A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

you say tentative and half-formed, i say youthful and experimental

Not meant as an attack, SMC, there's just no comparison for me.

expecting to fly is barely a buffalo springfield song, too -- no one else from the band plays on it, and i think it was originally planned as a neil young solo single.

i love that the period where neil hadn't yet found his sound was also the period where everyone was exploring the studio

Catching up, sorry:

Had On The Beach at 22
Had Expecting to Fly at 46 (so I don't think it counted, as only my first 40 were registered for the poll...)
Had Ohio at 43 (ditto -- also, as mentioned upthread, I have been to Kent State a zillion times, walked on THAT hill, etc. Gives you CHILLS, seriously)
Had Rev Blues at 10

my first exposure to "On The Beach" was a cover by the very underrated (and very NY-influenced) singer/songwriter Chris Lee, but i'm not a big fan of the song. perhaps a kneejerk reaction to the idea of the title track of a guy's first album released after becoming really famous featuring morose talk of radio interviews.

I love how unabashedly beautiful Expecting to Fly is - after Buffalo Springfield NY never really went full-tilt for gorgeous again. It's such a young man's song.

yeah, "Expecting to Fly" wouldn't make my top 100, very dull half-realized track imo....and right above "Revolution Blues" makes it worse....

I do feel that On the Beach's longtime unavailability plays a part in its present stature--if it had been Zuma you couldn't buy on CD instead, I wonder if the situation would be different.

reading the rhapsodic descriptions of the song's production and it's "groundbreaking" construction in "Shakey" just made me wonder if I was listening to a different song

(re: Expecting to Fly)

Wow, much lower than I expected. As much as I love "After the Gold Rush," I always found the cheers when Neil sings "And I felt like gettin' high" on the (otherwise great) Live Rust version to be a stadium rock nadir.

― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, July 11, 2012 10:17 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ no way, you're thinking of the rasta jive blackface routine during Cortez

Never cared much for ohio or expecting to fly....ohio has a good riff

I honestly could have put about all of tonights the night on, but those were the three I had

albuquerques opening line is one of those classic neil lines that really affects me and I couldn't say why:

And they say
That Santa Fe
Is less than 90 miles away

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil7.jpg

I dunno if I would say "This Note's For You" is better per se (I wouldn't put it in the top 10 Neil songs or anything) but it's certainly more fun to listen to than "Expecting to Fly", at least in my case

albuquerques opening line is one of those classic neil lines that really affects me and I couldn't say why:

And they say
That Santa Fe
Is less than 90 miles away

the legendary and mysterious land of Santa Fe... Neil should maybe look at a map sometime lol

but yeah I love it too, great song

He was fumbling around for his car keys when he wrote that.

i'm not a big fan of the song. perhaps a kneejerk reaction to the idea of the title track of a guy's first album released after becoming really famous featuring morose talk of radio interviews.

The thing is, Neil was bitching about being famous BEFORE he was famous (See: Buffalo Springfield, "Out of My Mind")

Which it's disappointing that neil doesn't do tell me went cuz he doesn't know what it's about, I consider that maybe the hallmark of his great songwriting, this weird ambiguity

It's when he's real literal - this notes for you - is when he sucks

I think I can "sing" every last guitar note in "Cowgirl."

so am I right in expecting that "Cowgirl" vs. "Down by The River" is pretty much a Veronica/Betty thing?......my girl lost!

Jughead = "Last Trip to Tulsa"?

Btw I felt the title tracks to everybody knows kind of slipped by with out enough praise for being a to ten guitar rock song ever, far too low
Love cowgirl, but now prefer the fillmore vers of that & down by the river slightly

I don't think any great ”lost” reissue thing lived up to my expectations like fillmore

thx for reminding me to pull out that Fillmore record more often, that one is really good

yeah when i want to hear cowgirl, i go to the fillmore version. neil is so amazing there that he completely forgot how to play guitar like that for about five years.

The original is so much a part of my DNA at this point, I don't think it'd be possible for me to prefer another version, but I have Fillmore, so I'll give it another listen.

Yeah ever since getting the Fillmore disc I never play the album versions of the guitar epics - don't even know if I remember them that well! Do they have anything quite like Nitzsche's electric piano lurking at the bottom of the mix?

I'm hoping Veronica is next. Can't stand either of 'em personally, although I do like the Low & Dirty 3 cover of "River".

I don't think any great ”lost” reissue thing lived up to my expectations like fillmore OTM

The Cowgirl solo is a thing of rare and powerful beauty.

Which it's disappointing that neil doesn't do tell me went cuz he doesn't know what it's about, I consider that maybe the hallmark of his great songwriting, this weird ambiguity

Last performance: 2011-05-11, Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

One of my big surprises researching covers was finding the Byrds' version of "Cowgirl."

Cowgirl was at 34 for me, while DBTR was at 32. Guess I'm a little burnt on both of them, but I will absolutely take a live version of either over the studio cuts.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil6.jpg

the intro to studio "Cowgirl" works v v well for kicking off late-night college radio, though--live versions can't match it!

TOO LOW!!!

Had this at, um, #6. :-)

The "ma, send me money now" verse coming out of nowhere one of the greatest imaginative/intuitive leaps ever, I think.

ha, i cut CG, because i figured it'd be high anyway. but what a great song/riff.
Byrds' version of "Cowgirl" is really nice!

"Cinnamon Girl" was my #1. I love the song, but it was also a nickname I gave to my wife two years before we started dating. That was 20 years ago. Damn.

Much more poetic than if you'd gone with "Motorcycle Mama."

Ah, some of mine are placing now. The intro to Cowgirl is all-time - so ominous yet inevitable.

On The Beach was my no.1. My first exposure was in a documentary when bbc4 ran a Neil Young night. It had this soundtrack full of incredible tunes I didn't know, which turned out to mostly be OTB cuts, so its non-availability was a huge factor for me.

Everyone familiar with the alternate "single" mix of CG? Anyone prefer it?

I don't know about the mix, but I assume the single eliminates the coda? Or do AM deejays just end it earlier?

yeah, with whitten's vocals more prominent? it's aight.
here's another interesting alternate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyK00lIRxUo

I have the single. It's...innarresting. Loses the guitar erruption at the end. Overall, not as good as the album cut.

"Cinnamon Girl" crossed with "Sea of Madness"...I like!

yeah it's kinda groovy.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/neil5.jpg

On another borad I used to be on, someone had the handle "Cinnamon Girl". Everyone assumed she was a Neil fan, but she said she chose that moniker because she likes cinnamon and had never even heard of the Neil Young song until everyone asked her about it