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

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cortez the killer
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#37
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The Visitor/Neil Young + Promise of the Real (2017)

Hi there,

December 1st will be a big day for me.

The Visitor will be coming to your town. I will be going to my town. You will be able to hear me and see me. My archive will open on that same day, a place you can visit and experience every song I have ever released in the highest quality your machine will allow. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. In the beginning, everything is free.

Lots of Love,
neil


And this is how Neil announced his new album, The Visitor. After deciding not to team up with Promise of the Real on 2016’s Peace Trail, Neil hit Rick Rubin’s Shangri La Studio with Willie’s boys for a second time to rail against Donald Trump’s America. An artist whose greatest inspiration for decades was love and nostalgia, now was primarily drawn to the recording studio to express his anger and rage about the politics of 21st century America. The results are not great. Stylistically speaking, this is as big a hodgepodge record Neil has ever recorded. It’s just so incredibly inconsistent. I’m not sure Promise of the Real is the ragged band to back Neil. As long as they’re healthy, bring back The Horse!

1. Already Great – Comes out of the gate like a lumbering, grungy guitar anthem. Falls short of anthem status. Donald Trump got elected on the strength of his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” The angry Canuck is here to let us know that America was already great. (4)
2. Fly by Night Deal – What sounds like a toy piano ushers in this song. Chorus and Neil ranting and raving about the Dakota Access Pipeline. Not feeling it. (2)
3. Almost Always – Guitar lick from Unknown Legend is brought out of retirement. More shots at the orange asshole – “And I'm living with a gameshow host who has to brag and has to boast ‘bout tearing down the things that I hold dear.” This one is solid. (6)
4. Stand Tall – I feel like this is an outtake from one of those shitty 80s Geffen duds. Mother Earth, women’s rights, scientific truths… Neil is here to fight for you. (3)
5. Change of Heart – Some distant whistling. A ragged-voice Neil. Got some Western Hero shuffle going on. Hard to pinpoint exactly what Neil’s singing about and that’s a good thing. No more ranting and raving against headlines. (6)
6. Carnival – I brought my kids to Cirque du Soleil Luzia last night and this song nails that whole scene/vibe. I wasn’t crazy about it before, but last night it was playing in my head. Neil and Promise of the Real do really nail that circus/carnival vibe here. Particularly, one that is based upon and celebrates Mexican heritage and culture. (7)
7. Diggin’ a Hole – Bad stab at the blues. Nope. (2)
8. Children of Destiny – The addition of the trumpet and chorus give this song a strong connection to Living with War. Neil reaches into his Nitzsche bag of tricks and brings back the fuckin’ orchestra. The guitar has some bite here, but the ostentatious gloss buries this song in shit. (3)
9. When Bad Got Good – “Lock him up!” Neil turns Trump’s infamous Hillary Clinton rally cry against him. Promise of the Real gets Horse stanky here. They clumsily try to find that hypnotic groove and almost get there. (4)
10. Forever – Clocking in at just over 10 and a half minutes, we close things with an unplugged epic. This is the best track on the album. Neil just spitting out stream-of-conscious styled lyrics. Kind of a red-headed stepchild of Will to Love. The more I listen to this one, the more I like it. "Earth is like a church without a preacher, the people have to pray for themselves." (7.5)

Overall score – 4.5
Last edited by cortez the killer on Sat Feb 26, 2022 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#38
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Peace Trail/Neil Young (2016)

After hitting the road with Promise of the Real and recording a live record, Earth, you would think he would reconvene with the band for his next studio effort. Then again, we are talking about Neil Young. For Peace Trail, he ditched Promise of the Real and headed into Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios with two studio musicians, Jim Keltner (drums) and Paul Bushnell (bass) to record an album in four days. According to bassist Bushnell, "We did the ten tracks over four days. Most of them were recorded on the first or second take." At this point, it appears writing music has become Neil’s way of releasing anger and frustration. He sees or hears about something he doesn’t like, writes some literal lyrics, gathers a crew of musicians and heads into the studio to rip out an album in less than a week. The initial passion is there, but it makes for some uneven, one-sided, hastily written and recorded records. On a couple recent albums, Neil has addressed the limited impact songs have on truly making a difference. Fork in the Road contained Just Singing a Song where Neil sang, “Just singing a song won’t change the world.” And on Psychedelic Pill’s Walk Like a Giant Neil acknowledges, “Me and some of my friends, we were gonna save the world. We were trying to make it better. We were ready to save the world. But then the weather changed and the white got stained. And it fell apart. And it breaks my heart.” However, he continues to release these old-man-yelling-at-the-clouds, protest records, with Peace Trail being the latest example. Maybe that’s all he has left in the tank these days. Well, that and the archive releases that trickle out each year. Most of them are good to great. However, how many fucking live Neil Young records do we need at this stage? Release Homegrown, Chrome Dreams, Island in the Sun and all the other nuggets that he apparently has tucked away in the vaults.

1. Peace Trail – Many layers to the title track. Starts out with a similar snarl that many of the Living with War tracks possess. Then we get some keys and what sounds like maracas. The vocoder makes a return appearance. Wish he left that out. “Up in the rainbow teepee sky, no one’s looking down on you or I. That’s just a mirror in your eye.” (6.5)
2. Can’t Stop Workin’ – Another take on the “It’s better to burn out than fade away/Rust never sleeps” mantra that Neil has lived by. “I can’t stop workin’ cause I like to work when nothing else is going on. It’s bad for the body, but it’s good for the soul. Might even keep me breathing when I lose control.” Very sparse song musically speaking. (5)
3. Indian Givers – The Dakota Access Pipeline battle is the inspiration for this one. “Big money going backwards and ripping the soil where graves are scattered and blood was boiled.” Can get behind the sentiment, but this song falls flat. (3)
4. Show Me – Neil tackles several issues in this skeletal track with very little structure or lyrics. Feminist Neil – “When the women of the world are free to stand up for themselves and the promises made stop gathering dust on the shelf.” (4)
5. Texas Rangers – Awful! This might be the worst song he’s ever done. (1)
6. Terrorist Suicide Hang Gliders – Talk about a song made for the fear-mongering, “go back to where you came from” times we live in now. “I think I know who to blame. It’s all those people with funny names moving in to our neighborhood. How can I tell if they’re bad of good?” Most Robert Pollardesque song title in Neil’s vast catalog. Love the distorted harmonica. (6)
7. John Oaks – This one has it all – immigration, a peaceful protest turned violent and police brutality. We lose a poor, innocent man in John Oaks – “Now John used to be a mellow man, drinking Chai and smoking weed.” Strong Greendale vibe to this track. (7)
8. My Pledge – Neil talking and his voice is immediately chased by some horrible vocoder-effected repeat of what he is saying. Really distracting and not effective. This song has potential both lyrically (it’s got that time-travel/cut-across-the-cultures/stream-of-consciousness thing going) and musically, but the talking/echoed vocoder thing ruins it. (2)
9. Glass Accident – Like the songwriting here. He moves aware from essentially reading the news headlines and railing against them to the more abstract, impressionistic lyrics that typify his better songs. Wish he developed the music a little more, as it’s a little bland. (4.5)
10. My New Robot – Starts out sounding like we are getting a sparse, harmonica-laced, classic Neil solo track. After a verse or two it falls apart. “My life has been so lucky. The package has arrived. I got my new robot from Amazon dot com.” The remainder of the song is the Amazon Echo communicating with us until it abruptly cuts out. Perhaps it lost power. (2)

Overall score - 4
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#36
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Trans/Neil Young (1982)

I’m not sure Neil could’ve got off to a worse start in his new partnership with David Geffen. The original sessions for Trans began in Honolulu, Hawaii with a grab bag of musicians Neil had played with over the years. Bassist Bruce Palmer (Buffalo Springfield), drummer Ralph Molina (Crazy Horse), bongo player Joe Lala (CSN&Y tour), pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith (Stray Gators) and guitarist Nils Lofgren (ATGR & TTN) were to be The Royal Pineapples and would back Neil on his first Geffen record, Island in the Sun. Shortly after the sessions began, Geffen flew out to Hawaii to check in on his newly-signed superstar. He was underwhelmed with what he heard and urged Neil to do more with the material. Just before he hooked up with Geffen, Neil had wrapped up production on his second Shakey Pictures film, Human Highway. Much of the music in the film had been recorded by Neil using a vocoder to alter his voice and a Synclavier synthesizer to match the bizarre, otherworldly scenery. Taking Geffen’s suggestion to heart, Young decided that he would merge the music he had created for the Human Highway film with a few songs from the Hawaii sessions. Upon its release, critical reception was mixed, but it bombed commercially. Rusties were confused as to why Neil decided to record an album with two-thirds of the songs featuring a vocoder and odd synthesizers. Neil wanted Geffen to give him money to put out a video for Trans to better present the album’s concept, but he was rebuffed. Reflecting back on the project, Young had the following to say, “If you listen to all the mechanical voices, if you read the lyrics, listen to the voices, it’s clear that it’s the beginning of my search for a way for a non-oral person, a severely physically handicapped non-oral person, to find some sort of interface for communication. The computers and the heartbeat all have to come together here – where chemistry and electronics meet. That’s what I was getting at. And that was completely misunderstood.”

1. Little Thing Called Love – Catchy, breezy love song from the Hawaii sessions. Neil channeling his inner-Buffett. (6.5)
2. Computer Age – Well, this is certainly different. Vocoder in makes its first appearance in this Kraftwerk-lite sounding track. According to Poncho Sampedro, this was initially a Stonsey-sounding tune, inspired by Neil seeing Mick, Keith and company’s San Francisco concert. It bears zero resemblance to anything The Stones, or Neil for that matter, ever recorded. (5)
3. We R in Control – Much more menacing that the previous track, Neil has gone all-in with this futuristic song about some force that has taken over everything from the traffic lights to commuter flights to the FBI. Oh, to be a fly on the wall witnessing the looks on the hardcore Rusties’ faces as they hear this one for the first time. (4.5)
4. Transformer Man – Written for his son Ben, this really took on a different feeling for me on the 1993 Unplugged album. Here, it comes off as an unrelatable, cold song about some generic transformer man. The vocoder makes Neil sound like a shitty opera singer here. (3)
5. Computer Cowboy – Similar vibe musically to We R in Control. “Come a ky ky yippie yi yippie yi ay…” (3.5)
6. Hold on to Your Love – Synth-heavy song that ditched the vocoder. Reminds me a bit of the weaker material on The Stills-Young Band record. (4)
7. Sample and Hold – All I can think of is the old Battlestar Galactica when I hear this. Bizarre stuff. Closer to the Kraftwerk-lite sound of Computer Age, but less tuneful. (3)
8. Mr. Soul – For some reason, Neil thought it was a good idea to take the classic Buffalo Springfield song and reimagine it as a futuristic vocoder/Synclavier production. Bad idea. (3)
9. Like an Inca – Alright, this is more like it. Neil draws inspiration from the same Mayan well his did so incredibly years ago on Zuma’s Cortez the Killer. This 9+ minute folk epic sounds like a Cortez/Hitchhiker/Thrasher/Ride My Llama hybrid. A welcome ending to such an out-of-character album. (9)

Overall score - 4.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#35
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Fork in the Road/Neil Young (2009)

“Look at Mother Nature on the run in the nineteen seventies.” Three decades later, she still was on the run and Neil was not pleased. The previous record had a picture of a Lincoln Continental hood ornament on the cover. This record was about a Lincoln Continental. In late 2008, the car-obsessed Young announced he would be converting his massive 1959 Lincoln Continental from a gas-guzzling relic of the past to an electric hybrid vehicle that could achieve at least 100 miles per gallon. He called the car/project Lincvolt. In a 2008 op-ed for HuffPost, How to Save a Major Automobile Company, Young wrote, “It is time to change and our problems can facilitate our solutions. We can no longer afford to continue down Detroit’s old road. The people have spoken. They do not want gas guzzlers (although they still like big cars and trucks). It is possible to build large long-range vehicles that are very efficient. People will buy those vehicles because they represent real change and a solution that we can live with.” With his attention turned to the Lincvolt, he decided to record an album about it. Using essentially the same crew he had on his last protest album, Living With War, Neil hit Legacy Studios in New York City to record Fork in the Road. The only additions were Ben Keith and wife Pegi Young. Another mixed-bag affair, Fork in the Road is bogged down too much by the concept. I like that Neil is willing to take on these causes and put his money where his mouth is. However, do we need an entire album of songs about the Lincvolt project? And, if we do, can we write better lyrics instead of setting what sounds like press releases to music?

1. When Worlds Collide – Primitive garage, blues song about how Neil is going to drive across the country in his Lincvolt. Once he did so while burning fuel. Now it will be a cleaner, more green-friendly journey. He’s flipping the world, and its previously-believed possibilities, upside down. “Black is black. White is white. Wrong is wrong and wrong is right. Truth is fiction. Truth is lies. Strange things happen when worlds collide.” (5)
2. Fuel Line – Another ragged blues songs. This one is about, what else, converting a car from fuel to electricity. Some of the worst lyrics in his career on display – “The awesome power of electricity, stored for you in a massive battery. She don't use much though. That's smart for a car.” (3)
3. Just Singing a Song – The man who penned “Ohio” and three years ago rush-released Living with War to the people is now acknowledging “just singing a song won’t change the world”. The musical equivalent of actions speak louder than words. He’s referring to the Lincvolt project, but, thankfully, not making literal statements about it. Shades of Like a Hurricane in the guitar tone. This is a really good track. (8)
4. Johnny Magic – Starts out sounding a lot like Piece of Crap. Unfortunately, Neil goes back to his literal storytelling. This one is about the mechanic who helped transform the ’59 Lincoln Continental into Linvolt, Jonathan Goodwin. Like the music, but he lyrics are bad. (5)
5. Cough up the Bucks – I think this is the song that drove a wedge between me and Neil. I haven’t listened to this album in ten years and every time I see the cover for Fork in the Road I hear Neil singing “Cough up the bucks, cough up the bucks,” in my head. Fuck you, Cough up the Bucks! (1)
6. Get Behind the Wheel – This would’ve fit well on Everybody’s Rockin’. In fact, that album would been so much more listenable if the songs were done in this style, with this kind of production. Another car song (obviously!), but the lyrics aren’t nearly as bad as some others on the album. (5)
7. Off the Road – Neil slows and quiets things down here with a song about the allure of driving. (6.5)
8. Hit the Road – “She looks so beautiful with the top down…” Neil is talking about, you guessed it, a car. Here he implores you to “hit the road and go to town.” Like the music that falls somewhere between This Note’s for You and Greendale, but enough of the cars songs already. (5)
9. Light a Candle – Latin-tinged, acoustic number that brings to mind Freedom’s Eldorado and the yet-to-be-released Hitchhiker. “Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle for where we're going. There's something ahead, worth fighting for.” This is a welcome surprise. Ben Keith announcing his presence. (9)
10. Fork in the Road – Ragged, distorted electric blues stomp. Some humorous lyrics. At least Neil owns his out-of-touch curmudgenonous ways. “I'm a big rock star. My sales have tanked, but I still got you. Thanks! Download this. Sounds like shit. Keep on blogging, until the power goes out. Your battery's dead. Twist and Shout on the radio. Those were the days! Bring them back!” Addresses the 2008 economy collapse and the corresponding government bailout. “There’s a bailout comin’ but it’s not for you. It’s for all those creeps, hiding what they do.” (6.5)

Overall score - 5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#34
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This Note’s for You/Neil Young (1988)

Neil’s first album back with Reprise felt like a continuation of the genre-hoping excursion he’d been on with Geffen. This time he was tackling the blues. Before the record was recorded, Neil has tested out the character Shakey Deal between the acoustic and electric sets of his 1987 tour with Crazy Horse. For the horn section, Neil recruited a foursome known as the East L.A. Horns to which he added his guitar tech Larry Cragg (who could play a little sax) and his jack-of-all-trades, Ben Keith. He renamed the group The Bluenotes. Niko Bolas was brought in to co-produce the record with Young. Initially, Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot were slated to be the rhythm section, but Bolas didn’t think they were up to the task. He convinced Neil to let them go (something that didn’t sit well with his Crazy Horse compadres) and brought on Chad Cromwell (drums) and Rick Rosas (bass) to fill out the rhythm session. The recording session lasted a total of two weeks. Like his Geffen records, This Note’s for You received tepid response from critics and fans alike. It was becoming clearer and clearer that Neil needed to return to the formula of those 70s records if he wanted to become a relevant artist again.

1. Ten Men Working – He can do it all. For the first time in the vast Neil young catalog we have a horn section. Punchy song about what else, men working. (6)
2. This Note’s for You – “I ain’t singin’ for Pepsi. I ain’t singin’ for Coke.” The 80s saw a number of artists (Michael Jackson, Steve Winwood, and Eric Clapton to name a few) hawking everything from soda to beer. Neil was having none of that. Made a music that was initially banned from MTV for poking fun at a number of its popular stars and videos, but ultimately wound up winning Music Video of the Year at MTV’s music awards. (7)
3. Coupe de Ville – Hushed, whispered song filled with longing and regret. Love the lonely horn far off in the background. Some sexy sax, too. An underrated Neil track for sure. (9)
4. Life in the City – Sounds a bit like Stevie Ray Vaughn with a punchy horn section. Vocals way back in the mix. (5)
5. Twilight – “Making love to you while time stands still. I may be dreamin’, but I always will.” Similar late-night blues vibe as Coupe de Ville. Neil’s voice well-suited for this kind of stuff. (6)
6. Married Man – Way too hokey. Swing and miss. (1.5)
7. Sunny Side – Again, not in Neil’s wheelhouse. The R&B, sunny side of these horn-driven songs don’t work nearly as well as those late-night, somber-sounding blues tracks. (2)
8. Can’t Believe Your Lyin’ – Okay. Back to what I just said was closer to his sweet spot. However, this one never really comes together. (3.5)
9. Hey Hey – Without the My My, we got nothing. (3)
10. One Thing – Back in that Coupe de Ville zone. “I think we’re headed for a heartache…” (6)

Overall score – 5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#33
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Life/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1987)

Upon the completion of Landing on Water, Neil reassembled Crazy Horse and hit the road to promote it. The Horse struggled to adapt to the LoW material and the tour was a bit of a clusterfuck. Meanwhile, tensions between Neil and his record label began to flare up again, with Neil complaining to MusicMatch in 1986 that Geffen had “missed his calling life” and that “he should’ve been a dictator in an art colony.” The cover of Life reflected Young’s disdain for his record label showing him behind bars with the number of records he’d made for Geffen etched into the prison wall. With the tour headed for disaster, David Briggs was brought in to salvage things. Along with engineer Niko Bolas (who had worked on Landing on Water), Briggs was charged with scraping together a record from the live performances, a la Rust Never Sleeps eight year earlier. Soon after the record was completed and released, Neil gave Geffen an unofficial “Greatest Hits” (Lucky Thirteen) from his disastrous six-year stint on the label. Agreeing to receive zero royalties from the collection, Neil was released from his Geffen contract and immediately went back to Reprise.

1. Mideast Vacation – Neil imagines himself as a Rambo-style C.I.A. operative, flying over to Libya to hunt down Gaddafi. Hints of Landing on Water with the production. The Horse doing their best to cut though the bullshit. (4.5)
2. Long Walk Home – Sounds a lot like an outtake from the acoustic side of Rust Never Sleeps with some regrettable sounds effects overdubbed in. (6.5)
3. Around the World – Not a fan of the echo-y sound effects on Neil’s voice. Must still have some vocoder withdrawals. “Fashion change, style change…” One of the more stylistically diverse songs in his entire catalog. (5)
4. Inca Queen – Neil taps into that Mayan mine again here on the “acoustic Cortez”. I’m a fan of this one. (7.5)
5. Too Lonely – I feel like this one has so much raunchy potential. Unfortunately, the production smothers and neuters it. (6)
6. Prisoners of Rock ‘N’ Roll – A big “fuck you” to those (particularly Geffen) who question or doubt the Horse. The live Year of the Horse version is the definitive one and is an absolutely essential listen. This one is a bit too muted. (7.5)
7. Cryin’ Eyes – The Horse takes this old Neil song and begins to tear it to shreds before it puzzlingly fades out. (6)
8. When Your Lonely Heart Breaks – I feel like this one has so much potential. It isn’t fulfilled. Better version of it shows up the following decade on 1997’s double live album, Year of the Horse. (5)
9. We Never Danced – A more atmospheric revisit of the type of stuff he did on Landing on Water. Co-produced by old friend Jack Nitzsche. Worst track on Life. (3)

Overall score – 5.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#32
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Old Ways/Neil Young (1985)

With Young and Geffen stuck in a stalemate suing each other, Neil assembled a cast of characters he called The International Harvesters and hit the road, playing outdoor arenas and state fairs. The opening acts included such country stalwarts like Johnny Paycheck, David Allan Coe and Waylon Jennings. Disillusioned with the Geffen fiasco, Neil began telling people close to him that he was through with rock and roll and was going to reinvent himself as a country artist. Taking it another step further, the former Woodstock hippie who penned “Ohio” in response to the Kent State shooting was now publicly supporting Ronald Reagan. By 1985, Neil and Geffen had settled their lawsuit and reworked their record deal. Neil would finish a new version of the Old Ways record Geffen had previously rejected and then he would make a “real” record with a “real” producer. Neil reconnected with David Briggs, headed to Nashville and brought in an all-star cast of Nashville session players, including pedal steel giant Ralph Mooney who bumped longtime Neil cohort Ben Keith off the studio steel duties. Unlike the country Neil had played in the past, Old Ways was more of a countrypolitan affair. Only two tracks from the original 1983 Old Ways sessions (Are There Any More Real Cowboys? and My Boy) made it onto the new one. Not surprisingly, Old Ways received a tepid response from critics and did not sell well. Neil’s career appeared to be in serious jeopardy.

1. The Wayward Wind – Neil elects to have another cover as the lead track. Sounds like the return of the Gone With the Wind Orchestra on this duet with Denise Draper. (4)
2. Get Back to the Country – Autobiographical song about him returning to his roots by getting back to the country. Wicked fiddle and jew harp on this one. (5)
3. Are There Any More Real Cowboys? – Neil’s quest for country authenticity continues as he teams up with Willie Nelson on this fabulous duet. (9)
4. Once an Angel – Loving tribute to Pegi. Ralph Mooney’s pedal steel and “Pig” Robbins’ piano shine here. (6)
5. Misfits – Crazy, string-soaked duet with Waylon Jennings about astronauts watching old Muhammed Ali fights up in space, a hooker receiving medical attention in a hotel elevator and an alcoholic cowboy wandering the plains of South Dakota. There must’ve been some crazy drugs at this session. (4)
6. California Sunset – Recorded live at Austin City Limits. Somewhat bland tribute to his adopted home of California (4)
7. Old Ways – Another Waylon collaboration with Neil pledging to “stop that grass and give up all this drinkin’”. However, old ways have a way of hanging around. (6)
8. My Boy – Sweet tribute to his oldest son, Zeke. Neil’s banjo work is impressive. (5)
9. Bound for Glory – I assume this was named after Woody Guthrie’s autobiography of the same title. The twin fiddles are great. Waylon with his most powerful vocal contribution on the album. (7)
10. Where is the Highway Tonight? – Cry-in-your-beer weeper. A man who has settled down with his woman is having a hard time ignoring the call of the open road. (5.5)

Overall score - 5.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#31
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Chrome Dreams II/Neil Young (2007)

The title is a nod to the 1977 record, Chrome Dreams, which was shelved in favor of American Stars ‘N Bars. Had the original CD been released in 1977, you could make an argument it would’ve been Neil's best album. With the exception of Stringman, the songs slated for that record wound up on future Neil releases - Stars ‘N Bars (Will to Love, Star of Bethlehem, Like a Hurricane, Hold Back the Tears, Homegrown), Comes a Time (Look Out for My Love), Rust Never Sleeps (Pocahontas, Sedan Delivery, Welfare Mothers), Hawks and Doves (Captain Kennedy) and Freedom (Too Far Gone). Following the hurried release of Living with War, Neil began the task of finally releasing stuff from a long-teased vault of archives. Neil had started work on the archives in the late 1980s with Joel Bernstein. After years of speculation, the first installment, Live at the Fillmore East 1970, was finally released in 2006. It was followed by the 2007 release, Live at Massey Hall 1971. The next installment of the archives was to be a 10-DVD or 8-CD box set, The Archives Vol. I 1963 – 1972, scheduled for release in the fall of 2007. That was put on hold and instead Neil put out Chrome Dreams II. I imagine all the looking back inspired the title, but Chrome Dreams this record ain’t. Its makeup is more like After the Gold Rush or Freedom. It’s a hodgepodge of styles with no central theme tying the songs together. However, the quality of songs is not on the same level as those classic albums. The first three songs date back to the 80s, with the remaining seven tracks being new compositions Neil recorded with Ben Keith, Ralph Molina and Rick Rosas. The record sold very well upon its release (most likely because its title teased the great white whale for Rusties), but struggled to maintain that momentum. It’s an uneven record with some tremendous highs alongside some Geffen-worthy duds. I rarely go back and listen to the whole thing, choosing to cherry-pick the good songs for various Neil playlists and compilations. I'm calling you out Neil for that bullshit tactic of raising expectations and clouding judgement by naming this album after the legendary, unreleased album your die-hard fans had been chasing for decades. Release the damn archives!

1. Beautiful Bluebird – Sounds like a leftover from the Silver & Gold album, but it is actually a song that didn’t make the cut for Old Ways. It’s a pleasant track, but doesn’t hold up to his better country/folk-rock acoustic numbers. (6)
2. Boxcar – Neil plucking away on the banjo. Typically, a great thing. This song kind of comes and goes without leaving much of an impression. I want to like it more than I actually do. The track dates back to the late-80s for a project called Times Square that was abandoned in favor of Freedom. (5)
3. Ordinary People – Leftover 18+ minute epic from the This Note’s for You sessions. Not quite sure why he left it off that record and decided to include it here, but glad it officially saw the light of day, even though many of its references (and sound) are a bit dated. (7.5)
4. Shining Light – What is this? Sounds like Neil was listening to some Richard Marx or something. (2)
5. The Believer – Sounds like a poorly-written song for some Pixar movie. Back-to-back duds. (2)
6. Spirit Road – Back on track. Smacks you in the face after the turds that precede it. Neil should’ve just held onto Old Black for this record. This song has some great bite to it. (8.5)
7. Dirty Old Man – Classic, raunchy Crazy Horse-esque stomper. Welfare Mothers meets Piece of Crap. “I like to get hammered on Friday night. Sometimes I can’t wait, so Monday’s alright.” (9)
8. Ever After – Even Ben Keith’s excellent pedal steel can’t rescue this from mediocrity. A lot of recycled phrases and lyrics in this song. (5.5)
9. No Hidden Path – Another late-career masterpiece. Seriously, this is one the best songs he’s ever written. Lost my shit when he played this live at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford, CT during the 2007 Chrome Dreams Continental Tour. Some excellent extended guitar workouts. (10)
10. The Way – What. The. Fuck. (1)

Overall score – 5.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#30
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Re-ac-tor/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1981)

In 1978, just before the Rust Never Sleeps project, Neil met, married and had a son with Pegi (Morton) Young. That son, Ben, was born with cerebral palsy which left him spastic, quadriplegic and non-oral. During the recording of Re-ac-tor, Neil and Pegi were involved in a rigorous, eighteen-month “patterning” program in an attempt to better help Ben’s development. The intensive therapy sessions affected the Re-ac-tor recording. Someone who typically recorded only at night, Young was forced to work between the hours of two and six in the afternoon. And even when Neil was physically present, his mind was understandably elsewhere. Drummer Ralph Molina’s take on the album was short and to the point, “A turkey. A one-legged turkey.” The Re-ac-tor sessions marked the beginning of a fracture between Neil and the Horse that lasted the remainder of the decade. According to longtime producer David Briggs, “Neil didn’t encourage Crazy Horse during those years. He lost control of his personal life, and everything went along with it.” With Neil too preoccupied to promote the album, they relied on Reprise to do so. It flopped commercially and the two parties, furious with each other, parted ways after thirteen years and seventeen albums.

1. Opera Star – “You were born to rock. You’ll never be an opera star.” Short, primitive stomper to kick things off. (7)
2. Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze – Buried under the sound effects there’s a Horse song in there. Middle of the road, Crazy Horse, but Crazy Horse nonetheless. Got a much need boost on the fantastic Way Down in the Rust Bucket live album finally released in 2021. (5)
3. T-Bone – “Got mashed potatoes. Ain’t got no t-bone.” Not sure why they decided to drag this out over 9+ minutes, but they did. In an interview with Rockline radio, Young commented on the song, “It’s very repetitive, but I’m not such an inventive guy.” Neanderthal rock. (4)
4. Get Back on It – Sounds like a leftover from the Hawks and Doves L.A. sessions. “It’s too late for General Custer, too late for Robert E. Lee.” Crazy Horse providing sterile, soulless harmonizing vocals. No thanks. (2)
5. Southern Pacific – Here we go. This one has some snarl. Has remained a part of the live menu for several decades now. Certainly the most memorable track from this album. (9)
6. Motor City – The return of Redneck Neil. This time he’s lamenting the fact that people are buying too many foreign cars – “My new car ain’t from Japan. There’s already too many Datsuns in this town.” (3)
7. Rapid Transit – Most Rusties hate this song, but I have a soft spot for it. Neil adopts an overexagerated Daltryesque stutter. The Horse is slowed down to a more familiar gallop. (7.5)
8. Shots – Originally, this was an acoustic song written and performed live during the Rust Never Sleeps period. Briggs felt it lacked the proper spook to be included on the acoustic side of that record. Instead it resurfaces here in electric form. Briggs had recently acquired a new synthesizer called the Synclavier, which added the machine-gun and plane overdubs to the track. The classic Horse slow gallop is replaced with a synthy marching drum rhythm. (8)

Overall Score - 6
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#29
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Hawks and Doves/Neil Young (1980)

Like American Stars ‘N Bars, Hawks and Doves is a mishmash of a record. Side one contains a combination of songs intended for the abandoned Homegrown album, the Comes a Time sessions and the Indigo recordings Neil did with David Briggs that were released decades later on the excellent Hitchhiker album. The material that comprises side two was recorded in Los Angeles with a one-off band assembled by Ben Keith. This album is the perfect segue from Neil's incredible 70s run into the 80s. The previously-recorded 70s material saves this record from being a dud. While it was certainly a drop-off from the previous gem, Rust Never Sleeps, Neil Young fans at the time had no idea how much things were about to decline over the next several years.

1. Little Wing – Whispered solo, acoustic song with the harmonica mixed in at an unusually high volume. I’ve always enjoyed this one. (8)
2. The Old Homestead – The lost cousin of Last Trip to Tulsa off his solo, debut. This one is better. Lots of references to Crazy Horse. That howling wind sound was a bit unsettling the first few times I heard the song, but now I love it. (9)
3. Lost in Space – Lost demo from the original Comes a Time sessions in Miami. Provides some insight as to what CaT would’ve sounded like without the Gone With the Wind Orchestra. Some Will to Love-styled effects worked into the mix a bit, too. (6.5)
4. Captain Kennedy – Spooky acoustic maritime track extracted from the Indigo sessions Neil in the mid-70s with Briggs. Those sessions later resurfaced on the 2017 release, Hitchhiker. (9)
5. Stayin’ Power – Corny, hokey country song. Not nearly as strong as some of his other country-tinged songs of the past. (4)
6. Coastline – Similar sound as the previous track, but worse. (3)
7. Union Man – Biting, sarcastic shot at the musician’s union. Has a cheesy, lo-fi charm to it. “Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued…” In my head, The Horse transforms this into a furious, live stomper a la Sedan Delivery and Welfare Mothers. (7)
8. Comin’ Apart at Every Nail – Get ready for the hoedown. Neil adopts an aging, conservative persona to complain how the good ol’ U.S.A. seems to be fallin’ apart. “The workin’ man’s in for a hell of a fight.” (5)
9. Hawks and Doves – Neil goes full Murica here. “Ready to go, willin’ to stay and pay. U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” Certainly an odd and confusing direction and message from someone who was once so closely-associated with the 60s peace-loving, hippie crowd. Neil’s gone full redneck. (5.5)

Overall Score - 6
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#28
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The Monsanto Years/Neil Young + Promise of the Real (2015)

At Farm Aid in 2014, Neil Young jammed with Willie Nelson’s son, Lukas, and his band, Promise of the Real. Interestingly enough, the name Promise of the Real was inspired by the lyric on Neil’s Walk On – “Ooh baby that's hard to change. I can't tell them how to feel. Some get stoned, some get strange, but sooner or later it all gets real.” That performance led to a collaboration that produced a concept album protesting the agribusiness, Monsanto. Not stopping there, Neil goes on to attack a host of large corporations who have used their power and influence to chip away at the traditional values of farmers, the working man and America’s shrinking middle class. The album was recorded in January 2015 at an old converted movie theater in Oxnard, CA, Teatro. It’s the same place Willie Nelson recorded his 1998 Daniel Lanois-produced record, Teatro. It comes out of the gate very strong, before losing its footing a bit. Too many references to Monsanto and a lack of imagination lyrically weigh the album down a bit. However, it picks up some speed at the end, rescuing it from being yet another later-career, old-man-ranting-at-the-clouds dud. Not in the upper-echelon of his discography, but an above-average, admirable, post-70 years old effort.

1. A New Day for Love – It’s not with Crazy Horse, but the resemblance is certainly there. Neil’s singing is a tad out of synch, but this a welcome return after the previous two turds. Neil has provided us with a new eco anthem for the 21st century. “It's a new day for the planet. It's a new day for the sun to shine down on what we're doing. It's a new day for love.” (8)
2. Wolf Moon – Sounds like a Harvest Moon outtake. Just Neil, his old guitar and a harmonica. Despite man’s foolish abuse of Mother Nature, she finds a way to keep on keepin’ on. For now, at least. “Herds of elk roam upon your meadows. And your eagle soars across my eyes while you withstand the thoughtless plundering.” (7.5)
3. People Want to Hear About Love – The tongue-in-cheek, anti-protest song. People don’t want to hear about heavy things like “corporations hijacking all your rights”, “pesticides are causing autistic children” or “beautiful fish in the deep blue sea dyin’” They’d rather “hear about love.” Ignorance is truly bliss. Love the wobbly guitar tone on this song. (8)
4. Big Box – Has a Living with War meets Psychedelic Pill feel to it. Neil’s going after the big corporations here. From the fictitious Plunder Co. to Walmart to Citizens United, they are all eroding the fabric of American society and democracy. “From the Capital to the boarded-up Main Streets, big business is there at every turn. From the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, to the TV screen. From the air we breathe to the fuel we burn.” (7.5)
5. A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop – Neil was on a roll. It’s over. This corny, clumsy attack on Starbucks misses its target. It did elicit a response from the Seattle-based coffee chain – “Starbucks has not taken a position on the issue of GMO [genetically modified organism] labeling. As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution.” (3.5)
6. Workin’ Man – Riff is taken from Get Back to the Country. Neil is raging against Monsanto (again!). Even takes a dig at a U.S. Supreme Court justice. “Supreme Court Judge, Clarence Thomas, once worked for Monsanto.” He then goes on to detail the ways Monsanto has bullied and broken farmers across this land, forcing them to buy their genetically-altered seeds. (5)
7. Rules of Change – More railing against the evils of Monsanto and how they’ve destroyed modern-day farmers and farming in general. (4.5)
8. Monsanto Years – Promise of the Real settles into a nice Horse-like groove on this one. The music is excellent. The lyrics are a bit literal, preachy and repetitious, but you gotta respect Neil’s devotion to the cause. I just wish he could’ve better a little more impressionistic and metaphoric than so damn literal with the lyrics. Still a solid extended jammy tune. (7)
9. If I Don’t Know – Lyrically, this is better. Earth’s blood and veins and oil. Some nimble playing by the band. It’s a lot better a song than I remembered it to be. (6.5)

Overall score – 6.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#27
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Colorado/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2019)

Time to get the band back together again! Well, most of the band. Neil summoned Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot and Nils Lofgren to join him just outside Telluride, Colorado to record the first Crazy Horse record since 2012’s Psychedelic Pill. For whatever reason, longtime Crazy Horse guitarist, Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, was not part of Colorado. Starting on an April 20th full moon, Neil and the band laid down 10 tracks in just under 2 weeks in the Rocky Mountains studio. The proceedings were captured for a documentary, Mountaintop Sessions, which saw a limited-release in approximately 100 theaters the week after Colorado dropped. Colorado is dedicated to Neil's longtime manager and friend, Elliot Roberts, who passed away in June. The original working title for the record was Pink Moon, before Neil finally settled on Colorado. Following the completion of the recording sessions, Neil stated, “We believe we have a great Crazy Horse album, one to stand alongside ‘Everybody Knows this is Nowhere’, ‘Rust Never Sleeps’, Sleeps With Angels’, ‘Psychedelic Pill’ and all the others.” Excusing the enthusiastic hyperbole from Shakey, it is good to have another Neil Young & Crazy Horse album in our lives. Long may he run.

1. Think of Me – Interesting choice for an album opener. Not what one would expect from the first Crazy Horse album in seven years. Sounds like a Prairie Wind outtake both musically and lyrically. (6)
2. She Showed Me Love – Neil takes another shot at a long, plodding Crazy Horse epic. Riff from When You Dance I Can Really Love weaves in and out the song. Doesn’t quite reach the heights of Psychedelic Pill’s Ramada Inn or Walk Like a Giant, but it’s nice to hear Neil still cranking out these quintessential Crazy Horse lumbering jams. Some cringe-worthy lyrics knock this one down a tad. (8)
3. Olden Days – One of the cornerstones of Neil’s songwriting is nostalgia. There aren’t too many musicians out there that like singing about long lost friends more than Neil Young. “Where have you been, my long-lost friend? We haven't talked since way back when. And how is life with your new love. I hope she's something from above.” Falsetto Neil on full display here. (7)
4. Help Me Lose My Mind – Grunge Neil returns. Neil’s vocal delivery and guitar tone carry some extra snarl. Seems to be a song about coping with the absurdity of the current times. He needs to lose his mind to cope. (7)
5. Green is Blue – Sort of a generic, paint-by-numbers Neil piano ballad. Doesn’t do much for me. (4)
6. Shut It Down – Distorted guitar. Hints of Sleeps With Angels. Neil railing against how post-industrial society has accelerated the demise of our planet. And the only viable solution, as he sees it, is to “shut the whole system down.” Got some ranting and raving that reminds me of Greendale and Living With War. (7)
7. Milky Way – This was released as a single before the album dropped. I thought it was solid. For whatever reason, it hits harder within the context of the whole album. Musically, it’s sort of a Sleeps With Angels meets Are You Passionate hybrid. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. I also like when Neil moves into more dreamlike, impressionistic lyrics than his ripped-from-the-headlines political rants. Easily one of the better tracks on the album. (9)
8. Eternity – Back to another piano ballad. The Horse providing some nice backing vox. “Click-clack-clickety-clack.” Somewhat sappy and goofy, but so is Neil. (5)
9. Rainbow of Colors – Sounds very much like something off Living With War. Neil’s response to the climate of hate and exclusion fostered by the Trump Administration. Neil doing his best to carry on Pete Seeger’s torch. (5)
10. I Do – So much for this being a Crazy Horse record. About half the songs sound like acoustic, solo productions. Neil using that whisper-sing thing that pushed songs like Music Arcade and Bandit to a whole other level. It’s not as effective here. (5)

Overall Score – 6.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#26
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Living with War/Neil Young (2006)

Context and perspective, for me at least, play a significant role in how I receive and consume music. It is an important part of the Living with War experience. The seed for this protest album was planted in a hotel room in Gambier, OH while Neil was visiting his daughter, Amber, at Kenyon College. Coming back from getting a cup of coffee, Neil saw the cover of a USA Today documenting a surgery room on an airplane flying badly-wounded American soldiers from Iraq to Germany. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Young reflected back on the moment, "For some reason, that was what did it to me. I went upstairs after that. I wrote this song, 'Families'; I started writing another song, 'Restless Consumer'; I started writing all these songs all at once; I had like four songs going at once." As he did long ago in 1970 with ‘Ohio’, the impulsive Canadian rocker was pissed off and turned to the medium he best knew to express that anger. The remaining five songs were written in the studio as the record was being made. All in all, the entire process took nine days. For this album of what Young calls “metal folk protest music”, he assembled bassist Rick Rosas, drummer Chad Cromwell and trumpet player Tommy Bray. Some of the tracks also feature the Living with War Choir, a 100-voice choir, convened in Los Angeles for one 12-hour session. In a haste to get the music out to the people, the album was initially released as a free stream (in the folk tradition) on his new website before it received a physical release the following week. It’s a bit uneven and suffers from some same-soundingness, but it is a spontaneous, raw record that was rush-released, warts and all. The subject matter and lyrics are obviously dated, but I do love the gnash & snarl of Old Black some of the tracks. In hindsight, it probably would’ve worked better as an EP or a couple of 7’’ singles, but it is Neil Young we are talking about. The muse said release a protest album, so he did.

1. After the Garden – The “Volume Dealers” rhythm section gets you bouncing to kick things off. After an album contemplating his own mortality, Neil opens the lens and now wonders about all of civilization. “Where will people go, after the garden is gone?” (7.5)
2. Living with War – This one is a bit too hokey for me. He obviously said “fuck it!” on this album and came out swingin’. This is a miss for me. (2.5)
3. The Restless Consumer – Old Black sounds absolutely menacing on this track. I like the effect of the choir. It all comes together on this song. Sans the Greendale megaphone, Neil channels his inner Sun Green and starts listing off all sorts of things that piss him off:
“Don’t need no Madison Avenue war!”
“Don’t need no dizziness! Don’t need no nausea! Don’t need no side effects like diarrhea or sexual death!”
“There’s no ‘Mission Accomplished’ here, just deaths to thousands!”
“Don’t need no terror squad! Don’t want no damned Jihad blowin’ themselves away in my hood!
“Hate don’t negotiate with good!” (10)
4. Shock and Awe – Neil sarcastically turning the US military’s terms of a “Shock & Awe” campaign in attacking Baghdad and the corresponding “Mission Accomplished” photo op with President Bush on the USS Abraham Lincoln on their perspective heads. He took a similar approach to another Bush president in 1989 on Freedom’s iconic Rockin’ in the Free World – “We’ve got a thousand points of light, for the homeless man. We’ve got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.” More wicked assault courtesy of Old Black. (8)
5. Families – One of the first songs written for this album. Looking at things from the perspective of the toll war takes on the families of the people that serve. Best use of the choir on the album. (7.5)
6. Flags of Freedom – Mines similar territory lyrically as the previous track. Similar-sounding musically, too. Families did it better. (5)
7. Let’s Impeach the President – Can we re-release this and tweak the lyrics? Appreciate the sentiment and passion, but this is parody-worthy. “Flip! Flop!” (2)
8. Lookin’ for a Leader – The more things change, the more they stay the same. Maybe this album isn’t so dated after all. Shout-out to a young Barack Hussein Obama – “Yeah, maybe it’s Obama, but he thinks he’s too young. Maybe it’s Colin Powell to right what he’s done wrong.” Neilstradamus. (6)
9. Roger and Out – Props for breaking up the monotonous sound. A little more nuance is welcome, as well. "That's when we named it the Hippie Highway. I still call it that today." (7)
10. America the Beautiful – Man, did Willie Nelson’s singing of this during the 9/11 tribute have an impact on Neil. From the performance itself where he looks stoned out of his gourd, to the reference in Prairie Wind’s No Wonder, to this really well-executed acapella version by the Living with War Choir. (5)

Overall score - 6.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#25
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Barn/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2021)

The original Crazy Horse lineup of Neil Young, Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina lasted for only a few years due to Whitten’s heroin overdose in 1972. A second version of the band emerged in 1975 with Frank “Poncho” Sampedro replacing Whitten on guitar. That lineup survived, on and off, for the better part of thirty-plus years until Sampedro announced his retirement just before the release of 2019’s Colorado. For that album, multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren stepped in as the latest member of the legendary band. Nils, who had worked with Neil previously on After the Gold Rush and Tonight’s the Night, returns again on Barn. Young and the band gathered for a ten-day session in a 19th-century log barn, located in some remote location in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. All takes were recorded live during a full moon and mixed in an analog mobile recording truck, Le Mobile, parked just outside the historic barn. Niko Bolas, who had previously work with Young on 1989’s Freedom, was brought back in to help mix and produce the album. With most of the band members pushing eighty and Nils replacing Poncho, Crazy Horse is no longer a heavy, plodding band. They still manage to give the amps a workout here and there, but this is a decidedly different version of the band. While Barn is not a classic Neil Young & Crazy Horse album, it is a nice addition to the catalog and an unexpected surprise from a seventy-six year-old artist whose recent output has been spotty.

1. Song of the Seasons – Neil opts to open the record with an acoustic track that sounds like an outtake from 2006’s Prairie Wind. This was the first song released in the lead-up to the album dropping. Love the organ and harmonica on this one. (7.5)
2. Heading West – This is more in line with what one expects when Neil reconvenes The Horse; Some great distorted blasts from Old Black as Neil revisits many of the autobiographical themes he once did on the 1973 classic song, “Don’t Be Denied.” (7.5)
3. Change Ain’t Never Gonna – A bit of a step back on this track. Feels like a hybrid of what Neil was trying to capture on a couple average 80s albums – Old Ways & This Note’s For You. (4)
4. Canerican – Prompted largely by his desire to cast a vote in the 2020 presidential election, last January Neil officially became an American citizen. Here he celebrates his dual citizenship by coining the term ‘Canerican’ on this classic Horse groover. (7)
5. Shape of You – Another song that comes off as filler. I’m not a fan of the arrangement and the lyrics are corny as hell. (3)
6. They Might Be Lost – Neil and the boys right the ship on this acoustic track that would’ve fit right in on the fantastic 2003 album, Greendale. Love Neil’s vocal delivery here and the man can still belt it out on the harmonica. The more I listen to this one, the more I get sucked in. (8)
7. Human Race – The lyrics are more in line with much of what is on The Monsanto Years – Neil’s preachy ranting about man destroying the environment. The arrangement is very similar to much of the material on Living With War, with a snarling, blistering Old Black pushed to the front of the mix. I’m a sucker for this stuff. (8)
8. Tumblin’ Through the Years - The alternating between quiet and loud tracks continues on this peppy little piano ballad that, once again, brings to mind much of the material on Prairie Wind and the accompanying documentary/concert film by Jonathan Demme, Heart of Gold. (5)
9. Welcome Back – Here we go! Neil demonstrates he can still dip into the creative well and pull out a masterpiece. Considering where he and the band are on their life journey, this style suits them perfectly. Nils' influence really comes through on this track. I liked this song immediately and have grown to adore it. I’ve read some people refer to it as a modern-day “Cortez the Killer” and I can get on board with that sentiment. Meandering, steam-of-consciousness Shakey is the best Shakey. (10)
10. Don’t Forget Love – Neil continues his recent trend with concluding an album with a sappy, earnest song. I can’t say I’m a fan of this trend. (4)

Overall Score - 7
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#24
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Are You Passionate?/Neil Young (2002)

Post-9/11 record, whose title is a nod to Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 debut, Are You Experienced?, has Neil Young reconnecting with his soul roots. Before “Mr. Soul” was a member of Buffalo Springfield, he was part of a band called the Mynah Birds, featuring Rick James. The Mynah Byrds were briefly signed to Motown Records, but they weren’t meant to be and broke up soon after signing. Fast forward decades later, Neil was part of Bob Dylan’s thirtieth-anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden. The backing band for his set were legendary Stax studio musicians Booker T. and the MGs. A year later Neil launched a North American and European tour with them as his backing band. Having reconnected with Donald “Duck” Dunn on Silver & Gold, Neil went all in with a Stax Records-infused album on Are You Passionate?. Backed by Dunn on bass, Booker T. on his trademark organ, Steven Potts on drums and Poncho Sampedro on guitar, Neil went into The Site recording studio in California and cut the record. All but one of the songs on here are from those sessions. The lone outlier is Goin’ Home which comes from some never-released, but heavily teased, Neil Young & Crazy Horse album, Toast. When AYP? came out, it was widely rejected by critics. All that silly genre-hopping he’d done during the Geffen years seemed to have colored their impressions of Neil's foray into soul. Rusties were lukewarm on it and remain so to this day. I remember really liking it when it came out and then, save a few tracks, somewhat souring on it over the years. Going back and listening to it again, I’m somewhere between really liking it and wincing. Either way, it’s neat to hear Neil mine this soul/blues territory and Goin’ Home kicks all kinds of ass.

1. You’re My Girl – Heartfelt coming-of-age tribute to daughter, Amber. “It’s your time and you’re showin’ me just how grown up you are. It’s your time, and I’ll be lettin’ you go someday.” “Duck” Dunn laying down some bass lines that bring to mind the Booker T. classic, Time Is Tight. Splashes of Old Black fill in the empty spaces. (7)
2. Mr. Disappointment – Sounds like a slowed-down This Old Heart of Mine of Isley Brothers fame. Neil doing that talk-sing thing one moment and then switching to his falsetto. The overdubbing of him talking as “Mr. Disappointment Man” is annoying. (3)
3. Differently – Band settling into a great bluesy groove. Reflecting on the past, Neil lists a variety of ways he would’ve done things differently. Love the guitar solo that cuts the song into two halves. Booker T.’s organ elevating the mood. Some great harmonizing from the band. “Bring it back… Turn it around…” One of the stronger tracks on the record. (8)
4. Quit (Don’t Say You Love Me) – Sounds like paint-by-numbers soul music with Neil just noodling on his guitar. There’s a fine line between passionate and sappy. This one bleeds a bit too much into the latter. (4)
5. Let’s Roll – Return of ‘Murica Neil from the early 80s. Inspired by the wave of patriotism that was sweeping the nation post-9/11, Neil pens a jingoistic track whose title is taken from United Airlines Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer famous utterance, “Let’s roll,” before attacking the hijackers on that flight. The opening ominous music with the cell phone ringing is a bit cheesy, but the blues-march it morphs into is pretty cool. Not his best moment, but far from his worst. It certainly packed more of a punch when it came out than it does today. (7)
6. Are You Passionate? – Best merging of Neil’s guitar and the band on the record. An extension of the “Rust Never Sleeps” mantra explored decades before. “Are you passionate? Are you livin’ like you talk? Are you dreamin’ now that you’re going to the top?” You’d better be, because rust never sleeps. (8)
7. Goin’ Home – Fuck, yeah! Lone Crazy Horse track on the album. Neil taps back into that hazy, dreamy well where Custer, gun in hand, was making his last stand on some hill surrounded by Indians. How does Neil know? Why there was such a strong wind blowing then that he could feel it today blowing through his hair as he turned towards downtown. This “slicing through the cultures” Neil is my favorite. Best rhythmic performance Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina ever laid down on tape. Those fuckin’ battle drums Neil sings about truly come to life. The way the song abruptly cuts out is one of my favorite Neil Young moments. (10)
8. When I Hold You in My Arms – Nostalgic Neil is back. Some top-notch organ keeps this afloat. Great backing vocals from Pegi and Astrid Young. How does he seek comfort from the anxieties of this world? The answer is simple. Love. (7)
9. Be With You – Bass line from Time Is Tight returns again. This is where it starts to sound a bit like a genre excursion rather than something new and fresh. (4)
10. Two Old Friends – Sounds like a bad late-80s/early-90s Clapton impersonation combined with the shitty, songbook-singing Rod Stewart. The fine line has been crossed and we’re in sappy, corny, cheesy territory again. (2)
11. She’s a Healer – More blues than soul, with its hazy, dreamy Horse-like guitars weaving in and out. Another example of how good it gets when Neil’s Old Black and Booker T.’s organ are in synch. Pegi and Astrid bring a lot to this one, too. Love the depressing trumpet that works its way in just past the halfway point. Layers and layers. Stretched out to 9+ minutes, this slow-burner is a great closer to an otherwise uneven collaboration. (8.5)

Overall score - 7
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#23
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Prairie Wind/Neil Young (2005)

Neil’s brush-with-death album. Following the 2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony where he experienced blurry vision, Neil went in for a check-up where it was discovered he had a brain aneurysm. After successful brain surgery, Neil headed to Nashville with Ben Keith, Spooner Oldham, and the Freedom rhythm section (Rick Rosas – bass, Chad Cromwell – drums) to record Prairie Wind. Another event impacted the record as well. Neil’s dad, Scott Young, had passed away that spring. These events color most of the album. The record was billed as the third part of the Harvest Trilogy – Harvest (1972), Harvest Moon (1992), Prairie Wind (2005). Before the album was released, the songs were premiered live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on August 18 and 19, 2005. Those performances were captured in Jonathan Demme’s 2006 documentary, Neil Young: Heart of Gold. Although it was marketed as the third part of the Harvest Trilogy, Prairie Wind reminds me more of Comes a Time and the Gone With the Wind Orchestra that marked that release. There’s a strong autumnal feel to the record, which most likely attaches it to a “harvest” theme, but the breadth of musicians and production make it more of a companion piece to CaT for me. It’s a nice record (nominated for a Grammy), but the songs stretch out a bit too long and it’s missing some elements that made his past acoustic albums like After the Gold Rush, Harvest and Harvest Moon so great.

1. The Painter – Pleasant, Grammy-nominated song to open the album. “If you follow every dream, you might get lost.” Very Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sounding track. Contemplating his own mortality. (7)
2. No Wonder – Sonically, the 21st century version of The Old Homestead. This tackles a number of subjects - Chris Rock and Willie Nelson on the America: Tribute to Heroes post-9/11 special, the old tried and true concept of how time slips away, the beauty of the Canadian prairie and corrupt politicians. The only song where we get some electric guitar. “Tick-tock the clock on the wall…” (7.5)
3. Falling off the Face of the Earth – Neil taps the talk-sing to falsetto mine again. Have to imagine this is a farewell song to his dad. “I send my best to you, that's my message of love. For all the things you did, I can never thank you enough.” Big backing vocals here from the ladies. (8)
4. Far from Home – Another backward-looking song about his childhood and progressing to Neil imagining his own death – “Just bury me out on the prairie, where the buffalo used to roam. You won’t have to shed a tear for me, ‘cause then I won’t be far from home.” (6)
5. It’s a Dream – Second 21st century version of a previous track. Strong A Man Needs a Maid Vibe here. Totally different subject matter, but, sonically, kissing cousins. Jack Nitzsche was nodding in his grave. (6.5)
6. Prairie Wind – Title track. Starts out promising with some ominous-sounding guitar, harmonica and horns. Another song about Neil’s dad. “Prairie wind blowing through my head. Trying to remember what daddy said.” This one drags a bit, clocking in at just over 7 ½ minutes. (5.5)
7. Here for You – Sounds like a Harvest Moon outtake to start. About halfway through the song, the new Gone With the Wind Orchestra kicks in. Touching ode to his daughter, Amber. Ben Keith and that pedal steel again. (8)
8. This Old Guitar – As he did with the song Harvest Moon, Neil borrows from the Everly Brothers’ Walk Right Back chord progression again. We’ve got tributes to his dad, his daughter, his Canadian prairie home and now his acoustic guitar that was once owned by Hank Williams. Emmylou Harris’ harmonizing vocals are spot on. Best song on the record. (9)
9. He Was the King – Beginning has Neil and Ben Keith discussing whether to play in F or D. Ben likes F. Now we have a tribute to Elvis. Lyrically, a little bland, but the band sounds great here. Neil sounds really loose as well. (7)
10. When God Made Me - Recorded with the Fisk University Jubilee Choir, Neil debuted the song at Live 8 concert in Ontario, Canada. Neil’s gospel anthem for the all men are created equal mantra. Great concept that falls a bit flat in practice. (4)

Overall score - 7
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#22
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Neil Young/Neil Young (1968)

The boy from Winnipeg emerges from the ashes of Buffalo Springfield with his first solo effort. The album contains some great songs and notable guests include Ry Cooder, members of Poco and Jack Nitzsche (who co-produced along with David Briggs). Sonically, the record is not a huge departure from the country-rock/folk he mined with Buffalo Springfield. My main issue with the record is the production – the lush strings and overdubs. Overall, it’s a solid album, but pales in comparison to what was to come.

1. The Emperor of Wyoming – Nice little countrified instrumental (6)
2. The Loner – That searing guitar. Holds up fifty-four years later. (10)
3. If I Could Have Her Tonight – Not a big fan of the vocal effects here. Not one of his most memorable tracks (4)
4. I’ve Been Waiting for You – Much more dramatic than the previous track. Can’t say I’m a fan of the Neilgasms in the beginning. Strong Buffalo Springfield vibe here. (7)
5. The Old Laughing Lady – Nitzsche’s influence all over this one. A great song that is slightly dinged by the production. Continues to find its way into his setlists today. A bit dated in its sound, but love the soulful touch those female backing singers than come in at the halfway mark. One of them is Merry Clayton of “Gimme Shelter” fame. (8.5)
6. String Quartet from Whiskey Boot Hill – Heavy-stringed instrumental. Fuckin’ Nitzsche. Complete filler. (1)
7. Here We Are in Years – Sounds like something recorded for a children’s record. Too sappy for my taste. (4)
8. What Did You Do to My Life? – Good song somewhat damaged by overbuds. Neil dips his toe into the psychedelic pool with mixed results. (7)
9. I’ve Loved Her for So Long – Sounds nothing like a Neil Young song. So glad he abandoned this direction. (2)
10. The Last Trip to Tulsa – Neil doing his best Bob Dylan impersonation. The album concludes with an epic, stream-of-consciousness showcasing just Neil and his acoustic guitar. (8)

Overall Score - 7
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#21
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Le Noise/Neil Young (2010)

Title is a punny nod to Daniel Lanois who produced and recorded the album at his Los Angeles home. Inspired by internet videos he saw of Lanois and Mark Howard working on the album Black Dub, Neil sought out the legendary producer. The original plan was to record a solo, acoustic record. That all changed when Neil decided it might be better to record his old song Hitchhiker on an electric guitar instead. Lanois and Howard applied the dub effects they had used on Black Dub and Neil loved it. On Le Noise, instead of Old Black, Neil played a Gretsch White Falcon that was jerry-rigged to create the unique, echo-y sounds that define the album. Neil’s voice on several tracks are also altered. However, instead of the dreaded Trans vocoder, it was Lanois and delay effects from the Lexicon Prime Time and the TC Electronics Fireworks. Most of the effects were applied in real time, allowing Neil to hear them as he was playing. The album was recorded over the course of four sessions. According to Lanois, “So we did four full moons… maybe two days before and a day after. Historically, Neil has written his best songs during that potent time, and he asked me if I would follow that as a ground rule… that we would huddle up at full moons.” The specter of death hung over the proceedings as longtime bandmate and friend, Ben Keith, had passed away that summer. The physical release of Le Noise was accompanied with black and white footage of live-in-studio performances of Neil. Upon its release, it received high critical praise. The song, Angry World, won a Grammy for Best Solo Rock vocal Performance. On the corresponding tour to support Le Noise, t-shirts were sold that read, “I said solo… They said acoustic.”

1. Walk with Me – Song announces itself with a Lanois-distorted power chord. Echoy as all fuck. “I lost some people I was traveling with. I missed a soul in the old friendship.” R.I.P. Ben Keith. (8)
2. Sign of Love – More guitar sonic acrobatics. Neil is out for another walk writing another song of love. “When I first saw you, you were just a girl and I was a man. While the music played, I watched you dance.” (7)
3. Someone’s Gonna Rescue You – Falsetto Neil with the guitar atmospherics. Gun to my head, I’m saying this is about his son, Ben. “You're scared of the way it goes sometimes in the night. When it gets the best of you, you put up a fight. Someone's gonna rescue you and make it right.” (6)
4. Love and War – Stripped down, acoustic track tackilng two themes he’s touched on extensively before. No atmospherics. Another Latin-flavored song, continuing the tradition he began with 1989’s Eldorado. The production is so fuckin’ crisp and clean. “I sang for justice and I hit a bad chord, but I still try to sing about love and war." (8)
5. Angry World – The one that brought home a gold-plated paperweight. Love the guitar tones they were able capture here. The juxtaposition of light, breezy atmospherics to dark sinister growl is pretty cool. Lyrically, kind of mediocre with vocal effects out the wazoo. (7)
6. Hitchhiker – The great, missing track for many Rusties finally surfaces on a studio record. Originally recorded as an acoustic song during the semi-famous 1976 Indigo Ranch sessions, Hitchhiker gets the solo, electric treatment. As mentioned above, Neil felt the song would sound better as an electric song and the results are what changed the course of much of Le Noise. The original version of the autobiographical drug-epic would eventually see the light of day, released in 2017 on the Archives Special Release, Hitchhiker. (9)
7. Peaceful Valley Boulevard – The second non-altered, acoustic song of the record. Gorgeous, sprawling epic detailing everything from the slaughtering of Native Americans, the great migration west, and the destruction of the environment. He gives himself and his Lincvolt a shout-out. “An Electra Cruiser coasted towards the exit and turned on Peaceful Valley Boulevard. ‘People make a difference’ read a billboard above a long line of idling cars.” Special props to his pronunciation of ‘bison’ in the opening verse. (10)
8. Rumblin’ – Appropriate closer to the project. According to Lanois, “The more we did, the house got more angry, and it started reverberating like a big speaker cabinet… and we got louder and he got more confident. I had my neighbors saying, ‘Is that Neil Young up there?’” Backward-looking Neil confessing his doubts and insecurities. “When will I learn how to listen? When will I learn how to feel? When will I learn how to give back? When will I learn how to heal?” (6.5)

Overall score – 7.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#20
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Comes a Time/Neil Young (1978)

Comes a Time was a huge commercial success and served as proof positive that Neil had reemerged from “the ditch” and was back in the middle of the road. In its first month of release, it outsold all six albums released since Harvest. The recording process for Comes a Time started at Triad Studios in Miami. It was a simple, solo acoustic record. However, when Neil presented the album to Warner Bros., they suggested he go back and make it more of a full band effort with a rhythm section, etc. Surprisingly, Neil agreed with the record execs suggestion and headed to Nashville to add more stuff to the record. In addition to reconnecting with Stray Gators Ben Keith and Tim Drummond, Neil brought on drummer Karl “Junkyard” Himmel, keyboardist “Spooner” Oldham and Cajun fiddler Rufus Thibodeaux. Nicolette Larson, who was now romantically involved with Young, once again provided harmonizing vocals. The album that was initially conceived as a simple solo acoustic affair was now a full-blown production with overdubs and a massive band. Ben Keith recalled of the recording, “It was a great session. Everything was live. There was, like, thirty-five people in the studio – percussionists, kettledrums, strings, the whole thing. It was like Sinatra cuttin’.” Young jokingly referred to the operation as the Gone With the Wind Orchestra. Once the sessions were complete, Neil tacked on two Crazy Horse numbers, Look out for My Love and Lotta Love, and sent the album out to be pressed. Unhappy with how the pressing went, rumor has it Neil bought back the 200,000 records and destroyed them by shooting bullets through them. After the pressing fiasco was fixed, the record was finally released in 1978.

1. Goin’ Back – Incredible harmonizing vocals from Larson. For me, this song is what those earlier Jack Nitzsche collaborations sought to achieve, but failed. Tons of extra production and strings adorn this track, but it works. It’s a slick-sounding song, but the production doesn’t overwhelm or dominate it. (9)
2. Comes a Time – Similar feel as Goin’ Back, although the fiddle brings more of a Grand Ole Opry/A Prairie Home Companion vibe. (9)
3. Look out for My Love – Crazy Horse unplugged. Return of the “windshield-wiper guitars”. Some muted Hurricane guitar parts spliced in. Neil’s singing in top form. Love this track. (10)
4. Lotta Love – The Horse continue to show their previously-unknown dexterity with another acoustic track. Later covered by Larson, achieving top-ten hit status in 1979. Neil called it his "Fleetwood Mac song". (7.5)
5. Piece of Mind – Registers closer to soulless soft rock than a Neil Young song. This one is much too polished (and boring) for my liking. (4)
6. Human Highway – Neil getting his John Denver on. This is his Country Roads. It’s a pleasant song, I ultimately prefer my Neil with a little more grit. (6.5)
7. Already One – I think this album suffers from a bit same-soundingness. Again, a pleasant-sounding song, but hard to distinguish from some of the pervious tracks. (5)
8. Field of Opportunity – Ben Keith’s pedal steel rescues this from obscurity. (6)
9. Motorcycle Mama – Sounds like it would fit better on American Stars ‘N Bars than this lush affair. Although, I do appreciate how it breaks up some of the monotony of the album. “Lay your big spike down.” (8)
10. Four Strong Winds – If there’s one thing Neil is, it’s a nostalgic cornball. Look no further than this cover of Ian Tyson’s Canadian folk classic. (7)

Overall Score – 7.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#19
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Americana/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2012)

In January 2012, an instrumental music video with footage touring an empty studio showed up on Neil’s website. The 37+ minute video was titled, Horseback. It had been almost a decade since Neil had worked with Crazy Horse. The long drought was over. To get back on track, Neil and his ragged collection of musicians tackled the great American songbook. They would be covering such classic standards as She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain, This Land is Your Land, Clementine and Wayfarin’ Stranger. On the surface, it seemed like a peculiar concept. After a nine-year absence, why was Neil Young & Crazy Horse doing a cover album of songs many of us learned in pre-school, kindergarten and summer camp? In an interview with American Songwriter, Young explained the album as follows, “Every one of these songs [on Americana] has verses that have been ignored. And those are the key verses, those are the things that make these songs live. They're a little heavy for kindergarteners to be singing. The originals are much darker, there's more protest in them — the other verses in "This Land Is Your Land" are very timely, or in "Clementine," the verses are so dark. Almost every one has to do with people getting killed, with life-or-death struggles. You don't hear much about that; they've been made into something much more light. So I moved them away from that gentler interpretation. With new melodies and arrangements, we could use the folk process to invoke the original meanings for this generation." Upon its release, critical response was mixed. Those that loved it marveled at Neil’s ability to take these well-known standards and deconstruct them in a manner that only he and Crazy Horse could. The haters found the song choices to be boring, the playing too loose/sloppy and the songs to be too long. I fall in the former camp. As Neil sang on Life’s Prisoners of Rock ‘N’ Roll, “People tell us that we play too loud, but they don’t know what our music’s about.” I feel like Americana is a line-in-the-sand record. If you get Crazy Horse, then you understand this album and appreciate it for what it is. If you don’t get Crazy Horse, this comes off as an unimaginative, lazy mess. The playing on Americana is classic Horse. I love the banter during the conclusion of the songs that was left on the recording. I also feel like the title is a “fuck you” to the emerging Americana music genre with its shitty acts like The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled by Turtles and Mumford & Sons. It was as if Neil was saying, “You want Americana? I’ll give you some real, authentic Americana.” Thumbing his nose at the folk purists, Bob Dylan plugged in at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. In 2012, Neil added a chapter to the acts of folk betrayals by transforming these folk standards into electrified, Crazy Horse assaults.

1. Oh Susannah – Sounds like an old car that hasn’t been started for a while, struggling to turn over and then warm up. However, once it does, it finds a great funky groove. Giddy up! El Caballo Loco is back. “I come from Alabama with a B-A-N-J-O on my knee.” (9)
2. Clementine – Another grungy Horse stomp. The poor man lost his Clementine. Some great lyrical nuggets in this one. First, we have resistance to necrophilia – “Though in life I used to hug her, in death I draw the line.” Second, we have a mourning man finding the strength to move on with his life – “How I missed my Clementine, so I kissed her little sister. I forgot my Clementine.” Neil & The Horse putting the sinister into these old folk classics. (8.5)
3. Tom Dula – The Horse beats the livin’ fuck outta this one; both with their instruments and their chants of “Tom Dooley! Tom Dooley!” throughout. Old murder ballad. Was it the precursor to Down by the River? “I met her on the mountain. There I took her life. Met her on the mountain. Stabbed her with my knife.” (7.5)
4. Gallows Pole – Decades ago Led Zeppelin took their shot at this. Why not Crazy Horse? Tempo is a little too brisk for what The Horse does best. Zeppelin for the win. (4)
5. Get a Job – Sounds like the return of the Shocking Pinks. “Ahh, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip, Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom, get a job.” Poncho Sampedro doing his best Bowzer from Sha Na Na impersonation. (5)
6. Travel On – This country-rock style that brings to mind Ragged Glory is Crazy Horse’s sweet spot. The lyrics about a guy who can’t set his roots in one place and has to always move on suits Neil perfectly. Fantastic cover! (10)
7. High Flyin’ Bird – One of the more obscure songs on this album. Crazy Horse absolutely nails it! They grind this one out and Neil colors in the missing spots with bursts of Old Black. Another wanderlust song that, lyrically, is in Neil’s wheelhouse. “There's a high flyin' bird, way up in the sky. I wonder does she looks down as she flies on by, just ridin' so free and easy in the sky. Look at me here I'm rooted like a tree here. I got them sit-down, can't fly, Oh Lord I'm gonna die blues.” (10)
8. Jesus’ Chariot – The harmonizing on this one is incredible. The Horse works itself into another hypnotic trance. “We'll kill the big red rooster when she comes. We're gonna kill the big red rooster when she comes. We'll kill the big red rooster. We'll kill the big red rooster. Kill the big red rooster when she comes.” (9)
9. This Land Is Your Land – I feel like if you roll in these circles (Dylan, Petty, Joni Mitchell, CSN, etc.) you HAVE to cover this song at some point. This one isn’t terrible. It’s not great either. (5)
10. Wayfarin’ Stranger – The only acoustic, hushed song on the record. This holds true to the folk tradition. I feel like a broken record, but this song is another good fit in structure and lyrics for Shakey. He, along with the chorus, brings the spook. (7.5)
11. God Save the Queen – Neil reaches back into the Rust Never Sleeps annals and channels his inner Johnny Rotten with a rendition of the British national anthem that morphs into America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee). Americana Choir is highlighted here. (5.5)

Overall score – 8
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#18
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Psychedelic Pill/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2012)

Four months after releasing Americana, Neil Young & Crazy Horse presented Psychedelic Pill to the world. With just under 88 minutes of music extended over two CDs and 3 LPs, it is the longest album of Neil's career. In addition to the CD and vinyl formats, Neil also released the album on Blue-ray disc, which includes the previously-referenced Horse Back as a bonus track. Neil had also released an autobiographical book, Waging Heavy Peace, in 2012. Many people have noted that Psychedelic Pill plays much like a listening companion piece to the book. Neil himself specifically references the book in the opening epic track, Driftin’ Back. As he has done frequently on previous albums and songs, Psychedelic Pill is very much a backwards-looking record. Neil seems to measure where he is in the present and how he will continue to move forward by examining the things he has accomplished and failed to accomplish in past years. There is also a “dying-on-the-vine” vibe to this record. When you look at what has happened in Neil’s personal life in recent years, it puts certain aspects of the record in a different context. In 2014, Neil filed for divorce from his wife of thirty-six years, Pegi. He was now dating Daryl Hannah, with whom he eventually tied the knot in 2018. You can hear aspects of a dying relationship in several of the tracks on the album. I think it’s safe to assume now that those songs are a reflection of what was happening in Neil’s life. Psychedelic Pill is not up there with the classic albums Neil has created, but it’s pretty damn good and a welcome addition to a catalog going on its sixth decade.

1. Driftin’ Back – Massive track that clocks in at 27:36. Extended jams with Crazy Horse and lyrics that make references to his just-released memoir, Waging Heavy Peace. Neil also continues his decades-old rant against MP3s. – “When you hear my song now, you only get five percent. You used to get it all. You used to get it all.” (7)
2. Psychedelic Pill – Riff lifted from Le Noise’s Sign of Love. Psychedelic effect achieved by filtering the recording with a phaser effect. Neil singing about how much he loves watching the party girl dance and have a good time. 21st century Cinnamon Girl. (9)
3. Ramada Inn – Absolute monster song, clocking in at just under 17 minutes. Great portrait of two empty-nesters whose love and affection isn’t what it once was. “She loves him so. She loves him so. She loves him so. She does what she has to.” “He loves her so. He loves her so. He loves her so. He does what he needs to.” Might be Neil’s best meandering guitar journey since Change Your Mind. (10)
4. Born in Ontario – Musically, we have country-rocking Americana-style Horse. Neil talking about his Ontarian roots as well as what inspires him to write songs. “I still like to sing a happy song. Once in a while and things go wrong, I pick up a pen, scribble on a page, try to make sense of my inner rage.” (6)
5. Twisted Road – Similar in style to the previous track. Not a fan of Neil’s vocal cadence here. Like the subject matter of him reminiscing about his musician heroes – Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead and Roy Orbison. “That old time music used to soothe my soul. If I ever get home, I'm gonna let the good times roll. Let the good times roll.” (6)
6. She’s Always Dancing – Neil loves to sing about watching women dance. Shades of Driftin’ Back with the music sounding like it’s playing in the background before working into and becoming the song. Neil evokes images of her burning, with smoke and fire. However, her dancing seems to be burning out lately. Kind of like the relationship detailed in Ramada Inn. For whatever reason, this song brings to mind Broken Arrow’s Slip Away whenever I hear it. (8)
7. For the Love of Man – Quiet, hushed ballad in the mold of Music Arcade. Not as good as that Broken Arrow gem, though. Neil works those Nitzsche-inspired strings into the mix. My least favorite track on Psychedelic Pill. (5)
8. Walk Like a Giant – Well, this song certainly does that. Damn! We get The Horse whistling. Fuckin’ love it. Neil coming to grips with his own limitations. He once believed he could change the world. And here, just shy of his sixty-seventh birthday acknowledging that he failed. Along with Ramada Inn, some of the best guitar work of his career. All from a guy rapidly approaching, seventy. Song soldiers onto its conclusion where it sounds like Neil & The Horse are performing some feedback-drenched exorcism. (10)
9. Psychedelic Pill (Alternate Mix) – We get the title track again, stripped of the phaser effect that made it more psychedelic-sounding. Neil did something in that vein on Tonight’s the Night, Rust Never sleeps and Freedom with 2 versions of the same track. Why not again? Like both, but prefer the original version a little more. (8)

Overall score - 8
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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Sleeps with Angels/Neil Young and Crazy Horse (1994)

“The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it. I don’t have the passion any more. And so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.” This was scribbled on a note found next to Kurt Cobain’s dead body the morning of April 8, 1994. Neil had never met Kurt before, but Cobain’s suicide stirred something inside him. Aside from the obvious reaction to having one of your lyrics quoted as the inspiration for taking their own life, it made Neil question his own vitality. “What that suicide has done is return me to my roots. Makes me go back and investigate where I started. Where I came from. Why am I here and why is he not here? Does my music suffer because I survived? Things like that.” A couple days after Kurt’s death, he wrote the song Sleeps with Angels. Originally a twenty-one minute epic, once recorded in the studio, it was trimmed down to the 2:46 version that is on the record. The rest of the material on Sleeps with Angels had been done months earlier in two separate sessions under the watchful eye of David Briggs at a Santa Monica studio called Complex. Consisting of new, original material, some of the song were written on the spot, like Neil had done when recording Tonight’s the Night two decades previously. And, like TTN, the overarching theme/inspiration on SWA is death. Easily, the most sonically diverse album Neil ever recorded with Crazy Horse.

1. My Heart – A tack piano ballad to starts things off. Neil sounds so vulnerable. Hard to believe this is a Crazy Horse album. (8.5)
2. Prime of Life – The previous track has a tack piano and this one features a flute. “Are you feelin’ alright? Not feelin’ too bad myself.” (8)
3. Driveby – Dirgy song detailing a drive-by shooting. (7)
4. Sleeps with Angels – Apparently the original recording was a spooky, 20+ minute epic. This one is a nightmarish, pulsating track clocking in at under 3 minutes. R.I.P. Kurt. (9)
5. Western Hero – The Horse takes a stab a country & western song about a WWII vet. The Greatest Generation is saluted. (8.5)
6. Change Your Mind – Sprawling, epic centerpiece of the album. One of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's finest moments. (10)
7. Blue Eden – Hazy, distorted track that never really goes anywhere. Sounds like it might be a meandering instrumental until Neil starts semi-incoherently spiting out barbs just over three minutes in. (6)
8. Safeway Cart – Interesting track. Neil’s hushed vocals with a muted guitar in the background. Props to the screeching “feedback harmonica” on this one. (8)
9. Train of Love – The exact same music as Western Hero, just with completely different lyrics. Neil has done the same song, different version thing several times – Tonight’s the Night, Hey Hey, My My, Rockin’ in the Free Wheel - but this is a first. Not sure I dig it. Seems like a lazy cop out. (3)
10. Trans Am – Melancholic song with softly-spoken lyrics. We didn’t know it at the time, but Neil was giving us a preview as to the types of songs he would be doing nine years later on Greendale. Nobody likes a car song more than Neil Young. (7)
11. Piece of Crap – This is the kind of crude, sloppy Horse we’ve come to know and love. Love the shouts and yelps by the Horse on this one. Some great Old Black explosions toward the end. (10)
12. A Dream That Can Last – We started with a tack piano and we end with one. Sounds like Nitzsche snuck in to deliver another turd. Weakest track on the album. (3)

Overall score - 8
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#16
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Harvest/Neil Young (1972)

After firing out his first two albums within months of each other, there was another long lag in the time between the release of After the Gold Rush and Harvest. This time around the eighteen-month delay was caused by severe back problems Neil was experiencing. Harvest was a grab bag affair with a cast of characters, some new, some old, lending their assistance to the recording. Jack Nitzsche returned to contribute, along with the London Symphony, a pair of string-drenched numbers – A Man Needs a Maid and There’s a World. An appearance on the Johnny Cash Show in Nashville brought producer Elliot Mazer into Neil’s universe and he introduced Neil to a ragtag crew of session musicians from “the other side of Nashville”, later dubbed The Stray Gators. Bassist Tim Drummond, drummer Kenny Buttrey and pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith brought a decidedly country vibe to the album. Also in town for the Cash show, were James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Both wound up providing backing vocals and Taylor laid down the finger-picked banjo on Old Man. Another person whose influence figured in heavily during the recording of Harvest was Neil’s new girlfriend, actress Carrie Snodgress. Although they never married, Carrie was the first love of Neil’s life and they had a son together, Zeke. She is said to have been the inspiration for A Man Needs a Maid and the title track. Upon completion of the recording, Neil invited Graham Nash to his ranch to listen to it. As the story goes, Neil rowed Nash out to the middle of a lake on his property with his house wired as the left speaker and his entire barn as the right speaker. When the album finished playing, producer Mazer asked from the shore of the lake how it sounded, to which Neil famously quipped, “More barn!” Easily his most accessible and melodic record, Harvest yielded Neil’s first (and only) #1 hit, Heart of Gold, as well as another Top 40 hit, Old Man. The album thrust Young into the public spotlight, bringing the notoriously reclusive loner fortune and fame. It also set the stage for a trio of recordings that came to be known in rock lore as The Ditch Trilogy.

1. Out on the Weekend – Harmonica, pedal steel and Buttrey laying down that quintessential Neil beat. That hitch at the 2:01 mark gets me every time. Neil knows how to kick off a record. I absolutely love this song. (10)
2. Harvest – Another country-tinged, acoustic classic. Apparently inspired by Snodgress’ strange family life which she divulged many of the details to Neil while tripping on acid with a friend. (9)
3. A Man Needs a Maid – Panned by some as a chauvinistic, anti-feminist anthem. Another Snodgress inspired number from her Oscar-nominated role in the film Diary of a Mad Housewife. The song is a little too over-the-top for my taste. (5)
4. Heart of Gold – As detailed above, Neil most popular song. It’s a very good song, but a bit overplayed. Ironically enough, it was knocked out of the #1 spot by a song many people erroneously attribute to Neil, America’s A Horse with No Name. (8)
5. Are You Ready for the Country? – Neil has The Stray Gators doing their best Crazy Horse imitation. Later covered by Waylon Jennings, this song never really gets off the ground for me. (5)
6. Old Man – A song inspired by the man who managed Neil’s new, sprawling ranch. This kind of country-pop is square in The Stray Gators’ wheelhouse. (9)
7. There’s a World – Goddamn fuckin’ Nitzsche. Garbage. (1)
8. Alabama – Companion piece to ATGR’s Southern Man. The Stray Gators again doing their best Crazy Horse impersonation. Solid song, but Southern Man it ain’t. (7.5)
9. The Needle and the Damage Done – Culled from a live performance at UCLA, a cautionary tale about the horrors of heroin addiction. Brief, but incredibly powerful song. One of his best. (10)
10. Words (Between the Lines of Age) – A ramshackle song with Neil once again trying to get his new backing band to channel their inner Horse. This works better than the earlier attempts, but The Gators are at their best on songs like Out on the Weekend, Harvest, Old Man and Heart of Gold. (8.5)
Last edited by cortez the killer on Sat Feb 26, 2022 5:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#15
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Mirror Ball/Neil Young with Pearl Jam (1995)

The project came together shortly after Neil’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Eddie Vedder provided a heartfelt tribute and then Pearl Jam joined Neil and Crazy Horse on stage for a raucous version of Fuckin’ Up. The next day Neil and Crazy Horse were to head down to Washington D.C. to play a two-day Voters for Choice benefit Pearl Jam had asked Neil to be part of. At the benefit, Neil did his set with Crazy Horse and then joined Pearl Jam later for a few songs during their slot. The seed had been planted. Less than two weeks later Neil and Pearl Jam convened in Seattle at Bad Animals, a recording studio owned by 70s rockers, Heart. Briggs, hoping to do another Crazy Horse record, was furious Neil had ditched the band again. In two days, Young and Pearl Jam pumped out Mirror Ball. Due to issues with Pearl Jam’s label, Epic, the band’s name was not allowed to appear on the album cover and they were not permitted to promote the record. Also, the two songs Vedder has brought to the sessions were pulled and later released on a companion EP, Merkin Ball. Neil Young and Pearl Jam did an eleven-show European tour without Vedder. And that was the extent of the collaboration between the “Godfather of Grunge” and Pearl Jam.

1. Song X – “No tuning. Nothing.” And off we go. A lumbering, simple tune with blasts of Old Black and the band chanting like drunken Vikings, “Hey-ho! Away we go! We’re on the road to never!” (9)
2. Act of Love – “Okay, now we’re ready. Yeah, that’s it.” Another bombastic, lumbering Crazy Horse-styled rocker. “The holy war was slowly building, heroes leaving for the great crusade.” (8)
3. I’m the Ocean – Autobiographical tale where the band really settles into the groove. Best track on the record and one of Neil’s finest recordings. “Now I’m floatin’, ‘cuz I’m not tied to the ground. Words I’ve spoken, seem to leave a hollow sound.” (10)
4. Big Green Country – Less lumbering, Pearl Jam possesses a little more dexterity than Crazy Horse. Layers of guitars on this track. (7)
5. Truth Be Known – Slowed down but with a bouncy groove. Not one of the better tracks. (5.5)
6. Downtown – “I think I-I fucked up. Lemme just play the groove for a minute.” This got some radio play when the album came out. Simply, catchy groove powers this one along. Shout-out to Hendrix and Led Zeppelin in the lyrics. (8)
7. What Happened Yesterday – Very brief pump organ interlude. (5)
8. Peace and Love – Another one that received some airplay on the radio. Big drums on this one. Pump organ in the background. Shout-out to John Lennon. Vedder makes his first vocal appearance in the middle and near the end. Lots going on on this one. (9)
9. Throw Your Hatred Down – This one’s a ferocious beast. Neil’s best guitar work on the record. Second favorite cut. (10)
10. Scenery – Hazy, distorted, feedback-laden epic that had to have shaped the sound on several of the songs on the upcoming Broken Arrow album. “Home of the brave, that’s where heroes need protection.” (9.5)
11. Fallen Angel – Another brief pump organ not dissimilar to What Happened Yesterday. Similar melody as I’m the Ocean. I dig. (6.5)

Overall score – 8.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#14
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Silver & Gold/Neil Young (2000)

The four-year gap between Broken Arrow and Silver & Gold was the longest of his recording career. Following the release of BA, Neil & The Horse hit the road and did a North American and European Tour. Year of the Horse, a documentary film of the tour done by Jim Jarmusch, was released in 1997, along with a double live album with the same title. Neil had also got together with Stephen Stills to start work on a Buffalo Springfield retrospective. Stills had been working on and off on a new album with David Crosby and Graham Nash. The idea intrigued Neil, so he got involved in the project, offering up three new songs he’d been working on – Looking Forward, Slowpoke and Out of Control. In 1999, the superband released Looking Forward. Shortly after the CSN&Y, Neil went back into his ranch studio with old friends Ben Keith and Spooner Oldham and a new rhythm section (Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass and Jim Keltner on drums) to record Silver & Gold. The album included songs Neil had been writing while on the road, along with a pair of songs he’d written during the Geffen years. The overall feel of the album is similar to the acoustic country-rock classics Harvest and Harvest Moon. The cover art comes courtesy of Neil’s daughter, Amber Young, who took the picture using her Nintendo Game Boy camera.

1. Good to See You – Written on the back of a bus during a previous solo acoustic tour. Very Harvest-sounding track. (8)
2. Silver & Gold – This one he’d been sitting on since the 1980s during the Old Ways sessions. According to Neil, he was just never able to get the right take, until now. While the previous song takes you back to Harvest, this one would’ve fit well on Harvest Moon, had they gotten the proper take. (8)
3. Daddy Went Walkin’ – Ben Keith’s pedal steel and Spooner Oldham’s keys shine here. The production and performance here is what I wish Old Ways had. If so, that would’ve been a classic Neil record. Reflecting back on his parents’ divorce. Huge event and impact on him. (8)
4. Buffalo Springfield Again – Inspired by the retrospective box set he’s been working on with Stills, here he reflects fondling on his original country-rock outfit, Buffalo Springfield. No rock on this one. More very well-executed country. (8)
5. The Great Divide – “I don’t fit in too well…” More autobiographical musings. Such a pretty song. Big fan of this one. (9)
6. Horseshoe Man – Somewhat bland piano ballad. Wish he had offered this one up (and it was accepted) for the CSN&Y record Looking Forward. (5)
7. Red Sun – Damn! Eye-waterer for me. Love the vocal performance. As he was working this one out, Neil kept imagining Emmylou’s voice. He travelled to Linda Ronstadt’s house in Tucson, where she was with Emmylou working on a Dolly Parton album, to record this song. Emmylou sounding so sexy here. (10)
8. Distant Camera – Another Harvest Moon-sounding track about, what else, love. “All I need is this song of love to sing for you.” (7)
9. Razor Love – The ultimate kind of love. It cuts through anything, including bullshit. Another song hanging from the 1980s. He’d originally recorded right after he’d been sued by Geffen and, incredibly, he sat on it for 15 years. “Silhouettes in the window…” with his voice cracking like it hadn’t since the Tonight’s the Night sessions. Harmonica clinic. (10)
10. Without Rings – The last song had his voice expressing so much raw emotion. On this one, he sounds so detached. Still love it. Got that Music Arcade-style soft rap thing going on. Written around the same time as Good to See You. “My software’s not compatible with you.” (9)

Overall score - 8.5
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#13
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Broken Arrow/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1996)

That Crazy Horse record David Briggs had hoped to do would never happen. On November 26, 1995 Neil received the call from David’s wife that his longtime partner in crime had passed away. In March of 1996, Neil Young & Crazy Horse played sixteen unannounced shows as “The Echos” [sic] at tiny clubs along Route 1 of the California coast. In between shows, Neil and the band started recording Broken Arrow at his ranch. Legend has it that Poncho hid some of Briggs’ ashes in one of the amps. Although they dearly missed their friend and colleague, Neil and the band were determined to make a great record without David. Neil has stated that Zuma was big influence during the recording of Broken Arrow. It’s one of the more unvarnished records they made together. It was critically shat upon when it came out, but I love it. For me, it’s one of the ultimate summer records made to be played in the car extremely loud with the windows down.

1. Big Time – Big guitars soar as Ralph & Billy gallop on. Goosebump-inducing outro. “I’m still livin’ the dream we had. For me, it’s not over.” R.I.P. Briggs. (10)
2. Loose Change – Another guitar-dominated, stretched out jam. Neil really challenges the listener with one of the longest, drawn-out E chords in recorded history to bring this one to a close. According to Poncho, the purpose of it was to “play David on his way”. (9.5)
3. Slip Away – Dreamy Horse. Another workout of a song, clocking in at just over 8 ½ minutes. “And when the music started, she just slipped away…” (10)
4. Changing Highways – A break from the long jams with the king of jaunty, country-rock Neil & The Horse excel at. Sounds like an outtake from Ragged Glory. Can’t help but tap the foot to this. (8)
5. Scattered – Another dream-like song in the same vein as Slip Away. I like this stylistic addition to the Neil/Horse arsenal. (10)
6. This Town – Pretty much a hybrid of styles on the two previous songs. Solid tune, but the weakest original on the album (6.5)
7. Music Arcade – Intimate, beautiful acoustic song delivered by Neil in a quiet hush registering barely above a whisper. Fantastic song that loses a point for being the a favorite of the ex-wife’s. (9)
8. Baby What You Want Me to Do – Poor quality live recording of a Jimmy Reed song. Recorded during the small, unannounced spring tour, Neil turns Crazy Horse into a ragged electric blues band. A preview of a project down the road. (3)

Overall score - 9
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#12
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American Stars ‘N Bars/Neil Young (1977)

Patchwork of an album both in style of music and where it was recorded. Songs were gleaned from the 1975 Homegrown sessions, the aborted Chrome Dreams album and a session at Neil’s ranch in April 1977. While he had dabbled with country music on Harvest with The Stray Gators, Neil dives in headfirst here, particularly on Side 1. Helping him achieve that authentic country sound are old friend Ben Keith (pedal steel and dobro), Carole Mayedo (violin) and back-up singers Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson, who Neil dubbed The Saddlebags. Side 2 is a mix of country, lo-fi experimentation and Crazy Horse-charged rock. Despite the hodgepodge nature of the record, American Stars ‘N Bars is a top-tier Neil Young record that continues his near-flawless run of albums from the decade.

1. The Old Country Waltz – Neil’s gone full country with the help of the angelic harmonizing vocals of The Saddlebags. Special props to Carole Mayedo’s violin. (7.5)
2. Saddle Up the Palomino – With the addition of Crazy Horse, Neil adds some rock to the country formula. Some great interplay between Ben Keith’s pedal steel and the violin. (7)
3. Hey Babe – Neil nails it on this country weeper. Ben Keith steals the show (no pun intended) with his masterful pedal steel which really carries this simple song to another level. (10)
4. Hold Back the Tears – Neil’s Blue Bayou moment. (7)
5. Bite the Bullet – Scorching country-rocker, softened ever so slightly by the harmonizing of The Saddlebags. Every bit as snarling as Zuma’s Drive Back. (9.5)
6. Star of Bethlehem – Originally recorded in 1975 for the aborted Homegrown album, with the lovely Emmylou Harris lending her harmonizing vocals to this tender country ballad. Ben Keith’s bringing the twang with his dobro. (10).
7. Will to Love – After consuming copious amounts of drugs, Neil adopted the persona of a salmon migrating upstream, pulled out the Sony cassette machine and began recording. Definitely the most interesting-sounding song in the Neil Young songbook. Lo-fi track that sounds like it was recorded underwater. All sorts of background noises getting picked up on the tape. Hazy, dreamy & druggy. (10)
8. Like a Hurricane – The essence of Crazy Horse. Just a colossal song. Rock and roll perfection. “I wanna love you, but I’m getting’ blown away.” (10)
9. Homegrown – Fun, goofy, countrified Crazy Horse tribute to marijuana. While nobody will confuse them with The Saddlebags, The Horse can harmonize with the best of them. "Plant that bell and let it ring!" (9)
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#11
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Freedom/Neil Young (1989)

Coming off the heels of This Note’s for You, Neil had buried the hatchet with Crosby, Stills and Nash and reunited with them to record their first record since 1971’s 4 Way Street. Frustrated with how the album (American Dream) came out, Neil retreated to New York City to record a new solo album. The project started out as a continuation of the type of music explored on TNFY. However, the restless Young quickly grew tired of the horns and cut them loose. Inspired by The Who’s The Kids Are Alright documentary, Neil set out to return to his rock roots. Neil, Poncho, Rick Rosas and Chad Cromwell started recording in a series of furious sessions at NYC’s Hit Factory. Filling the studio up with an abundance of amps, Neil was aiming for as heavy a rock sound as he could. Several of the songs cut during this period wound up on the Eldorado EP, then later Freedom. Neil was back in the zone and hit the road. He submitted some songs to Reprise for a project that would be called Times Square. Reprise wasn’t too enthusiastic about it, so Neil put the project on hold and began writing additional material. Eventually, he pieced together Freedom with a couple songs from the Eldorado EP (Don’t Cry & Eldorado), some previously-recorded material from the American Stars 'N Bars sessions (Too Far Gone), a few leftovers from his attempted restart of the Bluenotes (Someday and Crime in the City) and some new stuff he had recorded after the Times Square project had been jettisoned. A month before the album was released, Neil announced his comeback with a savage, goosebump-inducing live performance on Saturday Night Live of Rocking in the Free World. The buzz created from that performance helped propel Freedom to both critical and commercial success. Neil was back. The record that his fans knew he was capable of making had come to fruition. After a string in duds in the 80s, his was now primed for a 90s revival.

1. Rockin’ in the Free World (Live Acoustic) – Iconic song. Strange decision to have this version be the lead track, but obviously influenced by the placement of the acoustic/electric versions of Hey Hey, My My ten years previously on Rust Never Sleeps. (7.5)
2. Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero Pt. 1) – Spanish-influenced acoustic track. The live Weld electric version fuckin’ SMOKES. It’s one of my favorite Neil songs. This one is solid. (6.5)
3. Don’t Cry – Starts out relatively tame then unexpectedly explodes into a ball of furious distortion. Fuck yeah! He’s back, baby! (10)
4. Hangin’ on a Limb – After recapturing all the glory and wonder of his explosive, electric power, Neil drops this gorgeous Harvest-like nugget with Linda Ronstadt’s heavenly harmonizing vocals. Wow! (10)
5. Eldorado – Atmospheric, Southwestern epic detailing greed, drugs and murder. Love the explosive blasts of electric guitar that color this one. (9)
6. The Ways of Love – Stop the fight! Can’t handle it. Another Ronstadt-assisted gem. Where has this been? Geffen is fuckin’ fuming. (10)
7. Someday – Just when you thought Neil had shed the 80s baggage of those Geffen turds, he drops this one on you. Why? (3)
8. On Broadway – Neil covers this show tune classic with some Crazy Horse-like ferocity. (7)
9. Wrecking Ball – Kind of a mood killer. Sounds like Jack Nitzsche dropped by to suck the life out of things with another over-the-top dud. (4)
10. No More – “Living on the edge of night, you know the sun won’t go down slow.” Neil reexamines the horrific aspects of addiction that robbed him of so many colleagues and friends. I also feel like he addresses the muse that had escaped him for much of the decade – “Where did the magic go? I searched high and low. I can't find it no more. I can't get it back.” We’re back on track. (9.5)
11. Too Far Gone – Originally intended for the abandoned Chrome Dreams record, it sees the light of day here. “Was I too far gone?” Yes. Yes you were, Neil. (10)
12. Rockin’ in the Free World – Without question, overplayed, but what an important, crucial, indispensable, fuckin’ amazing, flag-in-ground announcement that your back. One of the most important songs in Neil’s catalog. (10)

Overall score – 9
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#10
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Harvest Moon/Neil Young (1992)

In support of Ragged Glory, Neil and crew hit the road on a grueling three-month, fifty-four date tour which yielded the live double album, Weld. While the tour generated some incredible music committed to tape, it did a number on Neil’s hearing, as well as his relationship with the band and David Briggs. With the Weld tour and album in the rearview mirror, Young once again cut ties with Crazy Horse and reassembled his old Harvest band, The Stray Gators, to cut a new acoustic record at his ranch. In an interview with Greg Kot, Neil reflected, “Playing that hard and that loud for that long is like spending the winter in the Arctic and then spending the summer in the Arctic and then finally deciding, ‘Well, let’s go to Florida this winter.’ You gotta have relief. That’s what acoustic music is like to me.” All the original Stray Gators were back with one exception, Spooner Oldham would replace Jack Nitzsche on keys. Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor were back to provide backing vocals, joined this time around by Neil’s former lover/collaborator Nicolette Larson and his half-sister Astrid Young. The Harvest sequel many had been waiting and hoping for was here. And to think, it only took twenty years. Although the material came from several different periods, the all-acoustic album of relationship songs certainly had a central theme. During the promotion for the record, Young stated, “The real sense of the album is: How do you keep going? How can you keep an old relationship new? How do you make love last? How can you bring the past with you?” Neil poured his all into the project and was heavily involved in promoting the album, doing countless interviews, live performances and television appearances. Not surprisingly, Harvest Moon sold incredibly well, going platinum just over three months after it was released.

1. Unknown Legend – One of his best openers, and he’s had a lot of them. Some of Ben Keith’s best pedal steel work on this loving tribute from Neil to his wife, Pegi. “She used to work in a diner. Never saw a woman look finer. I used to order just to watch her float across the floor.” (10)
2. From Hank to Hendrix – Great harmonica to usher this one in. The return of Linda & James on backing duties. Ben Keith filling in the spaces with sublime pedal steel. One of the album’s standout songs. “Can we make it last like a musical ride?” (10)
3. You and Me – The echo chamber Neil built in his studio for this record shows up here. This song dates back to the original Harvest album. For whatever reason, Neil sat on it for two decades and finally let the world hear it here. (9)
4. Harvest Moon – Kenny Buttrey busting out the brush drumsticks for this countrified shuffle. Has an old-timey feel to it. One of his most popular songs. (9)
5. War of Man – Detailing some of the effects that war has on the animal kingdom. Interesting subject choice. More well executed playing by The Gators along with the female singers being prominently featured. (8)
6. One of These Days – Sappy Neil. For someone who has a reputation of being such a difficult, bastard to work with, he can sure right some heartfelt, genuine-sounding songs. I feel like a broken record at this point, but Ben Motherfuckin’ Keith is such an integral part of what makes Neil’s acoustic numbers shine. That pedal steel… (10)
7. Such a Woman – You just can’t get rid of Jack Nitzsche. The minute he catches word that Neil is doing a record without Crazy Horse, he resurfaces. The lone track he is involved with has that classic Nitzsche-loaded orchestral sound. While the production on this one is different than the other tracks on the album, it’s not as heavy-handed as some of his past abominations. This one is actually quite pleasing. (8)
8. Old King – You knew Neil was good for one banjo number. If the formula ain’t broke, don’t fix it. “King went a-runnin’ after deer. Wasn’t scared of jumping off the truck in high gear. King went a-sniffin’ and he would go. Was the best ol’ hound dog I ever did know.” (8)
9. Dreamin’ Man – This one is a bit of an odd ball (“In the meadow dark, I park my Aerostar, with a loaded gun and sweet dreams of you.”). This dreamin’ man apparently has a problem. Again, the band’s playing is just perfect. (9)
10. Natural Beauty – That opening harmonica sends chills up my spine. The recording really captures those strings ringing. The only live track on the album (from a 1989 performance at the Civic Auditorium in Boobpube, OR). Not sure why, but I’ve always loved the line, “I heard a perfect echo die into an anonymous wall of digital sound.” Borderline top-10 Neil for me. (10)

Overall score - 10
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Re: Artist of the Week 04/18/11 - Neil Young

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#9
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Greendale/Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2003)

After experiencing a career resurgence in the 90s, Neil’s first two releases of the 21st century received tepid responses. Was the creative well dried up? In the spring of 2003, Neil headed over to Europe for a solo, acoustic tour. Just Neil, an acoustic guitar, a harmonica and a megaphone. Each show began with a ten-song, two-hour set of never-heard-before material where between songs Neil would narrate a story about this fictional town called Greendale. After the Greendale set was complete, he would take a break, come back out and play his acoustic “hits”. Reception was mixed. I was able to secure a few pristine bootlegs of the tour and I liked what I heard. I was excited for a new acoustic album. Later that year, the studio record Greendale was released. It was not solo, but rather with Crazy Horse. It was not acoustic or “folkie’ in the traditional sense. It was, mostly, an electric, blues album. At first, I was a bit taken aback. What happened to the beautiful acoustic numbers I had come to know and enjoy? They’d been replaced by a raw, crude, buzzing, blistering album with Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot providing that classic Crazy Horse gallop. It took a few listens to get used to. However, it wasn’t long till I was pulled in. Greendale is a brilliant concept album where Neil uses the small, fictional town of Greendale to highlight some disturbing trends in 21st century American society. The stories are marked by greed, corruption, violence, the effect of mass media, loss of personal freedom and privacy, and the destruction of the environment. The actual plot of Greendale is a bit convoluted and strange, but it matters little. In essence, it's a smoke screen. In the liner notes, Neil writes, “well, greendale is a nice town, but it has its quirks….there’s a lot going on in greendale that i don’t know about either: can you imagine? i mean, i made it up and I don’t know what the hell is goin’ on. so don’t feel bad if you feel a little out of it with this. no one really knows….” Those that get caught up in it will miss some phenomenal songs (and hidden messages) with Crazy Horse being reincarnated as a raw, ragged, greasy, dirty electric blues band. Neil is focused and invigorated here, delivering the rare post-fifty masterpiece.

1. Falling from Above – A central theme of Neil’s songwriting has always been the redemptive power of love. “A little love and affection in everything you do, will make the world a better place with or without you.” Possibly some 9/11 inspiration? “Sing a song for freedom. Sing a song for love. Sing a song for depressed angels, falling from above.” One of the less ragged electric takes on the album. (8)
2. Double E – Another staple of Neil’s songwriting is nostalgia. “Back in the days, living in the summer of love. Living in the summer of love. Grandma's okay, not the same since Grandpa's gone. She's living in the summer of love. The Horse is a little greasier on this track. (7)
3. Devil’s Sidewalk – There’s an evil element lurking in Greendale. “There's a garden growing and a million weeds. With no way of knowing who's done which deed.” There’s also an evil element (terrorism) lurking in the United States. How can we know who’s done which deed? Perhaps we need a way of finding these things out. Patriot Act? We also see the return of Neil’s hawkish side from the early 80s. “Big wheel's still rolling down on me. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. John Lennon said that. And I believe in love. I believe in action when push comes to shove.” (8)
4. Leave the Driving – The plot thickens. Cousin Jed Green has been pulled over on the old coast highway by the California Highway Patrol for speeding and no brake lights. One big problem for Jed - the glovebox is full of cocaine and the trunk is full of weed. Officer Carmichael senses something isn’t right ask he asks Jed for his license and registration. As Carmichael’s flashlight finds the gun that Jed’s slipped under his seat, a panicked Jed, in a split-second tragic blunder, pulls it out and shoots the officer dead. Jed is arrested and sent to jail. The media pounces and begins to dig up all the dirt it can find on Jed. “Camouflage hung in his closet. Guns all over the walls. Plans for buildings and engineers. And a book with no numbers at all.” Was Jed planning a terrorist attack? Speaking of terrorism and the “War on Terror”… “Meanwhile across the ocean, living in the internet, is the cause of an explosion no one has heard yet. But there's no need to worry. There's no reason to fuss. Just go on about your work now and leave the drivin' to us. And we'll be watching you, no matter what you do. And you can do your part by watchin' others, too.” Shots fired at Rumsfeld & Cheney and the so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction – “The moral of this story is try not to get too old. The more time you spend on earth, the more you see unfold. And as an afterthought, this must, too, be told. Some people have taken pure bullshit and turned it into gold.” All of this packed into a 7+ minute song with Crazy Horse laying down some filthy, squeaking, honking shit. Ooof. (10)
5. Carmichael – Tribute to fallen Officer Carmichael. We meet his widow as she grieves. "Carmichael you asshole," the new widow sobbed beneath her veil, "Shot down in the line of duty, is this how justice never fails?” Soldiers dying for an unjust war? Some interesting tidbits from Neil in the liner notes about this one – “some people think that police are evil and hippies are good, but it may not be true. there’s a grey area.” We also get – “carmichael had a terrible argument with his wife that morning as he was leaving to go to work. so that was kind of too bad, ‘cause she never saw him again. so it makes you think about always try to be nice to the one you love because you never know what’s gonna happen.” What transpired between those that went to work in their offices in the twin towers on September 11, 2001 and their loved ones? The Horse showing a little more restraint here, but still holding it down for over ten minutes. (9)
6. Bandit – Unplugged. Loose string. Whispering Neil. Perfection. Speaks for itself. “Someday, you’ll find what you’re lookin’ for…” (10)
7. Grandpa’s Interview – The media is out for blood as they stake outside Edith and Earl’s Double E Ranch looking to piece together the narrative of this crime. Having none of this, Grandpa Earl stumbles and falls to his death as he argues with Susan Carol from Early magazine from his front porch. “Grandpa died like a hero fightin' for freedom of silence, tryin' to stop the media, tryin' to be anonymous.” As we fight this War on Terror, we’ve given up many aspects of our privacy. Additionally, the ubiquitous media is out of control. This one is more plot/message-driven and one of the weaker tracks on the album. He could’ve done it in less than 12:54. (5)
8. Bringin’ Down Dinner – Somber organ plays as Sun Green learns about her grandpa’s death. How could this happen? Sun is radicalized. Hmmmm. Radicalization. Where have we heard this before? (5)
9. Sun Green – In a golden moment in the history of TV news, Sun Green, megaphone in hand, has chained herself to the statue of an eagle in the lobby of electric company giant, Powerco. She unleashes some beauties through the megaphone:
"Powerco is workin' with the White House to paralyze our state with fear!"
"They're all dirty!"
"You can't trust anybody!"
"Truth is all I seek!"
"Hey Mr. Clean, you're dirty now, too!"
All hell breaks loose on this song. The FBI starts surveilling her. They break into her place and one of the agents shoots and kills her cat because it scratched his leg. Sun Green meets Earth Brown at John Lee’s with The Imitators playing and driving it home. Sun Green “danced up a heatwave” with Earth Brown. She tells Earth Brown, “I'm leavin' tonight for Alaska and I want you to come in the spring. And be a goddess in the planet wars, tryin' to save the livin' things". This plan never comes to fruition, as the next day Sun gets busted for pot. The charges eventually get dropped and Sun looks to keep on keepin’ on – “She'd still like to meet Julia butterfly and see what remedy brings. And be a goddess in the planet wars, tryin' to save the livin' things. But that might not be easy, livin' on the run. Mother earth has many enemies. There's much work to be done.” Neil tackles many, many issues in this song – corporate greed and corruption, expanded powers of the government via the Patriot Act, and the environment. Most importantly, Crazy Horse lays down one of their greatest studio performances. Fuckin’ wicked! (10)
10. Be the Rain - The grand finale! Neil letting it all fly on the megaphone:
“Attention shoppers: Buy with a conscience and save!”
“Save Alaska! Let the caribou stay!”
“Hey Big Oil! What do you say?”
“You can make a difference, if you really try!”
“Greek freighters are dumping crap somewhere right now!”
“The ice is melting!”
“Toxic waste dumpin' from corporate farms!”
Throughout the song a chorus chants over the feedback, heavy-crunching guitars, and Molina thump - "Save the planet for another day!" To which Neil yells in the distance, “Be the rain! Be the rain!” (10)

Overall score – 10
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

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