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

On The Bleach

i mean, neil has put out like 8 records since Bob's last album of original material

You say this like it's a good thing.

plant that bell and let it ring

Haters! Lol really loving this old, new to me album.

Hits me in the feels as the whippersnappers say (said?)

Florida

And, uh, looking up, they noticed the tumbling man coming through the air
And, uh, he, he came right down and landed right on them
And made an awful sound and, uh—
I ran over there, I could see that they were
They were really gone, you know
But on the ground beside them was this little baby, uh, dressed in
It just had a red blanket wrapped around it
So I picked it up and took it to my car
You know, over on the corner, which wasn't too far away
And I put it in the back seat
I don't know whether it was a boy or a girl
I, I didn't look, you know, I just put it down
It was sleeping and I looked and a crowd had gathered on the parking lot
This beautiful lady was coming down the street
And I, I looked at her, and she looked right at me and I—
She said, "That's my baby in the back of your car there"
I said, "Oh, no, no
No, that baby belongs to that, to that dead couple on the parking lot"
And, uh, she said, "No, no, you're wrong, you're wrong
What happened to them?"

"Florida" is maybe the weirdest fucking curveball he's ever thrown, which is saying a lot, love how it segues into "I woke up from a bad dream"

listening to this on headphones for the 1st time and I hadn't really noticed that segue before but WOW it just hit me, what an effect, the way "Florida" seems to cut out mid-sentence and then "Kansas" starts and "I feel like I just woke up from a bad dream"... I almost wonder if that's the idea behind recording "florida" in the first place, to have a piece leading into "Kansas" like that.

Reading the "lyrics" Karl posted, it seems Florida deals with the disintegration of his relationship with Carrie Snodgrass. The couple who had the child died and Neil is left alone to rescue/raise a child while a female stranger/fake mother attempts to make a claim on the child.

I would not be surprised if it was an actual dream Neil had. It has that dream-like logic/terror.

xxp yeah the segue is perfect and seems intentional

Can I just say how much I love the way this album sounds, how it was recorded, and how comforting I find that sound?

Wow, you got the Pono version? Cool!

But seriously, it does sound amazing in every way. And whoever mastered this, and Neil’s Official Release Series, should get a lifetime achievement Grammy.

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