A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

I also had nothing from TTN, but thought I'd be the only one. Of his canonical albums, it's the one I came to last and it has never quite sunk its hooks into me -- probably just need to listen to it more.

xpost: ah, "See the Sky." Love it. Bumped a few Big Classics to sneak it onto the bottom of my ballot.

Nothing to say about this one myself, other than surprise that it finished so high.

yeah today's list has all been "songs off great albums i never would have thought of voting for"

actually can't even say great albums for s/t and harvest moon

I think "The Loner" has outlasted its album, though--still gets played on the radio, at least up here.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil45.jpg

yaaaaay faith restored, though i thought this'd be higher!

read somewhere that rick rubin once had to pull off the road when this song came on to cry, where's their collabo

Another surprise to me, although Gold Rush is so brilliant, it was maybe inevitable that what I consider its weakest song would draw support.

love how this song has such an affirmative/positive title, but the lyrics are anything but

"See The Sky" has one of my favorite electric piano lines in all rock.

I thought about voting for "Loner" for sure, and "LA" is amazing; I think a lot of the prettier melodies on Time Fades Away probably could go toe to toe with stuff on Gold Rush; it's just that that particular live album is like the worst possible context for them--"Love in Mind" and "The Bridge" almost sound like interludes (same with "Sweet Joni" now that I think about it; he seemed to have a real almost fragmentary, or even haiku-like, approach to the ballad at that time) and "L.A." which is probably as good as "Don't Let It Bring You Down" comes off as way more sketchy and abrasive (which actually enhances its gripe-litany lyrics)

"I Believe in You" is my first top ten track to place. Incredible

If I could've brought myself to rank my ballot, "I Believe in You" would've been my #1 I think.

Rick Rubin otm

Wow--just not hearing what the rest of you hear.

"A blissful feeling came over me, and I had to actually pull over my car onto the side of the road because I couldn't drive while experiencing this. Just from the effect the music had on me--it was somehow related to the sensation of dying. It felt like my heart stopped. It wasn't a bad feeling. I don't know if it was going out of my body, but I didn't feel myself leaving my body. I don't how to explain it other than a real feeling of bliss. It was really a great magical feeling. I don't know why I'm somehow relating it to death, but it had some kind of death overtone in it. It was a really positive feeling."

weird, this song dropped out of my itunes library at some point so i forgot about it but totally would have it top 20

a gift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k--EF7cZmw

she butchers the best hook though imo

Rick Rubin? (xxpost) That's like Greil Marcus pulling over to the side of the road when he heard "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" for the first time.

Songs Famous People Claim To Have Needed To Pull Their Car To The Side Of The Road After Hearing

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil44.jpg

I don't know why but of all the harmonies on ATGR, it's the chorus of "I Believe in You" I find the most affecting - I think it might be the really simple piano line.

Old photo--don't go looking for that gas station.

Wow, did not expect "Sedan Delivery" at this point.

sedan delivery, so great. i sort of imagine neil having written this song after someone described the concept of punk rock to him. i doubt neil really listened to a great deal punk rock, but he understood.
also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5akaznulK8

I voted for "Sedan Delivery" - was thinking especially of the version off Live Rust.

yeah I was hoping for higher. This song just missed my top 10 iirc

Used to love it. In 1979, I tried to convince my punk-loving friend Peter that it sounded exactly like punk rock. I had no idea what I was talking about.

The words of "I Believe In You" are so direct and moving, especially when compared to something like "Tell Me Why" off the same album. Not that I don't love TMW, but I seem to recall a quote from NY to the effect that he stopped playing it live, cos he didn't know what the lyrics were supposed

I voted for "Sedan Delivery" and La Lechera voted for "See The Sky Is About To Rain". Happy to say neither of us voted for "I Believe In You". Too treacly for my taste.

Pretty sure I didn't vote for anything off of "Tonight's the Night." Good record but overrated.

Harvest Moon kinda annoyed me when I saw it on MTV at the time. It was this rather lame sweet folky ballad, so chances are I wouldn't've wanted it anyway, but the look was so obviously of-the-moment (iirc it even had a Smells Like Teen Spirit janitor) that it seemed more like old man jumping on bandwagon than a king returning to his throne. A typical Neil perverse move might've provoked more respect.

I voted for it entirely because of this solo performance Neil did on SNL:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbj6fl_neil-young-harvest-moon-live-snl-ne_music

"See The Sky" has one of my favorite electric piano lines in all rock.

Likewise, the Massey (or is it Fillmore?) take referenced in the other thread convinced me to put this one here. Neil solo live seems to up the intimacy level for me.

I didn't vote for "The Loner" -- but the Live Rust take is killer.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil43.jpg

Yes, the electric version comes later, at which point I'll post what they would have gotten combined.

while i restrained myself from loading my ballot with Rust, it's the one album where I won't be like "christ, did you guys vote for EVERYTHING on it?" cuz I probably could've too.

I'd rather listen to "My My, Hey Hey" these days--the electric is overplayed on the local station, and I always like the guy who screams out "wooooo!" at Johnny Rotten's name.

Wow, never would have voted for "I Believe In You." Always makes me think of "Killing Me Softly." "Sedan Delivery" ... I love nuts Neil, but I wanted to save room for other stuff.

Sedan and On the Beach were tied with the most songs on my ballot

not Sedan, Rust Never Sleeps

Like "Rockin'," love the acoustic and electric versions equally. Also love the notion of bookending an album with acoustic and live versions of the same song.

I wish the Stooges had done that with "Down in the Street."

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil42.jpg

First Zuma song to place, I think...great opener.

more of my votes appearing in the lower echelons here - LA ("City in the smog! City in the smog! Don't you wish that you could be here too" = lol), "I Believe in You", "Harvest Moon", "Don't Cry No Tears"

From La Lechera: "Don't Cry No Tears"  - true love ain't too hard to see

Yes! "Don't Cry No Tears" --> "Danger Bird" = one of the best one-two punches in his catalog.

wish the Stooges had done that with "Down in the Street."

goggling at this. how would that work?

This was easily one of the first songs on my ballot. Great riff, and I find the lyrics or the way Neil sings them really unnerving, almost scary.

yeah, the guitar sound on Zuma. the best guitar sound ever. love the super early version of this that showed up on the archives, too.

Kidding about the Stooges. (Is goggling like googling?)

"There's nothing I can say / To make him go away" - seriously makes me shudder whenever I'm thinking about a failed relationship.