Neil Young - Homegrown (June 19, 2020, at long last)

And fun fact: “White Line” was recorded at Ramport Studios, which was designed and owned by the Who (who ended up only making two records there).

title track is such a fuckin jam, love that lurching Horse rhythm

super psyched for my vinyl to show up

xxp yeah the segue is perfect and seems intentional

― sleeve

also taken aback when the lyrics in "Kansas" mention "gliding through the air" (vs. the crashing gliders in "Florida"), I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that they were intended as companion pieces

yeah, they were recorded on the same day (according to the liners)

6:32 PM
been playing with Harvest & Homegrown to make a single album (since I don't think either album is that strong on its own). how about this track listing:

Out On The Weekend
Harvest
A Man Needs A Maid
Heart of Gold
Kansas

Homegrown
Old Man
White Line
Vacancy
Star of Bethlehem

you don't like 'needle and the damage done'?

it's ok but I think I've heard it enough (I mean I could say the same thing for "Heart Of Gold" but)

and I wanted to keep it down to 10 songs. if I went to 12 I'd add that song plus "Little Wing", or maybe instead of the latter, "Deep Forbidden Lake", which I think is a Homegrown track as well

i like that idea, euler! and that tracklist absolutely rules (i really dislike A Man Needs a Maid, though. it's a weird sentiment to throw into a song that doesn't really suggest, it otherwise, and it's big and soaring with orchestral accompaniment.)

how does Separate Ways not make the cut??

also I feel like some people are underrating this album based on the fact that some of those songs were released later on various things they are still great songs and I think contribute to it being a great standalone album

There little doubt in my mind that had this album been released when it was originally going to be released it would be largely considered on par with the NY albums of its immediate era. At least as good as "Comes a Time."

it's better than that *or* TFA, imo

^^otm

It's great, regardless. Who is underrating it?

It definitely is, but I wouldn't count Comes A Time of this "immediate era" though. I feel like this era of Neil ends with Zuma, after that it's a whole different beast.

Euler, for one, he doesn't think it is strong on its own. Which, I couldn't disagree more with.

yeah i'd say that Homegrown just bolsters Neil's unbelievable mid-70s run — TFA > Tonight's the Night > On The Beach > Homegrown > Zuma is a set of LPs I'd put up against anyone else you'd care to name in the 1970s ... toss Hitchhiker in there at the end, too, it definitely fits tone-wise. And the fact that there's a whole other album's worth of songs from that period, too ... it's impressive!

Yeah, that's the grouping I always think about as one of the best runs of albums, well, damn near ever.

y'know, it's ok that someone underrates it. in fact, we actually need people to underrate it, so that we can like it more than average. it's just how the universe works

xp

it's better than that *or* TFA, imo

― sleeve, Friday, June 26, 2020 12:43 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^otm

― ACABincalifornia (voodoo chili), Friday, June 26, 2020 12:46 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i'd say that Homegrown just bolsters Neil's unbelievable mid-70s run — TFA > Tonight's the Night > On The Beach > Homegrown > Zuma is a set of LPs I'd put up against anyone else you'd care to name in the 1970s

otm

I didn't mean Comes a Time was of its immediate era, just brought it up as a point of comparison. but I do sort of think of Comes a Time and Rust Never Sleeps as the twin, stylistically divergent (slick singer-songwriter and shambling rocker) ends of a Neil Young era. Next decade/era is a mess, followed by another pretty great four album run starting with "Freedom," which is at this point I think almost as iconic as the '70s run, albeit for different reasons.

Love his downhome accent on “homegrown”

many xp. "A Man Needs a Maid" marries a horrible, blown up egotistical idea with the revelation of real vulnerability underneath. The orchestral accompaniment helps make the contrast more dramatic, and I find the "When will I see you again?"s to be very moving. But it's true that Neil achieves similar through dynamic playing in more stripped down live versions. It's an interesting way into a breakup song. Like a several track section of Blood on the Tracks condensed into 4 minutes.

“Man Needs” is a great song with a horrible arrangement

I don't know. the clunkier parts occur while neil is expressing a shitty idea. it feels right.

Separate Ways sounds like Out On the Weekend, just not as good. I still like it!

I feel like a lot of ppl are PUA negging Neil

Keep your Harvest out of my Homegrown, please and thank you.

i'm just worried about all the ppl pegging Neil, hang in there buddy

hangneil

i'm just worried about all the ppl pegging Neil

No kinkshaming plz.

after the bum rush

Pocahaunches

Donghouse

The Losing End

Everybody Knows This Is Me Being Pegged

Harvest Moon

A man needs cottage cheese

The Dildo And The Ramage Done

Powderfinger (No Not In There)

KYfinger

Downed by the River

Pocahaunches

What have I done?

I love "A Man Needs A Maid" so much. his anger at the end of a domestic relationship with a woman is ugly & misogynistic: there's a shadow running through his days. but he was in love with her & still is. when will I see you again? I prefer the orchestral version because it amplifies the emotional indulgence. there's nothing to admire here, but in that there's beauty too.

I get how the lyrics and the overwrought orchestra turns people off, but that's what makes it fascinating. He speaks of going to the movies, falling in love with an actress... the orchestra puts him in a dramatic setting as if he's in the movie. The lyrics make him sound pathetic, in no way does he sound like a healthy person. It's supposed to sound TOO MUCH.

Love "A Man Needs a Maid," arrangement especially--I think the contrast between the small voice and the huge music is integral to the song.

The lyrics make him sound pathetic, in no way does he sound like a healthy person. It's supposed to sound TOO MUCH.

Yeah this is how I've always heard it. Its an ugly sentiment but it's always seemed clear to me that he's interrogating it, putting it out there as something he's ashamed of. It's an immature sentiment, and the arrangement echoes that, big and overdramatic and obvious. It's like he's trying to tell this narcissistic, childish side of himself: "look at how stupid you sound, you're not that important, dude". It's always surprised me when people take it literally, i've always read it as being totally self-aware.

i understand all that and that could very well be true. but i think there's also a possibility that as listeners who love the legendary Neil Young, we also assume that he's interrogating something or putting the bad statement up on a pedestal for all to see in it's ugly real glory (or whatever). but for me it just stands in the same space as the sentiments behind "stupid girl" (which i find more palatable because i like the song more and the stupidity is limited to just the partner, whereas neil is talking about all men needing a maid, which i have a hard time nodding along with). it doesn't mean neil young is canceled or anything, i'd just rather listen to his millions of other great songs

anyone wanna decode "welfare mothers"? that one always made me a little uncomfortable but on the other hand the lyrics don't make any fuckin sense so *shrug*. i do feel like he was always smart enough to undercut his own misogyny.