Neil Young...what to start with?

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LemonMelon

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In my music collection, I've noticed a huge hole where Neil Young should be. I feel like a noob for not noticing it before, especially since I enjoy everything I've heard by him.
meh.gif


I own:

Rust Never Sleeps

I have heard:

Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere (a VERY good record)

So that leaves everything else he's ever produced. :huh: Since I'll seek out EKTIN for sure, I'd like to maybe try two other albums by him.

So, what are your two favorite NY albums besides those? :wink:

Thanks for the help.
 
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is my favorite.

Zuma. On the Beach.

Honorable mention: Sleeps with Angels, Weld. Decade's a great retrospective.
 
I would put in a strong word for On the Beach.

It completes a trilogy of works in different mediums by that name, the forbearer being the excellent Shute novel about people languishing, waiting to die admist a nuclear holocaust.

Its that same sentiment of despair, resigned and conceded that permeates the album.

Maybe its worth getting Harvest first if just to appreciate where Young came from when recording this album. Its hard to believe that the undeniable jocularity and jovial aspect of Harvest could melt in the bleak on the beach, the 3 "Blues" tracks on the record are evidence of it.

But the best part of it is that it doesn't sound sad.

The riffs are there, Youngs voice doesnt quaver, the rythems slow, smooth and there.

Its just the words that clash. And as you listen to it, though the musical score at first could almost be set to a bluesy Diseny, its an edge, or rather lack of edge in Youngs voice that does it. He's disillusioned, subtle and removed with out sounding it. Its the record Hemmingway might make, its Jack Barnes in LA instead of Paris.

And all of this doesnt do it justice.

Really any young would be good, even his under-acclaimed Parrie Wind (an album I have grown to love). And On the Beach might not serve really as a great encapsulate of Young's career. Still, its an amazing sort of album and I would really recommend it.
 
The recent release of the first archive CD is really great too, circa
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Live versions of a lot of the songs on the album. But you're looking for something new. I'm just putting in a plug and trust me I don't plug all of Neil's stuff.
 
I love the Harvest album but favorite Neil Young song is "Helpless" from when he was with Crosby, Stills and Nash. I think the album is Deja Vu. I think the song is just gorgeous!
 
LemonMelon said:
In my music collection, I've noticed a huge hole where Neil Young should be. I feel like a noob for not noticing it before, especially since I enjoy everything I've heard by him.
meh.gif


I own:

Rust Never Sleeps

I have heard:

Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere (a VERY good record)

So that leaves everything else he's ever produced. :huh: Since I'll seek out EKTIN for sure, I'd like to maybe try two other albums by him.

I'd basically recommend everything he's ever produced. :wink:

Before you do this, I highly recommend getting his Greatest Hits collection from a few years ago.

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While it has songs like Down By The River and Cowgirl in the Sand from Everyone Knows This is Nowhere (songs you've heard), it's an excellent bridge from his underrated early stuff to classic Neil Young. I also believe that all the tracks are master mixes that are enhanced sonically from the original versions found elsewhere.

A couple of others that I truly love: Harvest Moon, and Mirror Ball, which is the album Neil recorded with Pearl Jam as his backing band. If you're a PJ fan, this is obviously the ultimate fusion of the two.

Along with these, one of the most compelling Neil Young things you'll ever hear (and see) came out only last year. Heart Of Gold is a full-length concert film that really captures his character and humour. Because it takes place after his aneurysm and subsequent surgery, the movie is also a document of his triumphant spirit. I was lucky enough to see it in the theatre, but I'm sure that the DVD is also great.
 
VintagePunk said:
After the Gold Rush and Harvest :up:

what she said :up:

Or you can try "Decade" (collection), which was originally a 3LP set, now available as a double CD.
 
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I would run out and by the compilation "Decade" (can't lose with this one). Then there's "On The Beach" (contains one of Neil's all time classic songs "Ambulance Blues"...a "folk" epic!!!).
 
I started with Harvest and then went right to Prairie Wind and they fit together really nicely - similar sounds.

Prairie Wind has some gems - When God Made Me is just ... wow.
 
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