good as song B.”
Mazer and Young had brought several of the Harvest musicians – loosely known as the Stray Gators – back into the fold: pedal steel master Ben Keith, ace session drummer Kenny Buttrey, and rock-solid/no-frills bassist Tim Drummond.
“Those guys lived off their ability to play well,” Mazer says. “The Nashville guys listen to the song. They hear a song and they communicate, saying, ‘You take the verses, I’ll take the choruses.’ There was always a meeting of the band. With Harvest, Neil just sat down with the songs, the guys played great, and he went ‘WOW.’ But Homegrown wasn’t quite like that, as far as I could tell.”
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:24 (three years ago) link
All her friends call her Little Whinge
― a morley steve vai bad horsie what? (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:31 (three years ago) link
At the risk of soliciting a heap of scorn, I definitely prefer Harvest (which I think has gone from being an album that was probably slightly overrated at the time to being--after Neil dismissed it in his notes for Decade--decidedly underrated). I will say, the opening to "Separate Ways" really reminds me of the opening to "Out on the Weekend."
In Christgau-speak, I'd give Homegrown an A-minus--that's a good, solid album. (As a point of comparison, my three A-plusses are Everybody Knows, Gold Rush, and Zuma, with a number of A's.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 00:56 (three years ago) link
Sleeve gets it.
A- is probably accurate, but people are complaining like it's a B-.
― Tōne Locatelli Romano (PBKR), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:00 (three years ago) link
i feel the need to do a 60 seconds or less, gut feeling christgau style ratings rundown of neil's classic period in the homegrown thread. i am setting the timer AFTER i get the album names typed and in chronological order and if i don't get to the end, those are the rules. 11 albums, 60 seconds. 5.45 seconds per album. 0.1835 albums per second. 11 albums you know by heart. because if you don't know them all already, you're not even a fan. GO!
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere AAfter the Gold Rush A+Harvest ATime Fades Away B-On the Beach A+Tonight's the Night AHomegrown A-Zuma A-American Stars n Bars BComes a Time B+Rust Never Sleeps A
ok that only took me 23 seconds, sorry to build that up so much
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:34 (three years ago) link
I have to join you:
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere A+After the Gold Rush A+Harvest ATime Fades Away AOn the Beach B+ (kill me now!)Tonight's the Night AHomegrown A-Zuma A+American Stars n Bars BComes a Time B+Rust Never Sleeps A
Left a few of yours as is--less than a minute.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:38 (three years ago) link
Make On the Beach A-. I think it has undeservedly become this sacred album, but for "Ambulance Blues" alone, I can't rate it lower than Homegrown.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:39 (three years ago) link
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere AAfter the Gold Rush AHarvest ATime Fades Away A-On the Beach A+Tonight's the Night A+Homegrown B-Zuma BAmerican Stars n Bars B-Comes a Time BRust Never Sleeps B
― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:40 (three years ago) link
(I do understand ending that run with Rust, but I tend to stretch it out through Hawks and Doves and Reactor, both A-minuses for me. It all comes crashing down with the next one.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:44 (three years ago) link
I've been listening to reactor a lot lately,the closing track (shots?) is killer but I even enjoy the hell out of t-bone
― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:45 (three years ago) link
fact: There are no C+ or below albums during the Neil Young undisputed classic era
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:49 (three years ago) link
(I do understand ending that run with Rust, but I tend to stretch it out through Hawks and Doves and Reactor, both A-minuses for me.
i considered going all the way to Trans (which i like better than the previous 2, but decided to cut them off, especially given the *absolutely impossible!* 60 second time limit
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 01:51 (three years ago) link
s/t being unfairly left out imo
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:05 (three years ago) link
that is a very fair opinion! but i'm going undisputed classic run, undisputeds only!
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:16 (three years ago) link
wait is "neil young" the "david bowie" of neil young ?
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:23 (three years ago) link
Missing Long May You Run (which ultimately is an EP of Neil curios saddled with Stills cocaine fantasies) as well.
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:24 (three years ago) link
uh oh
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:26 (three years ago) link
― budo jeru
i'm willing to say that yes, "neil young" is the "david bowie" of neil young
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:32 (three years ago) link
there's so much promise there and some damn good performances too
I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed American Stars N Bars when I finally checked it out recently.
― brimstead, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 03:45 (three years ago) link
Haven't listened to the debut in a while, but I've always loved "The Loner," "The Emperor of Wyoming," and "I've Been Waiting for You," and the there are other good ones too--A-minus? Not a big fan of Stills-Young, except for "Ocean Girl," which is (I know I'm alone on this one) one my 10 favourite Neil songs.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 04:03 (three years ago) link
The Loner and The Old Laughing Lady are huge classics.
― brimstead, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 04:16 (three years ago) link
well, the part of “old laughing lady” with the chanting and funky drumming anyway
― brimstead, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 04:18 (three years ago) link
I kind of love that "Ocean Girl" is a rewrite of "War Song".
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 04:26 (three years ago) link
THIS
― a (waterface), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 12:39 (three years ago) link
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere A-After the Gold Rush A+Harvest B-Time Fades Away A+On the Beach A+Tonight's the Night A+Homegrown B+Zuma BAmerican Stars n Bars B+Comes a Time CRust Never Sleeps A+
― a (waterface), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 12:40 (three years ago) link
Forgot about what a shock it was to hear "War Song" for the first time on Archives--basically the same song with new lyrics.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 12:55 (three years ago) link
one of his very early garage band tunes on Archives has the melody for Barstool Blues can't remember the name offhand
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 13:04 (three years ago) link
"I Wonder" got retooled into "Don't Cry No Tears"--is that what you're thinking of?
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 13:10 (three years ago) link
That's the one. Was just checking, couldn't find a "Barstool Blues" soundalike, but now I remember the same surprise hearing "I Wonder" for the first time.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 13:16 (three years ago) link
oops yeah sorry Don't Cry no Tears, been a long time since I listened to the box
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 13:29 (three years ago) link
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere AAfter the Gold Rush A+Harvest A-Time Fades Away BOn the Beach A+Tonight's the Night A+Homegrown A-Zuma AAmerican Stars n Bars B-Comes a Time BRust Never Sleeps A-
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 16:13 (three years ago) link
As much of an unholy mess as it is, I'd probably give Journey Through the Past a B--for "Soldier," for an even more epically dirge-like "Words" than on Harvest, and for the way it previews what's coming down the road. The film is also a fascinating mess.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 20:45 (three years ago) link
OK if we're doing this
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere B+After the Gold Rush A+Harvest ATime Fades Away AOn the Beach A-Tonight's the Night AHomegrown B-Zuma BAmerican Stars n Bars A-Comes a Time BRust Never Sleeps A+
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 15 July 2020 21:11 (three years ago) link