Neil Young song draft

[overkill94]

Dang, there's a lot of stuff I need to catch up on in Neil's catalog! Unfortunately, I need to start studying for the Bowie draft

Just downloaded Hunky Dory, Low, Aladdin Sane, Scary Monsters, and Heroes (Ziggy Stardust is the only one I'm truly familiar with). Any others I should brush up on before this thing gets started?

[Fresno Bob]

Dang, there's a lot of stuff I need to catch up on in Neil's catalog! Unfortunately, I need to start studying for the Bowie draft

Just downloaded Hunky Dory, Low, Aladdin Sane, Scary Monsters, and Heroes (Ziggy Stardust is the only one I'm truly familiar with). Any others I should brush up on before this thing gets started?

Am I giving too much away if I say that Hunky Dory and Low are two of my favorite Bowie albums?

We need a lot of owners drafting, Bowie goes DEEP....

[DMT]

Dang, there's a lot of stuff I need to catch up on in Neil's catalog! Unfortunately, I need to start studying for the Bowie draft

Just downloaded Hunky Dory, Low, Aladdin Sane, Scary Monsters, and Heroes (Ziggy Stardust is the only one I'm truly familiar with). Any others I should brush up on before this thing gets started?

I would recommend you add Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold the World, Station to Station and Lodger (at minimum )

[Erik]

Lucky asked me to talk about Neil's recent releases. I'll start in 2000 and work forward.

Silver and Gold (2000) -- If you like Harvest, Comes a Time, and Harvest Moon, you'll like this. Lovely acoustic stuff, some with fantastic lyrics (Razor Love, The Great Divide, title track), some not (Daddy Went Walkin', Buffalo Springfield Again).

Road Rock Vol. 1 (live, 2000) -- Fun but inessential live album, featuring a bunch of stuff you usually don't see from him on tour.

Are You Passionate? (2002) -- Avoid. It's hard to think of a less inspired Neil studio album this side of Landing on Water. He finally brings his collaboration with Booker T and the MGs to the studio, but the songs are slight and tossed off. Just find "Goin' Home" (a holdover from Toast, a Crazy Horse project that was abandoned the year before) and "Don't Say You Love Me," forget the rest existed.

Greendale (2003) -- The world's only spontaneous rock opera. Neil started a tale about strange stuff in a small coastal town one day, and wrote a new song continuing the saga each day. It doesn't add up to much of anything story-wise, but the album version has some nice crunchy playing from Neil and the CH rhythm section. Live, it was expanded into a full-scale musical, and tried the patience of audiences around the globe for almost two years. The standout is the acoustic "Bandit," a lovely song that works out of the context of the album, unlike most of the rest of it.

Prairie Wind (2005) -- Acoustic/countryish album recorded in Nashville. More understated than most of his acoustic work. A pleasant listen, but only "This Old Guitar" stands with the best of Harvest, Comes a Time, etc. Do see "Heart of Gold," the concert film from this period, though.

Living with War (2006) -- The lyrics are already horribly dated, but you figure he expected that. The music is pretty intense and at times majestic, though. Avoid if you're a die-hard Republican, check it out if you're interested in a snapshot of the time and place.

Live at the Fillmore East (live, 2007) -- From the legendary 1970 Crazy Horse tour comes a long-awaited set that convincingly shows what the fuss is all about. Four short boot-stomping rockers accompany dizzying, exhilarating workouts of Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand. Essential.

Chrome Dreams II (2007) -- Like its unreleased predecessor (and Freedom, in fact), a hodge-podge of many different styles that somehow holds together. Lovely acoustic numbers stand with hard rock rave-ups and the belated release of the titanic "Ordinary People." If you get just one studio album from the '00s, it should be this one.

Live at Massey Hall 1971 (live, 2007) -- An incredible performance from the tour in between After the Gold Rush and Harvest. Songs from both those albums and a few others get nakedly emotional treatments. If you are at all interested in acoustic Neil, you must have this.

Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 (live, 2008) -- In which we see the young Neil try to find his footing as a solo performer. Not in the same league as Massey Hall but a must-have if you like this era.

Fork in the Road (2009) -- A song cycle about cars, it's mostly a return to the staccato, machine-gun arrangements of Re*ac*tor, of all things. So Foot will love it, the rest of you probably won't. The songs are mostly weak except for the strutting "Fuel Line" and the compelling "Light a Candle."

Dreamin' Man Live '92 (live, 2009) -- It is what the title says it is. If you love Harvest Moon, by all means indulge, if you don't, skip it.

Le Noise (2010) -- A highly experimental work produced by Daniel Lanois, it's just Neil and his distorted guitar. If you listen to the clip for "Angry World" that Lucky posted, most of the album sounds exactly like that, so judge accordingly. Notably included is "Hitchhiker," a song written in the '70s about his drug use, some of whose lyrics were clipped for Trans' "Like an Inca."

A Treasure (live, 2011) -- A much better representation of the International Harvesters than Old Ways, it's a good sampler for those who like hard-hitting country rock. But avoid if you don't like it when Neil sings with a twang.

[DMT]

Am I giving too much away if I say that Hunky Dory and Low are two of my favorite Bowie albums?

We need a lot of owners drafting, Bowie goes DEEP....

I'm guessing you and I will probably wanna go the deepest among the bunch (although I'm sure Foot and Lucky are not far behind). Plus, I don't want to make it too deep b/c we have several drafters who aren't that familiar so it could become tedious for them if we go too deep. I figured around 100 songs should get drafted, and then like Erik we can post our leftovers if need be. Or, if enough are interested, we can lengthen the draft as well.

ETA: I'm starting a new thread.

[madducks]

So who's the winner?

[johnnya24]

So who's the winner?

Everyone and no-one ... everyone picks their own favourites.

[Lucky]

Everyone and no-one ... everyone picks their own favourites.

Agreed. It had a completely different feel and dynamic than the Beatles and Zep drafts. And the Floyd, for that matter.

[Erik]

Studio albums that got shut out:

Buffalo Springfield's debut
Old Ways
Landing on Water
American Dream (CSNY)
This Note's for You
Dead Man soundtrack
Looking Forward (CSNY)
Are You Passionate?
Greendale
Prairie Wind
Fork in the Road

[Erik]

Agreed. It had a completely different feel and dynamic than the Beatles and Zep drafts. And the Floyd, for that matter.

Exactly. When there is this much material to choose from, everybody gets a whole "roster" that they're happy with.

[Lucky]

I thought about the song "American Dream", and listened to it a few times, but just couldn't pull the trigger. It gets better as it goes along.

If it had gone 20 rounds, I definitely would have included "Younder Stands the Sinner", from Time Fades Away.

Maybe also the Gulf War version of "Blowin' In The Wind" (the Dylan song) from Weld.

[Erik]

This is amusing.

http://www.theawl.com/2012/02/neil-young-glasgow-1976#comments

[johnnya24]

This is amusing.

http://www.theawl.com/2012/02/neil-y...-1976#comments

Lucky he didn't get glassed and left for dead ... Glasgow is a sh!t hole.

[Gregg]

This is amusing.

http://www.theawl.com/2012/02/neil-y...-1976#comments

Thank you for posting this! I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it.

Some random thoughts while I was watching:

I would like to have come upon that. I would have put a buck in even if I knew it was Old Neal.

I noticed that he was playing a new banjo with a new case.

I liked the guy who held up the Newspaper with Neal's picture on it. Didn't care so much for his comment.

My hair was longer than all of those in the crowd.

I really liked the way 1976 Neal sang.

[Lucky]

Another random observation...Neil's not really playing a banjo, but a six-string banjo, which is actually a type of guitar. It has the neck of a guitar, and is tuned like a guitar. It is primarily designed for guitarists who want the sound of a banjo, but don't play banjo, which is another thing altogether.

Just FYI. Not hating on Neil, he uses the six-string banjo guitar a lot, and to a good effect. I can't remember right now for certain if he actually plays banjo, but I think he does.