No idea where I read it but I'm sure I saw a review that absolutely caned this album - looking forward to listening as like you say (and most artists) he is arguably even better with something on his mind............OK, these are my most recommended listens for the albums appearing since Year 2000:
4. A Letter Home (2014). An album of cover songs using primitive recording equipment from the 1940s may be a surprising choice as a highly ranked ablum, but I really love this collection. Artists covered include Dylan, Springsteen, Phil Ochs, Willie Nelson (x2) and Gordon Lightfoot (x2). The cover of Needle of Death (Bert Jansch) is particularly interesting as this was the song that was a ‘source of inspiration’ for The Needle and the Damage Done.
3. Prairie Wind (2005). This album is the closest you are going to get to a modern version of a Harvest or Harvest Moon. I was perhaps slightly unsure about it when it first came out, but it has really grown on me over the years and I listen to it quite a lot. The back-up band includes regulars such as Ben Keith and Rick Rosas, plus other frequent collaborators with a Nashville heritage. Emmylou Harris provides vocals support, especially prominent on tracks such as This Old Guitar.
I found it hard to choose between the final two albums, but here we go…
2. Silver and Gold (2000). This album contains a very strong set of acoustic songs written mainly at various times in the 1990s when Neil was more focused on his ‘Godfather of Grunge’ renaissance. However, the title track is actually an even older song that originates from the early 80s. Stand-out tracks include the title track, Razor Love and (my personal favourite from this album) Without Rings. It would have been even better if he could have found space to include Interstate on this album, my candidate for the best remaining unreleased NY song…
1. Living with War (2006). Neil usually writes good songs when he’s pissed off about something (e.g. Ohio) and back in 2006 he was pissed off with George W Bush. So here we have a set of well-written high energy songs about Gulf War and the homeland security situation, with apparently the whole album written and recorded in slightly more than a week. There’s even a song with a choir I like…
Is it Living with War you are referring to? I think most of the songs on that one are pretty good but he probably upset a few people with the political content.No idea where I read it but I'm sure I saw a review that absolutely caned this album - looking forward to listening as like you say (and most artists) he is arguably even better with something on his mind............
Yeah, I don't really like artists preaching their political views.Is it Living with War you are referring to? I think most of the songs on that one are pretty good but he probably upset a few people with the political content.
Are those seagulls still out of reach ?I played safe on my commute this morning - On the Beach.
Beautiful........
It's a truly great album. The only weakness I can think of is the somewhat sub-par version of See the Sky About to Rain.I played safe on my commute this morning - On the Beach.
Beautiful........
You think?It's a truly great album. The only weakness I can think of is the somewhat sub-par version of See the Sky About to Rain.
On the Beach is slap bang in the middle of the 1972-1976 period covered by the recently released Neil Young Archives Volume 2.
One of the discs found in NYA Vol2 is called Walk On, which contains most of the On the Beach tracks (but with some of them being different studio takes of the songs included on the album). There are also some other songs that were considered for but ultimately not included on the album, such as Pushed it over the End and Greensleeves plus a few other tracks such as Borrowedtune for some reason.
If you go on the Neil Young Archives website (as a subscriber) you also can read the various clippings from reviews when the On the Beach album was released - e.g. from the NME, Musical Express + US equivalents. Most of them are very negative !
It also would've fit perfectly on his first album imo.You think?
I like it, it's like pretty of much all of Tonight's the Night, raw and imperfect..........