A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

tom hanks never left my mind

I was a little too young, but I think "Southern Man" probably benefited from the immediacy of the moment.

I think "Southern Man" is a hamfisted snooze.

Have you heard "Alabama"?

seriously "Southern Man" is so much better than "Southern Man II"

I agree. I really think "Ohio" is the only one of his Big Statements on the United States Wrongdoing songs that still holds up, but then again, I live here, have walked on that hill at Kent State, etc. so I'm massively biased.

the studio southern man is pretty interesting -- that scratchy vocal effect on the "crosses" verse, the oompah piano, the ultra minimalist guitar solo. as 70s guitar jamz go, it's kind of weird.

^^ the pi-anner is the best part

I hope Neil Young will remember

actually, "hamfisted snooze" sums up my thoughts on SM p neatly (though it's kind of like all of Kansas' career in pre=prog embryo tbh).

iirc I left off all of the first side of Gold Rush except for one song; the second side was an awesome surprise after first hearing it, and I still prefer it

"Southern Man" is Walking Tall, an effective cartoon you can appreciate the agit-prop craft of if you're not too turned off by the message. "Alabama" is Walking Tall Part II with Bo Svenson replacing Joe Don Baker.

Wow, that is a perfect metaphor, actually. Nice.

"Alabama" placed 76th; because it's played so less frequently on the hard-rock station here, I prefer it right now (but realize Neil's going over ground he already covered). Suddenly, I want to defend both songs...

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil64.jpg

^^ a good song I always forget about

They're both pretty lame. "Crime int he City" is really cool, though. The bass on that is buried but nuts.

maybe the only successful song with non-trad Neil instrumental flourishes in his catalog.

WOAH! Guess I was wrong about "Ordinary People" being the preferred Blue Notes jam. Voted for this, totally didn't expect it to place.

too low! (even tho I coudnt afford it many points)

"Crime in the City" is one of the very few instances where I prefer the non-Crazy Horse version to the Crazy Horse version. And I looove the Crazy Horse version.

voted for that crime in the city. love the freedom version, love the weld version, but the best version is the 20-minute live version.

Great song, yet another that I just couldn't find room for. Agreed that the epic live take is the best too.

yeah I think I specified on my ballot that I was voting for one of the bootleg versions, and all my boots have come courtesy of doomandgloom

I immediately gravitated to the two ballads I love on Freedom, so except for the hit and "On Broadway," the truth is that I don't remember much else.

is it too late to add "Wish I never put the hose down...wish I never got POLLED" to the thread title?

I voted both Southern Man and Alabama highly - they rock imo. The intro riff on Alabama especially. I don't get the hate, but then I ain't from round these parts.

1. A++ for the images, clemenza

2. Hey, I made a difference: voted for 75, 74 and 73 (and three others so far)

3. Countdown's going by real fast. I think I'll come back tomorrow and do the comments thing then.

yeah the images are great, very neil

Thanks. I initially read that as "Hey, I made a difference: voted in 75, 74, and 73"...I thought you were re-living the Nixon meltdown.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil63.jpg

That's somebody who lives just down the road from Neil's Broken Arrow ranch. I don't know, I've just never been a big fan of this song...very arty.

My very last cut. Surpised it is this low, but I think we'll see more BS to come...

it's kind of hilarious he ended a bunch of shows with "A Day in The Life" when he had this in his bag

Meant in a good way, of course. (xpost)

xp it's pretty? beautiful, heartfelt lyrics that i can only imagine neil young pulling off? the pet shop boys do it?

I'd really love that to have happened. Could imagine that slotting nicely at the end of 'Behaviour'.

i love "Broken Arrow" - def arty as hell but beautiful and the non-song parts move pretty quickly

It really did happen--the PSB have done an excellent cover of "Philadelphia."

xp! the pet shop boys do it, for real

I have no use for Buffalo Springfield. Try and try and try and yuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbamhAYwyJ4

woah way too low! Thought this would be more of a crowd-pleaser...

"Broken Arrow" is my first to place so far. Have always loved the cut-up nature. And its beauty.

xxpost
Why didn't I know about this until now!

Listening to 'Philadelphia' now, never even knew it existed before today (haven't seen the film either). It's lovely.

broken arrow is flawed, has some nice moments, but not the masterpiece it wants to be. funny to think if it had been a big hit or something, and neil had spent the rest of his career doing five minute orchestral song suites.

That PSB version of Phildelphia is excellent.

wow I thought the PSB thing was a joke!

No one's asked, but I meant to mention that I haven't bothered posting first-place votes because so many ballots--half or more, I would guess--were unranked. I'll try to do that at the end, when I post the full list.

Something tells me that no matter what, Neil was always going to NOT spend the rest of his career doing anything with any consistency or regularity, hit or no hit. Into the ditch...

I will say that I like "Broken Arrow" more than Stills' even longer "Bluebird"--it's been a while, but a lot more, I think.

It's funny how Neil juvenalia is full of ornate Sgt. Pepperisms before he heads off to the garage at the ranch to mature