Neil Young Discussion Thread

[twilight]

Holy crap.
Just started getting into Neil Young since I got a turntable and dug out my parents old copy of Harvest.
After spinning that a couple of times I rushed out and bought my own copy along with On The Beach and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

I'm pretty impressed and thought it'd be cool to get a little bit of discussion going about the man and his work.

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?
-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?
-Which album do you like the best?
-Which live album do you like the best?
-Is he your favourite Canadian?
-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?
-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

-Twi

[Romero]

The "Godfather of Grunge" title is kinda dumb but he was definitely an influence.

The "grunge" band Mudhoney quoted the end lick to "Cinnamon Girl" in one of their songs, I think as a nod to that whole thing.

Check out "Rust Never Sleeps" at least the electric half (or "Cinnamon Girl") He could make some real thick, heavy racket when he wanted to. I'm not a big fan and don't follow him but I think he wrote some great, beautiful songs.

I prefer him solo/Crazy Horse. I have never much cared for CSN&Y.

He's a better Canadian than Bryan Adams.

[Adam C]

He's a better Canadian than Bryan Adams.

Granted, that's like saying "He's a better Englishman than the Gallagher Brothers."

[jesse_custer]

Grunge's antecedents were probably more Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Stooges, and the Sex Pistols as well as the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr.

To me some of Velvet Underground's stuff is grungy.

[Buried Alien]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

The "Godfather of Grunge" title is kinda dumb but he was definitely an influence.

Moreover, it's sort of misleading. From the title, you'd think that Neil Young spent a great amount of his recording career making records that featured *alot* of overdriven, distorted electric guitar, but so much of Young's work is acoustic guitar-based.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[rick]

Moreover, it's sort of misleading. From the title, you'd think that Neil Young spent a great amount of his recording career making records that featured *alot* of overdriven, distorted electric guitar, but so much of Young's work is acoustic guitar-based.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Well let’s not underestimate the amount of music Neil has produced over the years that does feature a whole bunch of overdriven, distorted electric guitar, it is after all some of the mans very best work.

Songs like Powderfinger, Rust Never Sleeps and Like a Hurricane work best with that full ranged, overblown, balls to the wall, Crazy Horse delivery.

[Adam C]

Moreover, it's sort of misleading. From the title, you'd think that Neil Young spent a great amount of his recording career making records that featured *alot* of overdriven, distorted electric guitar, but so much of Young's work is acoustic guitar-based.

I'm of two minds on this. I do agree that it is misleading as a descriptor. A friend of mine was once genuinely surprised to learn that much of Young's recorded output was recorded in a country-rock mode with him playing acoustic guitar due to that label. On the other, while his work with Crazyhorse may not make up the majority or even half of his total recorded output, it is a very prominent part of that. Frequently Young's creative personality is perceived as being split between the two poles of Crazy Horse and Neil Young as an acoustic singer-songwriter. And many of Crazy Horse's songs were well known to the public before Nirvana came along.

Though I suppose the question is only really answered by the number of Grunge musicians who claim him as an influence.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Though I suppose the question is only really answered by the number of Grunge musicians who claim him as an influence.

All of them. He's a popular man to love.

[twilight]

If all goes according to plan I should be seeing Neil perform on Sunday

But the real reason I'm bringing this thread back is to ask if Neil's ever released a completely instrumental song on an album,either by himself or with Crazy Horse?

-Twi

[Ilash]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

Well, you know, it's probably too but I'm not much for Grunge music so this title doesn't really mean very much to me. I simply don't really care if he did create Grunge or not - even if I'm thinking he probably did.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

Solo or with Crazy Horse. Either way.

-Which album do you like the best?

On the Beach.

-Which live album do you like the best?

I only have Unplugged so far so I can't say but Weld looks great.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

Well, him or William Shatner, I suppose. Not that I know many Canadians.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Folky by a hair but I love both aspects.

[Adam C]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

It's a debatable title. On the one hand Mudhoney, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam claim him as an influence, as does Dinosaur Jr., which was an influence on Grunge. And arguably Crazyhorse laid down the proto-type with their blend of guitar noise and personalised song-writing.

On other, many of the Grunge bands don't sound anything like Young and Crazy Horse (then again who does? It's a pretty idiosyncratic act) and Grunge's antecedents were probably more Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Stooges, and the Sex Pistols as well as the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. And of course I suppose that depends what we mean by "grunge". Earlier Seattle acts like Green River, Mudhoney, and the Melvins all had a punkier, much dirtier sound. Bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana tended to have a cleaner, more 70s hard-rock sound with sludgier distortion.

And the debate becomes moot with bands like Candlebox and Bush. And even more so once we hit Creed.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

All the above depending on my mood. Of course all the songs he has done (or at least the older ones that matter like "Ohio" and "Helpless") with CSN&Y sound like Neil Young sounds with better backing vocals than well...CS&N songs.

-Which album do you like the best?
-Which live album do you like the best?

Can't answer that properly since I actually don't have that many Neil Young albums thanks to my broad musical tastes which diffuse my discography in many ways.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

My favourite famous Canadian yes.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Again depends upon my mood, though I've listened to Decade enough, easily transitioning between the more countryish numbers and the rock numbers.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

Dunno. Haven't heard them and really have no desire to.

[leonaozaki]

Holy crap.
Just started getting into Neil Young since I got a turntable and dug out my parents old copy of Harvest.
After spinning that a couple of times I rushed out and bought my own copy along with On The Beach and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

I like most of the singles off of Harvest but I've never been able to been get into it as a record. I do like "Out on the Weekend," though. On the Beach and Everybody Knows are two of my favorite Young records.

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

It was a lot of hype, for sure. I don't know how many of the grunge bands looked to him as a direct influence, although Sonic Youth and Pixies did, who in turn influenced a lot of those grunge bands, so maybe there was something to it after all.

Certainly "Cinnamon Girl" sounds like a lot of the music of the early 90's, but then so does "Helter Skelter" and "Gigantic." Young had the look down, though: look at the cover to Everybody Knows: it's like the Grunge Outfit (TM)!

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

Either solo or with Crazy Horse. I do like Harvest and Harvest Moon but the Stray Gators aren't really that exciting as a band. Buffalo Springfield, on the other hand, was a great band and I dig their records. But as great as Neil's songs were with them it wasn't until he went solo and hooked up with Crazy Horse that he became a great artist.

CSNY? Meh. Stephen Stills is a great guitarist when he wants to be, and CSN have great harmonies. But other than that they are overhyped, over-medicated and largely talentless hacks. They have moments of transcendence (Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Teach Your Children) but in general they bore me to tears.

So when Young hooks up with them it seems pretty pointless. David Crosby admitted as much during one of their reunions: "Neil needs us like a stag needs a hat rack."

All that said, check out of "Through My Sails" on Young's Zuma. It's CSNY and it's great.

-Which album do you like the best?

Yikes. I mean, Young is one of my favorite artists, not all that far below Dylan (probably my favorite) in my estimation, so it's hard for me to pick a favorite. I'll go with five:

1) Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
2) Tonight's the Night
3) On the Beach
4) Sleeps with Angels
5) Rust Never Sleeps

-Which live album do you like the best?

Live Rust, definitely, although Weld ranks a close second.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

Probably. Although 4/5's of the Band are also Canadian, so it's close.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Well, I like the loud, rock and roll Neil best, myself, although some of his greatest songs are his acoustic folk songs. Generally his acoustic albums tend to drag a little for me, except for the kooky brilliance that is Comes a Time.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

-Twi

I have not heard either, although I have heard good things about Trans. Most people I read agree Everybody's Rockin' is pretty much an unrelenting drag.

Young's problem in the 80's was that his son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (a pretty severe case from what I understand) and he and his wife were trying a fairly radical process to try and help him. It didn't work and it traumatized Young for years. So a lot of his 80's work comes from that perspective-- of trying, and failing, to find new ways to communicate.

If you're into Young at all, you might check out Shakey. It's a great biography of Young and a great read.

rob

[Ontir]

I saw the trailer for Déja Vu last night. It looks really good. It's funny to see the people storm out of the concert. They bought tickets to a CSNY show, POLITICAL has always been a part of the equation!

(I was going to give you a link, but imdb doesn't have one!)

[CoreyB]

Holy crap.
Just started getting into Neil Young since I got a turntable and dug out my parents old copy of Harvest.

I wish I could get my turntable to work through our stereo. I think I know what I need to get to make it work, I just haven't made the time to go look for it.

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

Probably accurate. He certainly provided the visual template, as someone mentioned.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

Solo, Buffalo Springfield and CSNY, although to be fair I haven't heard much of his stuff with The Stray Gators, and have nothing against his work with Crazy Horse.

-Which album do you like the best?

Harvest, but I have an extremely limited sampling of his discography. As in, Harvest is all I have.

-Which live album do you like the best?

Don't have any yet.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

Joni Mitchell probably bumps him but he's certainly up there.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Both are good but I tend to the more folky stuff.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

Don't know but I've heard they're clunkers. I think I remember reading AllMusic's reviews of them and they weren't very complimentary. I'm a completist though, so I'll probably get them eventually. I have lots of other stuff of his to get first, though.

[Adam C]

Since no one here seems to have much familiarity with either of his most derided works I've decided to trawl You Tube for some videos of that era to present as discussion pieces:

Wonderin'

And now Trans... (surprisingly there's more of this than EVERYBODY'S ROCKIN' even if it's all fan made videos).

Sample and Hold

Computer Cowboy