Well?

Ragged Glory for me - not because I think it's his best, but it's gloriously sloppy, and Country Home really makes me smile. Harvest, Gold Rush, and Harvest Moon are all excellent, Freedom is great but slightly patchy, and Mirrorball has "I'm the Ocean" on it... and I very nearly voted for each one of them.

I thought I had quite a bit of his stuff, but reading down this list makes me realise what huge gaps there are in what I've got.

It's a while since he made a great album, though Silver & Gold is a grower and has some great stuff on it.

Anyone come to grips with Greendale yet?

There are a few moments of greatness on Silver & Gold - particularly that one that he sings really low down (don't remember its name) rather than in his trademark bleat.

Not bought Greendale or any NY since "Are You Passionate" - I thought that album was so unforgivably bad that I've not really listened to him much since!

Are You Passionate was probably the lowest point in a career which goes up and down a lot (not necessarily a bad thing – I like the fact that Neil tries things out, even if they don't always work). Greendale is quite interesting. Not really sure what the whole concept thing is about though. But it was great the way his web site had a very detailed map of the town long before the album existed.

I like the acoustic version of Greendale a lot more than the one with Crazy Horse - odd cos I a big fan of Crazy Horse - their Crazy Horse album is one of my all time faves.

Zuma. For blatant references to Richard Nixon.

Choosing here is harder than in the Dylan poll.

Surprised no-one went for Tonight's the Night.

I would have gone for American Stars n bars but it is only half an album and has the worst sleeve ever.

Will to love just about makes up for everything, though. Did you read the biog, Shakey where he explains that the crackling you can hear in the background really is a campfire?

I'll take Tonight's The Night for myself I guess. Lots of great memories associated with it, a shambling howl of a record and I was in a one-off band several years ago that covered the enitre album in sequence at a little local club. (played bass for that show.)

On the Beach is killer.

Most of his albums have some stunning tracks and some ehh stuff.

Doh. 'On the Beach' had the blatant Nixon reference. I'm so ashamed.

ragged glory..stupendous guitar, and the way he delays "the proceedings" or the pace.....(hope everybody can imagine what i´m gonna tell u...... :cry: i should have learnt harder and better at school in my english lesson.....or: I should had? should have had?... :banghead:

I saw Neil Young on (I think) the Ragged Glory tour, with Sonic Youth supporting. Both were superb, but I remember being dispirited by the way 'classic rock' Young fans dissed SY and the even more obnoxious SY teenagers (of which I was one) left en masse after their band played. "Who would want to see an old geezer noodle around?" Both positions were soooooo predictible.

Andy

Saw the same tour Andy, also the last time I saw a show in a huge arena as well. I went to see what kind of reaction SY would get (sat in the fifth row), and the Neil fans would say things like "you guys suck" without actually getting too worked up about it, even though, once in awhile, Neil wasn't that far off from what SY was doing that night. I do remember Expressway To Yr. Skull went over fairly well.

Suppose it would be cheating to name Decade as my fave Neil album, I don't actually have that many, so I'll go with Rust Never Sleeps. I've heard the acoustic/electric bookend songs way too many times, but I still love Pocahontas, Thrasher, and Powderfinger.

i too saw that tour...also Social Distortion :sick: on the bill...
yeah, the "neil fans" def gave sonic youth quite the heckling...
to be honest mr.young blew them away that night...he was AMAZING. loud as f**k and wailing on that guitar as if were trying to tear a hole in the very fabric of time/space... :lol:

as for faves:
i'd say def "After The Goldrush"
followed by...
"Everyone Knows This is Nowhwere"
"Harvest"
"Freedom" (if only for the magickal guitar feedback in "Don't Cry" :cry: )
"Tonight's The Night"
"Ragged Glory"
"On The Beach" (speaking of underrated...this one's newish to me)

anything else i either haven't heard or i only enjoy a few songs from....

back to live neil for a sec...
i saw him recently for the second time...w/ crazy horse...and he did the ENTIRETY of "Greendale"
on stage with actors, props, the whole bit... :blink:
i actually really enjoyed the fact that he didn't play only the "hits" (although he did close with a couple, including a BLAZING rendition of "Cortez The Killer")....which the old hippies (read middle aged "classic-rock" shlubs) in the audience HATED. all you heard after the show was how much the show "sucked"...whatever. :devil:

Is supposed to be releasing 'Archives' – a vast box-set of outtakes and concerts one day.

Votes are nicely scattered across the albums, arent they?

I voted for Tonight's The Night for sentimental reason. I like the roughness of it though.

Musically, Ragged Glory or Zuma are better i think, though the latter is tainted by :devil: David (burn in hell you cunt) Crosby :devil:.

Therein lies the beauty.

Put me down for "Live Rust". " Hey Hey, MyMy. Rock n' Roll will never die."
:applaud:

What prompted this outburst? Did he spill your pint or something?

hard to choose one though

I picked Zuma (as did the "majority" - i.e., like four people) but really it should be

Zuma
On The Beach
Tonight's The Night
Greendale
Freedom

I'm not kidding about Greendale either. There's no way you could say it's the best, so nobody has voted for it, but it's the best since Zuma. I truly believe it's better than Rust Never Sleeps.

well, $.02 more for the Fall polls.

-s

On the Beach. Not even close. I grew up listening to all of his '70s fare, and rated them about equally, but as the fog of youth has lifted, OTB emerges as his purest, most inspired and complete piece. Knock out "Vampire Blues" and it's a perfect artwork.

i have a real soft spot for" comes a time"..like the female vocal on the b-side(showing my age here).this album was split it seems into an acoustic half and electric half.just remembered...MOTORCYCLE MAMA..female vocalist distorts the mic at one point...go girl!! :applaud:

Maybe I should give Greendale another listen. I borrowed it off a friend and literally could not make it past the third song, after numerous attempts. It sounded like a parody of Neil Young to me.

On the other hand, I haven't heard him in years. Maybe I was just on the wrong wavelength.

Andy

yeah you have to make it to the end. like all his best things.

songs 2-4 are narrative - like an old troubador spinning a yarn; then "Carmichael" begins to weave the story back into the musical thread (his liner note "I passed the Cortez test" is pretty revealing for that one). listen all the way through, and you won't be sorry for the investment in time.

even the narrative numbers are great, in a crazy talking blues tradition, and they work for where they sit and for being SO severe, like "T-Bone" from Reactor or something, but you have to have them in context ultimately.

I almost always have to listen to the whole CD all the way through. I put it on for a second and I'm lost to the world for over an hour. Well no great loss to the world, me, but the thing is it's a great album.

me cousin trev likes him i think...oh no it is willie nelson come to think...anyway i voted tr as in trevor...i own no willie or neil lps at all ...it turns out me choice was popular in any case :) the power of :beer:

One line from Rust Never Sleeps has always bothered me.

On Thrasher, Neil sings:–

"It was then I knew I'd had enough,
Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand"

Taking on board the obvious anti-commerce sentiments of the song, this just doesn't work: how much fuel could you really get from burning a credit card?

I have a soft spot for Trans (as it seems do a few others here). Mostly for the memory of seeing him play all that stuff live before the record came out and enjoying the look of horror and complete lack of applause from a whole arena full of his fans. It instantly became my favourite NY album - before even being released!

I went for Sleeps With Angels because Piece Of Crap is one of the best songs I've ever heard and it's completely out of sync with the rest of the album! Which is also very good....

I went for Weld because I love the guitar sound on that one.

Honourable mention-

Ragged Glory
Live Rust
Dead Man
Rust Never Sleeps
Tonight's the Night
Harvest
Decade is not a bad comp.
After the Gold Rush
Zuma

Year of the Horse was a piss poor live album.
I sold Greendale after about 2 listens and I don't know if I ever got all the way through Are You Passionate.
Freedom: very good in parts but patchy.
Harvest Moon: Couldn't get into this one and sold it.
Mirror Ball: Too Pearl Jammy for my tastes; sold it. I think making an album w/PJ was a mistake.
Sleeps with Angels: Some of this one's really good.
This Note's For You: Bad Idea!!!
Unplugged: I don't really like these as a rule but this is one of the better ones.



There are quite a few that I've not heard; more than I expected actually.

What's the old goat up to? About time we had a new album.

On the Beach - If only for Motion Pictures.

Oh, 2nd place to the amazing Sleeps With Angels :applaud:

Must be a rare unreleased version. Mine is called Sleeps With Angels. ;)

I cant belive the moderators round here alter you're spelling for cheap laughs :o :lol:

At least you didn't write Sheeps With Angles.

Good One! My Favorite 2 are Zuma and On the beach.. Listened to them both yesterday in fact... now here this is....

After The Goldrush is my favourite album
Harvest is my next favourite
Weld is loud live and groovy
I saw Neil Young playing with Booker T & MG's at Finsbury Park.
These guys were as good as Crazy Horse

although i really like on the beach for all the usual reasons i went for tonights the night

because it exists at the edge of things: everything sounds like it is about to breakdown but doesn't (voices breaking, songs going out out of tune)

and for some of my favourite lines:

A hip drag queen and a side-walkin' street wheeler,
Comin' down the avenue.
They're all your friends, you'll come to love 'em
There's a load of 'em waitin' for you.

Remember Bill from up on the hill?
A Cadillac put a hole in his arm.
But old Bill, he's up there still,
Havin' a ball rollin' to the bottom.


and we all went through that era in the same state as he is describing on the record...so i like it for the way he articulates it for us and for the way that the whole album conveys that vibe so well (a lot better than the lou reed ever could)

I almost voted for Comes A Time or Neil Young...the first partly because I grew up with it in some ways, it was the one my dad got.

However I ended up with voting for one I 'should' vote for, Rust Never Sleeps. The others are very first close seconds though. I guess it's because the former albums have a track each that I have not really got into, whereas the weak link on RNS (Ride My Llama) I do like a little more.

I could have gone for Live Rust, but since getting the video and subsequently the DVD, that beats the album...slightly more ragged recording, but the bonus of pictures, and in particular 'Road-Eyes' dancing during Cinnamon Girl. Genius.