Neil Young

yukbon said:
I'm glad it was useful. I'm not a huge fan, but I've been meaning to dive in for a while.

I have unplugged, decade and greatest hits on cd and a few downloads. What would you guys recommend as a good intro or deeper dive? I recently picked up some blank minidisc and will be making some for some mobile tech work I need to do, so I figured this would be a good opportunity. I like the noise stuff and the acoustic stuff. Face melting guitar solos and Helpless are equally 👌 imo. Suggestions are welcome
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After Decade, I went for Rust Never Sleeps - it definitely strikes the perfect acoustic/electric balance.

After that, go back to Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After The Gold Rush, and Harvest.

Next steps would be Tonight’s The Night, On The Beach, and Zuma.

Beyond the 70s, I’d go for Ragged Glory and Harvest Moon in the 90s, and Le Noise and Psychedelic Pill from his later years.
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Interesting. I saw Neil on that tour in 1990 (with both Social Distortion and Sonic Youth opening). Amazing show, but it was in a big arena and the sound was a complete mess. You had to work pretty hard to find the songs through all of the noise. And while I get that this is a big part of the appeal of Arc/Weld - and I enjoy and still love it - I have to admit I am partial to the "let's go jam for hours in the garage" sound of Way Down In the Rust Bucket. Recorded in a small club in Santa Cruz in the lead-up to what would become the Weld tour, it's more raw and unfiltered. It's the sound of a legendary band (Neil & Crazy Horse) finding their groove again - documented in real time - after a series of mis-steps in the 11 years since Live Rust was released. In every song, you can literally hear and feel the deep love and unabated joy of re-discovery taking place among the band, and to my ears it never gets old.

And oh man, if I was limited to 10 Neil albums (sooo hard, and I still had to cheat):

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Harvest
Tonight's the Night
On the Beach
Comes a Time
Rust Never Sleeps
Freedom
Ragged Glory
Way Down in the Rust Bucket
Live at Massey Hall / Live at Carnegie Hall
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The big arenas can be hit or miss depending on your location. I was in the 5th row with tape rolling. My spot sounded pretty great...

 
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
The big arenas can be hit or miss depending on your location. I was in the 5th row with tape rolling. My spot sounded pretty great...

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Glad you found a good spot - it can definitely help. There's no doubting it was a superlative show, and it still ranks high in my Neil experiences. That said, I'm a Rust Bucket man.

As for my favorite Neil show, it would have to be a 1996 gig with Crazy Horse in the driving rain at the Gorge in George, Washington. The Gorge is a pretty spectacular setting, a natural rock amphitheater on a high desert plateau rising from the Columbia River. The Pacific NW version of Red Rocks, if you will. In any case, never seen Neil and the boys play with quite that much joy or enthusiasm, before or since. They were reveling in the adverse conditions, seemingly drawing energy from the storm. They played for two and a half hours, and the encore went on for 5 songs. Patti Smith opened up, and she was also great. Just one of those magical nights.

This is the show, and this recap (not mine) sums it up pretty well:
The next two and a quarter hours were like an ecstatic blur; Billy in his semi-trance state, playing his bass as if he was under some kind of spell, opening his eyes now and then, contorting his face here and there... Pancho was laughing a lot, having a wonderful time... and Neil was absolutely incredible, playing his guts out the entire time... despite a more-or-less steady rain for the last 3/4 of the show! Ralph would hit a crash cymbal and a spray of water would explode from it... the candles had to be re-lit periodically... when Neil would stomp, water would splash up sometimes. Everybody got wet, but it mattered not!
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hatfieldpdx said:
Glad you found a good spot - it can definitely help. There's no doubting it was a superlative show, and it still ranks high in my Neil experiences. That said, I'm a Rust Bucket man.

As for my favorite Neil show, it would have to be a 1996 gig with Crazy Horse in the driving rain at the Gorge in George, Washington. The Gorge is a pretty spectacular setting, a natural rock amphitheater on a high desert plateau rising from the Columbia River. The Pacific NW version of Red Rocks, if you will. In any case, never seen Neil and the boys play with quite that much joy or enthusiasm, before or since. They were reveling in the adverse conditions, seemingly drawing energy from the storm. They played for two and a half hours, and the encore went on for 5 songs. Patti Smith opened up, and she was also great. Just one of those magical nights.

This is the show, and this recap (not mine) sums it up pretty well:
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That's the great thing about Neil - he has that ability to connect with listeners on so many different musical levels.

This got me thinking back to some other shows and how unique they were. One tour that comes to mind is Trans. I saw two shows on that run. The first was Neil totally solo with himself recorded as electronic accompaniment and my first experience with Dan Clear. The second show a few months later had morphed to include a full band set of Shocking Pinks material complete with Dan Clear trying to get an interview with Neil as he drove away in a pink Caddy convertible.

Damn, I love Neil Young.
 
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
That's the great thing about Neil - he has that ability to connect with listeners on so many different musical levels.

This got me thinking back to some other shows and how unique they were. One tour that comes to mind is Trans. I saw two shows on that run. The first was Neil totally solo with himself recorded as electronic accompaniment and my first experience with Dan Clear. The second show a few months later had morphed to include a full band set of Shocking Pinks material complete with Dan Clear trying to get an interview with Neil as he drove away in a pink Caddy convertible.

Damn, I love Neil Young.
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I still hold out hope for a "Trans 2" one day.
 
JohnnyCashFan said:
What are feelings about Young Shakespeare in gereral ? Have a opp to pick up a store leftover copy pretty cheap ($20).
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If you have Massey Hall and Carnegie Hall, you are pretty set in terms of early acoustic Neil, but this one is also great and more Neil is almost always better. Some have suggested picking by setlist, but each show has its own nuance, and each features at least one essential track not on the others. So I guess the only proper answer is that you really do need to own all 3 (I tried to resist on Carnegie Hall, but caved about a week ago. :ROFLMAO: No regrets!
 
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hatfieldpdx said:
If you have Massey Hall and Carnegie Hall, you are pretty set in terms of early acoustic Neil, but this one is also great and more Neil is almost always better. Some have suggested picking by setlist, but they each have their own nuance, and each has at least one essential track not on the others. So I guess the only proper answer is that you really do need to own all 3 (I tried to resist on Carnegie Hall, but caved about a week ago. :ROFLMAO: No regrets!
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resistance is futile on that one ! lol

I just have Carnegie, Greatest Hits, and some hodge podge other releases.
 
hatfieldpdx said:
If you have Massey Hall and Carnegie Hall, you are pretty set in terms of early acoustic Neil, but this one is also great and more Neil is almost always better. Some have suggested picking by setlist, but they each have their own nuance, and each has at least one essential track not on the others. So I guess the only proper answer is that you really do need to own all 3 (I tried to resist on Carnegie Hall, but caved about a week ago. :ROFLMAO: No regrets!
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Yeah, the only one of the three I don’t have is Massey Hall and I would be all over when it get repressed. I prefer the Massey Hall set more than the other two but Young Shakespeare and Carnegie Hall and Live From The Cellar Door and Live From Canterbury House are not lacking in charm either.
 
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JohnnyCashFan said:
resistance is futile on that one ! lol

I just have Carnegie, Greatest Hits, and some hodge podge other releases.
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In that case, I might recommend Massey Hall over Shakespeare - if you can find a copy - but the latter really is worth owning. The version of Sugar Mountain is a real highlight. So, maybe pick up Shakespeare and keep and eye out for a Massey Hall re-press? Or focus on some of the studio albums first...or pick up Way Down in the Rust Bucket if you need a live Crazy Horse fix...or... :ROFLMAO:
 
hatfieldpdx said:
In that case, I might recommend Massey Hall over Shakespeare - if you can find a copy - but the latter really is worth owning. The version of Sugar Mountain is a real highlight. So, maybe pick up Shakespeare and keep and eye out for a Massey Hall re-press? Or focus on some of the studio albums first...or pick up Way Down in the Rust Bucket if you need a live Crazy Horse fix...or... :ROFLMAO:
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Haven't quite gone down... the Rust buck...wait...whats happening...turning green......... :eek:
☺️

ps looks up Massey prices....GULP.... waiting on repress 😊
 
JohnnyCashFan said:
Haven't quite gone down... the Rust buck...wait...whats happening...turning green......... :eek:
☺️

ps looks up Massey prices....GULP.... waiting on repress 😊
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Another good reason to pick these up. Massey will likely get a re-press, but given that Neil is hell bent on releasing all kinds of archival material on vinyl, in addition to re-issues of Ragged Glory, Deja Vu and others that will soon be hitting the 50-year mark...it could be awhile. Might as well grab Shakespeare to keep you company in the meantime.
 
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