Neil Young

Devil#20

Who's written the best songs part 2

I think I should really have thought about this more and limited the scope of best songs so I'll reprise and rephrase and version 2 the original thread. 

Who wrote the best songs based on their personal life experience and not primarily for commercial acceptance of being a toe-tapping experience?

For me, that's still Neil Young. Stuff on his oft referred to as the trilogy of doom albums. Time Fades Away, On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. Bleak and brilliant albums from a dark period of his life. He used to get pissed or stoned and go in the studio late at night and record them. You can tell in the albums that he was under the influence of something or other because of his slurred singing and that's what makes those songs brilliant albeit for all the wrong reasons. Subject matter might not make them the most melodic songs made but great songs given the context and songs that make you think beyond the music. In the main drunken sessions are unscripted masterpieces. When sober he was equally brilliant. 

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

JezWynd

Peak Neil Young for me is the run of Everybody Knows, After The Goldrush and Harvest. Three brilliant LP’s where he laid down the blueprint for his songwriting and music style. I still regularly play those three records and they’ve never lost their shine. 

Philly_Q

I like some of his stuff.  But not so much that I can be bothered to go through the whole catalogue, he's too prolific.

Neil

I love Neil Young but would take issue with you about him being "an awful singer." 

His high pitched voice has an ethereal and haunting quality to me that only enhances his music. 

guitarjack66

Neil said:

I love Neil Young but would take issue with you about him being "an awful singer." 

His high pitched voice has an ethereal and haunting quality to me that only enhances his music. 

I agree. This is not Opera 'It's Rock n Roll Baby.'

rustneversleeps

Neil said:

His high pitched voice has an ethereal and haunting quality to me that only enhances his music. 

Exactly.Obviously I’am a big fan.Some of his stuff I like more than others.He has such a huge output over the years it’s easy to find my favourites from ballads to heavy rock and everything in between.He’s still going as his now on tour with the  horse shame it’s in the states.

SPECTRUM001

JezWynd said:

Peak Neil Young for me is the run of Everybody Knows, After The Goldrush and Harvest. Three brilliant LP’s where he laid down the blueprint for his songwriting and music style. I still regularly play those three records and they’ve never lost their shine. 

Couldn’t agree more - these are the three that matter the most. Also have a lot of love for Harvest Moon.

i just got my turntable working (after three years absence) and Everybody Knows has been on for the last couple of days. Amazing songs, guitar and voice.

Note - I bought my Rat back in 1989 cos that’s what Neil Young was using !

drofluf

Devil#20 said:

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

I’m not sure the name check from Lynyrd Skynyrd was meant as homage? 

“ Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her

Well, I heard ol' Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow”

My understanding is that they were written in response to “Southern Man” where he took issue with the racism in the South. 

mudslide73

I very much like Tonight's The Night and think it gets overlooked a bit - some of my real favourites on it (Albuquerque especially). I also really like the late 80s, early 90s Freedom, Ragged Glory, Weld, Harvest Moon and Unplugged era also. Not many artists are able to have multiple purple patches like NY.

guitarjack66

drofluf said:

Devil#20 said:

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

I’m not sure the name check from Lynyrd Skynyrd was meant as homage? 

“ Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her

Well, I heard ol' Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow”

My understanding is that they were written in response to “Southern Man” where he took issue with the racism in the South. 

I am guessing the OP's reference had more than a hint of sarcasm regarding the name check comment?
Incidentally,I am a recent listener to Neil Young as I put him off listening to for years. But when taking up the guitar 4 or 5 years ago he became a name you couldn't escape and he now features on my regular listening list. I can also regularly destroy his songs when practicing guitar too! Strangely his politics are not that radical if using European Liberalism as a reference but upsetting corporate North America is regarded almost as treason. His lyrics are often no more radical than say Bruce Springsteen but I dare say not many US listeners to Springsteen get past the 'USA' parts and ignore the criticism of it's home and foreign policy in a few of the other lyrics. Southern Man is a great song when used 'of it's time' and it's often denigration when spoken about in reference to that,sometimes annoying, Sweet Home Alabama misses it's point completely.

Greatape

Devil#20 said:

Who's written the best songs part 2

I think I should really have thought about this more and limited the scope of best songs so I'll reprise and rephrase and version 2 the original thread. 

Who wrote the best songs based on their personal life experience and not primarily for commercial acceptance of being a toe-tapping experience?

For me, that's still Neil Young. Stuff on his oft referred to as the trilogy of doom albums. Time Fades Away, On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. Bleak and brilliant albums from a dark period of his life. He used to get pissed or stoned and go in the studio late at night and record them. You can tell in the albums that he was under the influence of something or other because of his slurred singing and that's what makes those songs brilliant albeit for all the wrong reasons. Subject matter might not make them the most melodic songs made but great songs given the context and songs that make you think beyond the music. In the main drunken sessions are unscripted masterpieces. When sober he was equally brilliant. 

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

I think he was on heavy meds following a spinal op for quite a long time. Also for the epilepsy, possibly. Although he was also using pot, I imagine. 

guitarjack66 said:

drofluf said:

Devil#20 said:

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

I’m not sure the name check from Lynyrd Skynyrd was meant as homage? 

“ Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her

Well, I heard ol' Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow”

My understanding is that they were written in response to “Southern Man” where he took issue with the racism in the South. 

I am guessing the OP's reference had more than a hint of sarcasm regarding the name check comment?
Incidentally,I am a recent listener to Neil Young as I put him off listening to for years. But when taking up the guitar 4 or 5 years ago he became a name you couldn't escape and he now features on my regular listening list. I can also regularly destroy his songs when practicing guitar too! Strangely his politics are not that radical if using European Liberalism as a reference but upsetting corporate North America is regarded almost as treason. His lyrics are often no more radical than say Bruce Springsteen but I dare say not many US listeners to Springsteen get past the 'USA' parts and ignore the criticism of it's home and foreign policy in a few of the other lyrics. Southern Man is a great song when used 'of it's time' and it's often denigration when spoken about in reference to that,sometimes annoying, Sweet Home Alabama misses it's point completely.

I think he later regretted the broad brush nature of that song, and reconciled with LS (who were fans of his). 

Strongly recommend his biography, 'Shakey', for an insane level of detail 

mudslide73

Greatape said:

Devil#20 said:

Who's written the best songs part 2

I think I should really have thought about this more and limited the scope of best songs so I'll reprise and rephrase and version 2 the original thread. 

Who wrote the best songs based on their personal life experience and not primarily for commercial acceptance of being a toe-tapping experience?

For me, that's still Neil Young. Stuff on his oft referred to as the trilogy of doom albums. Time Fades Away, On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. Bleak and brilliant albums from a dark period of his life. He used to get pissed or stoned and go in the studio late at night and record them. You can tell in the albums that he was under the influence of something or other because of his slurred singing and that's what makes those songs brilliant albeit for all the wrong reasons. Subject matter might not make them the most melodic songs made but great songs given the context and songs that make you think beyond the music. In the main drunken sessions are unscripted masterpieces. When sober he was equally brilliant. 

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

I think he was on heavy meds following a spinal op for quite a long time. Also for the epilepsy, possibly. Although he was also using pot, I imagine. 

guitarjack66 said:

drofluf said:

Devil#20 said:

He's an awful singer but he gets away with it because of his general awesomeness and genius. Good enough to get a name check by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was anti-establishment but kept his moral integrity and never wavered. 

In my opinion they broke the mould when they made Neil Young. I suspect others feel the same. 

I’m not sure the name check from Lynyrd Skynyrd was meant as homage? 

“ Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her

Well, I heard ol' Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow”

My understanding is that they were written in response to “Southern Man” where he took issue with the racism in the South. 

I am guessing the OP's reference had more than a hint of sarcasm regarding the name check comment?
Incidentally,I am a recent listener to Neil Young as I put him off listening to for years. But when taking up the guitar 4 or 5 years ago he became a name you couldn't escape and he now features on my regular listening list. I can also regularly destroy his songs when practicing guitar too! Strangely his politics are not that radical if using European Liberalism as a reference but upsetting corporate North America is regarded almost as treason. His lyrics are often no more radical than say Bruce Springsteen but I dare say not many US listeners to Springsteen get past the 'USA' parts and ignore the criticism of it's home and foreign policy in a few of the other lyrics. Southern Man is a great song when used 'of it's time' and it's often denigration when spoken about in reference to that,sometimes annoying, Sweet Home Alabama misses it's point completely.

I think he later regretted the broad brush nature of that song, and reconciled with LS (who were fans of his). 

Strongly recommend his biography, 'Shakey', for an insane level of detail 

+1 for Shakey. I named my last originals band The Honeyslides after reading it. I've never tried one though.. I think it explains the vibe from the Tonight's The Night and On The Beach period.

GoFish

I think maybe Neil's greatest achievement was in not having a "Bad 80s" .

I struggle to rank Neil in particular - he's just so different and prolific. I like various things of his from Buffalo Springfield to probably Harvest Moon but here's the thing: Neil from any period has the capability to be compelling and interesting, even if the musicianship or production doesn't immediately grab you. He knows how to tell a story. Maybe by focusing on keeping himself interested it it remains interesting to us? I dunno. He's certainly a do-er. Songs for him aren't this precious little flower he slowly unfurls. Think it, write it, play it, move on.

I've always fround his approach quite inspiring to creativity.

I ,too, love Tonights the Night but probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan.

Offset

I adore Neil Young.  There you go.

ICBM

guitarjack66 said:

Strangely his politics are not that radical if using European Liberalism as a reference but upsetting corporate North America is regarded almost as treason. His lyrics are often no more radical than say Bruce Springsteen but I dare say not many US listeners to Springsteen get past the 'USA' parts and ignore the criticism of it's home and foreign policy in a few of the other lyrics.

I never know whether to laugh or despair at people who think Springsteen's work - and Born In The USA in particular - is some kind of jingoistic crowd-rousing pro-America celebration. Have they never actually listened to the words? The whole thing is one of the bleakest and most biting condemnations of America ever written.

GoFish said:

I think maybe Neil's greatest achievement was in not having a "Bad 80s" .

Landing On Water is probably his worst album, but otherwise I agree. I don't actually think he's had a 'good period' and a 'bad period' at any time, other than perhaps the run of the first few albums being great - his output has always been a bit variable, he's always been willing to experiment a bit, and some of his later work is as good as anything he's ever written.

mburekenge

He's awesome.

jeromegreenday

He's ace. If it wasn't for him you wouldn't have two of the finest cover songs ever, St etienne - only love can break your heart and Grace potter and Joe satriani - Cortez the killer
Grace Potter and Joe Satriani cover Cortez the Killer (youtube.com)

fretfinder

Well, he shot four men in a cocaine deal

And he left 'em lyin' in an open field
Full of old cars with bullet holes in the mirrors
He tried to do his best, but he could not…

https://youtu.be/iPoIRVSLJ2o?si=D_zWFH0EfM3gvwLi

drofluf

For me the 80’s were perhaps his weakest patch. But that’s perhaps part of his appeal; he’s not afraid to try new genres and I think perhaps what he was trying then just isn’t my thing. But he’s also produced some of my favourite albums ever

breadfan

I’m a big Neil Young fan but I haven’t listened to anything he’s released since Chrome Dreams II, which came out in 2007 (I think most, if not all, of it was actually recorded in the late 70s) 

Has anyone listened to his newer stuff? 

He seems to still be quite prolific. 

drofluf

jeromegreenday said:

He's ace. If it wasn't for him you wouldn't have two of the finest cover songs ever, St etienne - only love can break your heart and Grace potter and Joe satriani - Cortez the killer
Grace Potter and Joe Satriani cover Cortez the Killer (youtube.com)

I’m pretty hard to please when it comes to cover versions, especially of songs by my favourite artists, but that was amazing! Thanks for sharing