Neil Young song draft

[overkill94]

Going through Neil's entire catalog, I wonder if anyone here is familiar with ALL of it. It's massive, and there's so many half-forgotten weird excursions into nowhere... there's no way anybody knows all these LPs by heart. I'm sure you guys ran into this in the Dylan draft as well.

For example, I loved the 'Re-actor' LP and know those songs backwards and forwards, but I can't recall a single tune from, say, 'Old Ways'.

I'm actually more of a casual Neil Young fan so I'll be drawing from certain albums I know better than others. Like the Dylan draft, I'm hoping it'll open me up to some songs I haven't heard before.

[overkill94]

Ditto. He has so many epic songs that it's impossible to pick which one is the very best.

Yeah, I really don't want the first pick. There's no obvious choice so it'll mostly come down to personal preference. I wouldn't know whether to go with a sprawling epic, beautifully simple acoustic track, or more recognizable fare. Excited to get this going though, even moreso if we end up doing the Led Zeppelin draft.

[Lucky]

Going through Neil's entire catalog, I wonder if anyone here is familiar with ALL of it. It's massive, and there's so many half-forgotten weird excursions into nowhere... there's no way anybody knows all these LPs by heart. I'm sure you guys ran into this in the Dylan draft as well.

For example, I loved the 'Re-actor' LP and know those songs backwards and forwards, but I can't recall a single tune from, say, 'Old Ways'.

As I mentioned in the Dylan draft thread, a lot of artists just have to try their hand with a "country" album, and Old Ways was Neil's contribution to that slag-heap of misfortune.

I am pretty good through Arc/Weld and a few after that such as Sleeps with Angels, Mirror Ball, Broken Arrow and Greendale. The deal with Neil is that there is just so much there to pick from. By comparison, Led Zeppelin had nine (9) studio albums. By the end of that draft it was just a question of who got stuck with the real stinkers. By comparison, I saw an article the other day entitled "Top 20 Neil Young Studio Albums". Even the Beatles, with 12 studio albums, provide nowhere near the depth you'll find in a Neil Young draft.

Even though his albums have been all over the map, I don't know an artist who has changed less over the last 42 years. In a way, he has marked the passage of time in my life, from opening my eyes to the world at age 12 to this very day.

I hope people will take a couple of minutes to explain their selections...not to defend them, but just to say if and how the song selected was special to them for some reason.

[johnnya24]

As I mentioned in the Dylan draft thread, a lot of artists just have to try their hand with a "country" album, and Old Ways was Neil's contribution to that slag-heap of misfortune.

I am pretty good through Arc/Weld and a few after that such as Sleeps with Angels, Mirror Ball, Broken Arrow and Greendale. The deal with Neil is that there is just so much there to pick from. By comparison, Led Zeppelin had nine (9) studio albums. By the end of that draft it was just a question of who got stuck with the real stinkers. By comparison, I saw an article the other day entitled "Top 20 Neil Young Studio Albums". Even the Beatles, with 12 studio albums, provide nowhere near the depth you'll find in a Neil Young draft.

Even though his albums have been all over the map, I don't know an artist who has changed less over the last 42 years. In a way, he has marked the passage of time in my life, from opening my eyes to the world at age 12 to this very day.

I hope people will take a couple of minutes to explain their selections...not to defend them, but just to say if and how the song selected was special to them for some reason.

I did the "Neil Young Thing" about 10 years ago after hearing a bunch of songs from On The Beach played live at a party ... up to that point Neil Young was Harvest and Rockin' In the Free World with Pearl Jam. His output from the late 60's to the end of the 70's can only be surpassed by Dylan IMO ... and because he is more of an introspective kind of lyricist, I can see how some hard core Young fans see him as superior to Dylan. I prefer Young's description of himself as a "B Student" of Dylan

[Lucky]

I did the "Neil Young Thing" about 10 years ago after hearing a bunch of songs from On The Beach played live at a party ... up to that point Neil Young was Harvest and Rockin' In the Free World with Pearl Jam. His output from the late 60's to the end of the 70's can only be surpassed by Dylan IMO ... and because he is more of an introspective kind of lyricist, I can see how some hard core Young fans see him as superior to Dylan. I prefer Young's description of himself as a "B Student" of Dylan

I've got to go out to the game room and pull out all the obscure Neil albums (all the mainstream stuff we have on CD). Some of them drive me crazy, depending upon what mood I'm in. You know the albums I'm talking about.

His biography (Shakey) is a good read.

[Erik]

Going through Neil's entire catalog, I wonder if anyone here is familiar with ALL of it. It's massive, and there's so many half-forgotten weird excursions into nowhere... there's no way anybody knows all these LPs by heart. I'm sure you guys ran into this in the Dylan draft as well.

For example, I loved the 'Re-actor' LP and know those songs backwards and forwards, but I can't recall a single tune from, say, 'Old Ways'.

I'm somewhat obsessed with him, so yeah, I am familiar with pretty close to all of it. Plus a bunch of unreleased stuff.

[Lucky]

I'm somewhat obsessed with him, so yeah, I am familiar with pretty close to all of it. Plus a bunch of unreleased stuff.

It's easy to be obsessed when it comes to Neil Young. Recordings Of Illegitimate Origin abound, some of which rival the commercial releases.

One of my personal favorite compilations is called "Cortez the Killer". It's three full discs. Three discs of "Cortez the Killer", featuring three decades of live versions. I love it. I'll fire it up on Saturday mornings. My wife hates it.

[Erik]

As I mentioned in the Dylan draft thread, a lot of artists just have to try their hand with a "country" album, and Old Ways was Neil's contribution to that slag-heap of misfortune.

I argue that Old Ways was a failure not in concept but in execution. If you listen to any of the shows he played with the International Harvesters -- one is captured on the new release A Treasure -- you come away with two impressions. One, they were an asskicking live unit, but were too sterilized and sanitized on the record. Two, Neil wrote a ton of songs during that period, and made mostly poor choices as to which ones made the record. Many of the songs that were left off are far superior to many of the ones that were put on. This was typical of Neil in the '80s -- Landing on Water and This Note's for You also stand as albums that should have been much better than they were, given what he was playing live at the time.

[Erik]

It's easy to be obsessed when it comes to Neil Young. Recordings Of Illegitimate Origin abound, some of which rival the commercial releases.

I have hundreds of them. That's not a typo.

[Erik]

Erik
Johnny
Mith
Lucky
Kurt
Overkill
ManCalledFoot
DMT/Sheep

We'll close enrollment and do draft order this afternoon.

[Mithrandir]

I'm actually more of a casual Neil Young fan so I'll be drawing from certain albums I know better than others. Like the Dylan draft, I'm hoping it'll open me up to some songs I haven't heard before.

I'm a huge fan of Youngs' work that I own..other stuff not so much...i probably can't name one song from 1994-present that i know very well. Like Overkill hoping to find some new tunes from Young that i will appreciate.

[Mithrandir]

Yeah, I really don't want the first pick. There's no obvious choice so it'll mostly come down to personal preference. I wouldn't know whether to go with a sprawling epic, beautifully simple acoustic track, or more recognizable fare. Excited to get this going though, even moreso if we end up doing the Led Zeppelin draft.

Gotta do the Zep draft next!!

[Lucky]

You'll have to get someone to take my place for the Zep draft, since I did it last time (and as much as I hate to mention it, crushed the opposition). Once you have ascended the Stairway to Heaven, it's hard to get up the energy to do it again. (And no, that was not on my list.)

[DMT]

You'll have to get someone to take my place for the Zep draft, since I did it last time (and as much as I hate to mention it, crushed the opposition). Once you have ascended the Stairway to Heaven, it's hard to get up the energy to do it again. (And no, that was not on my list.)

Pffff

[Lucky]

I have hundreds of them. That's not a typo.

I only have 40 or 50 Neil boots, but I tried to be selective with them. There is one I've been seeking for years and years. If you're game, I may ask you to check to see if you have it and can burn me a copy.

I've got hundreds of Clapton boots, if you count Mayall, Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, and Delaney and Bonnie. Tons of Allmans, Hendrix, Waits, Little Feat, close to a hundred Zeppelin.

It was great fun in the old days...finding that guy in Canada or Japan or Denmark who had just what you wanted, negotiating the 25-for-25 trade, being like Christmas when your package of discs came in and you could start spinning them up. Now you just to to Dimeadozen and let the computer do the work. To me, making friends across the country and globe was almost as fun as the music.