neil young

Thanks! BigO still has the Neil x Willie x Lukas & POTR set from Harvest of Hope, the anti-Keystone XXL show excerpted upthread, in that 10-minute jam (those Neil & Lukas YouTube posts aren't showing up in my Firefox this morning, but they are in Chrome)
Here;s the HoH set:
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1989 Looks like they've also still got a bunch of other Neil and Neil-related sets.

new song - "Big Box" on spotify

lyrics are clunky to say the VERY least
um i dunno sometimes it kind of works despite itself, as do many of neil's songs

production is sort of grey and odd in places

overall reminds me of, natch, something off Mirror Ball

We are as far now from Mirror Ball as it was from Zuma

Let that sink in.

da croupier rates every Neil album:

http://anthonyisright.tumblr.com/

sad to see him rate Dead Man so low - just dug that CD out the other day and love it

yeah wish there were at least three more zoned out instrumental neil records like that...

I SAID it'd make a great podcast!

love Dead Man as well. this could be a terrible idea, but has anyone ever tried playing a few copies of it at once, in different spots of the same song, at a low volume? a lot of the songs have a meandering quality to them and stick with the same key, so it might actually sound kinda cool.

tylerw otm!

from da croupier's tumblr:

Neil’s topical commentary now swung more clearly left, and his guitar solos (as foreshadowed by an import EP of feedback freakouts) were returning to showoff form.

What is this? Is this "Arc"?

We are as far now from Mirror Ball as it was from Zuma

I do this sort of thing all the time and it's always depressing. For example, we are as far away now from Smells Like Teen Spirit as it was from Sgt. Pepper.

given all the turmoil in his personal life lately - divorce/aneurysm/quitting weed etc. - and given the often nakedly emotional/confessional mode of a lot of his material, it's really weird how his last few projects really don't reflect or address any of that. folk song covers, songs about starbucks, saving the environment etc. it's like his work is now a process of denial or escape

guess it could be a similar thing to those early 80s genre experiments, where he was burying a lot of his inner turmoil.
that said, Storytone has some very personal songs alongside the save the world stuff.

maybe he found writing about this painful stuff didn't ultimately help alleviate the pain he suffered. but yeah, i reckon it's more a case of escapism. maybe the confessionals are still to come - perhaps he has another ditch triolgy recorded but not ready to release.

Never really saw Neil as confessional diary-based artist, he has his moments of that but even the albums that are supposedly statements about his life or whatever have plenty of symbolism escapism and abstraction.

What is this? Is this "Arc"?

if you mean the EP, it's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldorado_%28EP%29

I don't consider him diaristic either, he's too canny and slippery for that. His recent material just seems largely divorced from - I don't know how to put it - personal feelings, maybe? Like I don't need to know who specifically "I Believe in You" or "Such a Woman" is about but it's clear they are heavy songs about personal emotions etc. and for a guy who is capable of that kind of material, and to the extent that it's a vein he's mined deeply over the course of his career, to go through a bunch of shit but then not have it come out in his work seems noteworthy, it's unusual.

otoh maybe there's some hidden emotional history buried in his anti-Starbucks screeds idk

neil kind of addresses these concerns in one of the new monsanto tunes -- live version here: http://www.bigozine2.com/TRKSA/NYsanluis/NYsanluis102.mp3

haha ok ya got me Neil lol

neil young, ilm lurker

recording is pretty murky but i think he's singing
"aint got time to deal with Οὖτις / Can't even pronounce his name / Gotta save the planet / da croupier is lame"

i can't hear that because i only listen to pono now

The thing is, his '80s genre experiments have songs as good as any of the earlier putatively autobiographical material.

Just keeping you on your toes.

The thing is, his '80s genre experiments have songs as good as any of the earlier putatively autobiographical material.
i'm as much of an 80s neil apologist as anyone, but ... which songs are you thinking of here?

Psychedelic Pill has songs about relationships, though not up-close confessional; Storytone uses layers of imagery too, but the sound of regret, belated insights, etc. comes through. Also, his Storytone Chicago blues song talks about early shows in Chicago, and is otherwise personalized, like other tracks---he's not gonna spill his guts all over the place, but I don't find his recent approaches to be too distanced. Seems like he really does care about the environment, for instance.

I'll assume "the '80s Young" stops with Eldorado.

Shots
Like an Inca
This Old Homestead
Southern Pacific
Grey Riders
Transformer Man
Sample n Hold
Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll
Hippie Dream
Pressure
Mideast Vacation

that's a helluva playlist and I'll put them against any '70s classic.

yeah those are all good (though technically shots and old homestead are 70s songs), but wouldn't trade any of them for his earlier stuff. but opinions vary!

was listening to the Unplugged version of Transformer Man earlier, that really is up there w his best imo

Forgot "T-Bone."

Ain't got no t-bone

it's a cold bowl of chili when love lets you down

I love when neil sings about food

i love "coupe de ville" from this note's for you.

I love "Around the World". What a bizarre bridge (for Neil): as lusty as he ever got in lyric? except tbone obv

I'll assume "the '80s Young" stops with Eldorado.

Shots
Like an Inca
This Old Homestead
Southern Pacific
Grey Riders
Transformer Man
Sample n Hold
Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll
Hippie Dream
Pressure
Mideast Vacation

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 5, 2015 2:54 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

some of these weren't written in the time period though, they were 70s songs...."Shots" for sure was kicking around since mid 70s and I think "This Old Homestead" and "Like an Inca"

it's kind of amazing how long he mined that 70s peak, even as late as Le Noise for "Hitchhiker"

and I'd argue the "80s" part of "Shots" isn't what makes it great anyway unless you like the "pew pew pew" laser gun sound efx record shit, this is the definitive version imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMnljgJRiz8

and "Too Far Gone" one of the best songs off Freedom is just an inferior version of original on Chrome Dreams which I hope will be released soon

Guys, I read Shakey -- I know he's got drawers full of this stuff. If it sez 1982, I'm counting it as an '82 song because he still fiddled with it in the studio.

the "pew pew pew" laser gun sound efx record shit

always improves a song imo

fair enough Alfred I don't necessarily agree but I respect that you've got a job to do when it comes to 80s albums

xp also canons firing/explosions ("long walk home")

was just thinking that might be the worst neil song ever

If liberty was a little girl
Watching all the flags unfurl
Standing at the big parade
How would she like us now?

i dunno, i like the hook and as far as metaphor abuse goes, it pales to johnny cougar's "justice and indepedence '85"

He was born on the fourth day of July
So his parents called him Independence Day
He married a girl named Justice who gave birth to a son called the Nation
And she walked away

Independence would daydream and he'd pretend
That some day him and Justice and Nation'd be together again
But Justice held up in a shotgun shack
Wouldn't let nobody in
So a Nation cried...

Oh, Oh,
When a Nation cries
His tears fall down like missiles from the sky
Justice look into Independence's eyes
Can you make everything alright?
Can you keep your Nation warm tonight?

worse political neil lyric imo

Oh Alabama
Can I see you and shake your hand?
Make friends down in Alabama
I'm from a new land
I come to you and
See all this ruin
What are you doing?

Alabama
You got the rest of the union
To help you along
What's going wrong?

idk some pretty strong contenders for worst political neil lyric...

I mean

Let's roll for freedome,
Let's roll for love,
We're going after satan,
On the wings of a dove,

i imagine living with war has plenty of ham-fisted political yammering but i've only listened to it once