Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

[Smitty]

love Prairie Wind.

"No Wonder" is one of the most underrated Neil songs of all time

x2. My favorite off that album is "Its a Dream" though. Def Neil's most "spiritual" album.

[Swamp]

The first time we ever saw Neil was during the 85 International Harvesters Tour,
so this looks really great!

[brknarw]

No has yet to mention Broken Arrow from 1996. One of my favorite Crazy Horse albums.

[cortez the killer]

No has yet to mention Broken Arrow from 1996. One of my favorite Crazy Horse albums.

I love Broken Arrow and believe "Big Time" is one of the best songs in Neil's catalog.

I'm still livin' the dream we had
For me it's not over

R.I.P. David Briggs.

[dime in the gutter]

bro has a serious talent for not writing about what he's writing about. love that he's all bottom side up, sideways thru the front door, walking backwards with his songwriting.......sometimes seemingly nonsensical with lyrics......brilliantly manages to get the feeling thru using the music to direct you in the right direction for song meaning....and then the words make sense.

intentional or not, he always keeps it innarresting with mis-directed prose.

beyond your typical rock song metaphor 101 b.s.

or some shit like that.

just my opinion.

[dime in the gutter]

not sure how to credit this properly. found it on thrashers wheat.

http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2006/01/top-10-reasons-why-neil-young-is.html

top 10 reasons why neil young is better than bob dylan.

1. Better Voice
2. Better Guitar Player
3. Better Good-to-Bad Song Ratio
4. Neil Never Sold His Music To a Commercial
5. Neil Embraces the Younger Generation of Musicians
6. No One Plays Neil Songs Better Than Neil
7. Farm Aid & The Bridge School Benefit Concerts
8. Neil Is More Diverse
9. Neil Never Played With The Dead
10. Because I Like to Piss People Off

i would add.

ny was more than diverse. he was the best at whatever sub-genre classification he dabbled in. (btw, there is no way to write that w/o coming off like a pretentious blowhard, douche bag......accepted) he did a whole bunch of different types of music better than anyone else that did that kind of music....of course, you can say that about mr. zimmerman as well.

or some shit like that.

[Bill in CT]

Number 9 is incorrect. See the performance below.

[dime in the gutter]

Number 9 is incorrect. See the performance below.

dude who wrote the list offers his explanation for #9. lifted again from thrashers wheat.

Eight Track Mind deconstructs each argument point by point. To say some of the reasoning is provocative would be an understatement.

Consider Eight Track Mind's Point #9 - Neil Never Played With The Dead:
"I'm not talking about opening for the Dead or even just sitting in to jam with them. Dylan toured, played, and recorded an entire album with them that most people would agree was not a career highlight for either of these greats. Did Dylan really need the Dead to revive his career? Aren't the Dead basically a Dylan cover band anyhow? I'm all for musicians getting together and combining their skills to create music. But there was no real legitimate reason for Dylan to make this career move unless he was motivated by money. I've seen Neil sit in with the Dead, Led Zeppelin, and tour with Booker T. & the MG's. But he never recorded and released albums with these guys. The Dylan/Dead fiasco was nothing more than a marketing gimmick and the Dead getting to play with their idol."

[Bill in CT]

Neil never sat in with Led Zeppelin. While I agree that the Dylan/Dead tour & live album are far from the career best for either of those acts, the author could be more accurate with some of the statements.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Maybe by "sitting in with Zeppelin" they meant this performance from when Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Agreed, it's not "Led Zeppelin" but it's Page, Plant and Jones (not sure if Jason Bonham was the drummer for this or not).

[beantownbubba]

And as we all know, Neil did in fact record and release an album w/ Booker T. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe the writer meant an album under NY's own name.

But in any case, my gut is saying to me that this guy was just trying to start an argument/attract some notice, not making a serious case.

[Bill in CT]

Maybe by "sitting in with Zeppelin" they meant this performance from when Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Agreed, it's not "Led Zeppelin" but it's Page, Plant and Jones (not sure if Jason Bonham was the drummer for this or not).

You're probably right, Kudzu. I knew about that performance and don't consider it to be Led Zeppelin. I'm also unsure if Jason Bonham played drums for that night.

[cortez the killer]

And as we all know, Neil did in fact record and release an album w/ Booker T. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe the writer meant an album under NY's own name.

You mean this one?

[beantownbubba]

And as we all know, Neil did in fact record and release an album w/ Booker T. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe the writer meant an album under NY's own name.

You mean this one?

As you probably guessed, nope, I had forgotten about that one. But so did the original writer. Just shows to go ya, everytime i give someone the benefit of the doubt, i get nailed, right zip?

[tinnitus photography]

this is not meant in anyway to upstage Bill in CT's excellent effort here, but this is another thread of potential interest:

http://www.soundopinions.org/forum/inde ... =16617&hl=\Neil+Young\

[Kudzu Guillotine]

This is from part one of a new interview with Scott McCaughey (R.E.M., The Baseball Project, Minus Five, Young Fresh Fellows, etc.); it begins with the interviewer from the Spectrum Culture website asking him about an upcoming series of shows McCaughey will be playing at the Crystal Hotel in Portland, OR:

Will do you some cover songs?

Yes, I will definitely do some covers. There's certain ones that I will do with a band like "Strychnine" or songs by Neil Young. Pretty straightforward and loud.

"Powderfinger"?

I've never played "Powderfinger" before but I would actually like to. It will probably happen someday. I know the chords but I never played it with a band where we worked out the riffs and all that stuff. There's always going to be Neil Young when I'm playing.

What are your favorite Neil Young songs to play?

There's a million. Just a few months ago, the Minus 5 did a tribute show where we played Zuma. Two years ago, we played Time Fades Away.

That one's not available on CD, is it?

No, it's not. That's the one that's still unavailable.

You can't get Journey Through the Past either, right?

Yeah, but that doesn't really have anything on it (laughs). It has "Soldier" but everything else is songs that are available elsewhere or the Beach Boys.

Let's go on a tangent for a moment. With all these old artists such as Neil Young and Bob Dylan, there are the albums that everyone loves. Then there is the one kind of runt that you still get behind. Everyone has a different one. Which is yours?

The runt, huh? I like a lot of his that people probably aren't that crazy about. I love Re-ac-tor. I think that's a great album.

"T-Bone"?

(laughs) Yeah, nine minutes of nothing. I love that one a lot. There's things about all of them that I like. I can't wholeheartedly say that Landing on Water is my favorite record though.

Can anyone?

No. I guess Re-ac-tor is one people aren't necessarily fond of that I really, really like. I like Broken Arrow. I think that record is awesome.

Yeah, what's up with that last track?

That's just them jamming in a bar that someone recorded on a cassette. That didn't need to be on there, you know, but that's classic Neil (laughs).

I think Hawks and Doves is one of his best. It has one of his best songs on it.

Which one is that?

"Captain Kennedy."

That's a good song. I like that song a lot. I like Hawks and Doves too, all 29 minutes of it (laughs). That's a very short record. It's a great record.

Yeah, Landing on Water is pretty bad.

I like a lot of the songs on that record. It's just the production is really bad. The guitar is just really, really quiet.

Life has the same kind of production.

Yeah, the weird thing about Life is I heard those songs live before the record came out and it just sounded like Crazy Horse. Then they put all those synthy keyboards on top of it and totally changed it. I thought it was great when I heard them play it live. They did a live broadcast of it and I think they actually used the tracks from the live broadcast as the basic tracks on the record and then overdubbed shit on top of it. That is really strange, but I like a lot of those songs too.

So you're going to need 15 hours of material for these five nights you're playing.

I was thinking that if I didn't repeat any songs I would have to know like 225 songs (laughs).

I challenge you!

I know, I know! Believe me, I'm thinking, "Can I do that?" But it would be really, really hard, so I probably won't do that. I will probably play well over 100. I'd like to think I could do that.

Will you be using lyric sheets or sheet music at all?

I'm going to try not to. I thought about it. I thought it wouldn't be embarrassing if I brought a little binder with lyrics and stuff but I don't really want to do that.

If Michael Stipe can do it, so can you.

(laughs) Michael does it as a crutch. He doesn't really use it all that much, I don't think. It's just a thing for him to have it there. To me, it would be a little bit of a distraction. I would think, "I don't have to worry about it. I have the words right here in front of me" but I'd rather just put myself out there. Believe me, I will fuck up the words and I will fuck up the chords. That will happen. But that's the way it is.

Do "T-Bone."

(laughs) Yeah, right. That would be really good to do a solo version of that. I don't think Neil's even done that.

I haven't seen Neil Young since Greendale because he's priced me out.

He's played smaller places, which is nice, but then the tickets cost triple of what they would be if he was playing a big place. The thing is about Neil is I don't let him get under my skin because I just accept the fact that his greatness is the fact that you don't really know what he's going to do and what's going to happen. I just love that about him. I just absolutely love that about him. I will never really complain about him because it's a part of what makes him great.

To read the entire interview go here.

[cortez the killer]

Cool interview Kudzu. Some of the things he discusses actually show up in this thread. Thanks for sharing.

[cortez the killer]

[Clams]

Now that's how you play a guitar solo.

Neil's mutton chops are in especially fine form too.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

From RollingStone.com:

Exclusive: Hear Neil Young's Unreleased Country-Rock Gem 'Amber Jean'
Gorgeous 1984 tune will be featured on Young's new archival disc, 'A Treasure'


Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

By ANDY GREENE

Click here to listen to Neil Young's "Amber Jean"

In the early Eighties Neil Young moved from genre to genre at a frantic pace – jumping from vocoder-infused New Wave to rockabilly to country in just a few short years. In 1984 and 1985 he toured with the country group the International Harvesters, playing a large number of songs that never found their way onto albums. On June 14th he's finally releasing some of this material on the archival live disc A Treasure. The set contains 12 tracks drawn from various shows on those tours, including five that have never been released. Check out a stream of "Amber Jean," a tribute to Young's daughter Amber that he began playing in concert just weeks after she was born.

Young just wrapped up his year-long Twisted Road American theater tour, and next month he's hitting the road with Buffalo Springfield for their first tour since 1968. He's supposedly working on the second volume of his massive Neil Young Archives box set, but when it's actually going to come out is anyone's guess. He tends to take his time on these things.

[cortez the killer]

Aquarium Drunkard has the Amsterdam show from the excellent 2008 European Chrome Dreams Continental Tour available for free download.

[Slipkid42]

It's not surprising that the best artist should have the best AOTW thread. Great stuff, Bill (and everyone else).
I don't have any special insight to add, but here is some cool shit:

[Bill in CT]

I mentioned Farm Aid and the Bridge School earlier in the thread.
The dates for both fundraising events have been announced.
Farm Aid will be held on August 13 in Kansas City, KS.
The Bridge School Benefit will be held on October 22-23 in Mountain View, CA.
I plan to be in Mountain View in October and hope to see some of you there.

[cortez the killer]

Phenomenal Neil Young Cover (w/ Crosby & Nash)

[Zip City]

Phenomenal Neil Young Cover (w/ Crosby & Nash)

Another (w/70's Bruce)

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Nice write up on the new Neil Young and the International Harvesters live record from the same fellow (Grayson Currin) that penned the "Why indie rock continues to ignore the Drive-By Truckers, and what it's missing" piece for Durham's Independent Weekly back in February.

There's also this new Rolling Stone article about A Treasure written by David Fricke.

[Clams]

So what do you guys think of A Treasure? Been reading some really good reviews and thinking it sounds like great summer road tripping music.

[Flying Rabbit]

I dig it. I bought it right before our road trip and kept it on repeat for about 3.5 hrs of our journey. I also blasted it Friday morning before we left for Solid Sound. Great sound, excellent band line-up, just overall one of my favorite in the Archives series so far.

While up in 'Cuse visiting friends, I picked up "This Note's For You" and "Fork In The Road". So far, I had been against picking them up due to the overall vitriol for both records.

Both are good musically, though TNFY isn't going to be pulled out and listened to often. If it comes up on random, I won't skip it, but I probably won't actively seek it out. FITR is great. Not sure why it got panned other than its overly political/environmental message, but I dig the roughness of it. Tracks 3, 4, and 5 are strong and had me backing up and soon singing along to them.

[Bill in CT]

Richie Furay posted on Facebook that the next part of the Buffalo Springfield tour has been pushed back to 2012. No explanation was given as to why.

[Flying Rabbit]

Recording would be my guess. Buffalo or solo.