Before our work unit moved to Cubicleland, we used to have offices, with doors. And we used to play music – out loud, not using headsets – in said offices. For a time, I shared an office with my boss Mary, who had very catholic tastes. I played (and play) a very eclectic set of music. And there were only two musicians she ever objected to, both because she just couldn’t stand their voices: Willie Nelson and Neil Young. Neil, in particular, was a particular irritant because she’d hear his music more often on the radio. Moreover, she and Neil are both November Scorpios.
Suffice to say, I love Neil Young. Here’s a none-to-clear video about his love of trains and his son Ben who has cerebral palsy.
I decided to look at Neil’s discography. But if I commented on every record I owned, it’d take forever.
*I own
1963 The Squires “The Sultan” b/w “Aurora”
1966 Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield
1967 Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield Again
1968 Buffalo Springfield – Last Time Around
Neil Young – Neil Young. Not only do I have this album, I even reviewed it here.
1969 *Buffalo Springfield-Retrospective
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. This is the album with the wonderful handclap driven Cinnamon Girl, which undoubtedly is one of my 50 favorite uptempo songs, plus two classic, lengthy – around 10 minutes each – tunes, Down By The River and Cowgirl in the Sand.
1970 Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Déjà vu. Features Neil’s Helpless.
Neil Young – After the Goldrush. This was my Neil college album. Only Love Can Break Your Heart was a minor hit (#33), but probably my favorite song was When You Dance I Can Really Love, an even more minor hit (#93), but which I most associate with my college sweetheart; also, I love it starts off really slowly but picks up tempo – get to the end, then go back to the beginning.
1971 Crosby Stills Nash & Young – 4 Way Street. A live album with the first version of Neil’s “Ohio” (“tin soldiers dead and Nixon coming”) that I owned. Also contains a funny monologue intro about Don’t Let It Bring You Down “guaranteed to bring you down…it starts off slowly, then fizzles out altogether.”
1972 *Neil Young – Harvest. Contains his only top 30 single, the #1 Heart of Gold. From the liner notes of his Decade album, I got the sense that the commercial success made him uncomfortable.
Neil Young & Graham Nash – “War Song” b/w “Needle and the Damage Done” – have War Song on a Warner Brothers Loss Leader album. It eventually shows up in the 2009 box set.
Neil Young – Journey Through the Past
We now come to the me, poor college student section.
1973 Neil Young – Time Fades Away
1974 Neil Young – On the Beach
1975 Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night
Neil Young – Zuma
1976 The Stills-Young Band – Long May You Run. The title song, one of my favorites, appears on Decade.
1977 *Neil Young – American Stars & Bars. Featuring Like a Hurricane.
Neil Young Decade – a greatest hits (as it were) album. With “Sugar Mountain”, a B-side not previously on an album, though played often on my college radio station.
1978 Neil Young – Comes a Time
1979 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps. I prefer Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) over My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue), because it’s LOUDER.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Live Rust. The songs from Rust Never Sleeps ARE ALREADY live.
1980 *Neil Young – Hawks & Doves
1981 *Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Re-ac-tor
1982 *Neil Young – Trans. Lots of vocoder stuff including yet another version of Mr. Soul which I may prefer to the original.
1983 *Neil Young & the Shocking Pinks – Everybody’s Rockin’
1985 Neil Young – Old Ways
1986 Neil Young – Landing On Water
1987 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Life
1988 *Neil Young & the Bluenotes – This Note’s For You – the title song’s about rockers selling out to commercial interests.
Crosby Stills Nash & Young – American Dream. Neil’s stuff was the best on the album.
1989 Neil Young & The Restless – Eldorado
Neil Young – Freedom. Features Rockin’ In The Free World, twice, plus his version of Wrecking Ball, which Emmylou Harris covered.
1990 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Ragged Glory
1991 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Arc Weld
1992 *Neil Young – Harvest Moon. Besides the title song, painfully tied to an old relationship, I especially like From Hank To Hendrix.
1993 Neil Young – Lucky 13
Neil Young – Unplugged. Quite fond.
1994 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Sleeps With Angels. Favorite song: “Piece Of Crap”
1995 *Neil Young – Mirror Ball. Grungy album with members of Pearl Jam.
1996 Neil Young – Dead Man
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Broken Arrow. Loud first side, more mellow second.
1997 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Year of the Horse
1999 Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Looking Forward
2000 *Neil Young – Silver & Gold. Middle four songs feature vocals by Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.
Neil Young – Road Rock v1
2001 Buffalo Springfield – Box Set
2002 Neil Young Are You – Passionate?
2003 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Greendale
Neil Young – Greatest Hits
2005 Neil Young – Prairie Wind. On my Amazon list.
2006 *Neil Young – Living With War. Perhaps too pedantic, but I liked it anyway.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Live At The Fillmore East 1970
Neil Young – Living With War: In The Beginning
2007 Neil Young – Live At Massey Hall 1971
*Neil Young – Chrome Dreams 2. Features the 18-minute Ordinary People, which, surprisingly, works for me.
2008 Crosby Stills Nash & Young – CSNY/Déjà Vu Live
Neil Young Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968
2009 Neil Young – Fork In The Road
Neil Young – Archives Volume 1 Box Set
Neil Young – Dreamin’ Man Live ’92
2010 Neil Young Le Noise
A great article about Neil I came across.
I understand your boss’s complaint about vocal qualities, I feel much the same about Neil, and Willie, and even Mr. Zimmerman, but that hasn’t kept me from enjoying their music as has, for instance, the voices of the Jackson 5! My two favourite pieces by Neil Young have got to be “Like an Inca” and “Rocking in the Free World.”
I have always loved his “Live Rust” album, it is on my stereo right now.