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[miles]

I do like the new album after hearing over half of it.  Still haven't heard Prairie Wind.

[jough]

Okay, so seriously I really needed to come to terms with his previous album before I could even start on this one.

I finally bought Living with War and I'm thinking it's one of his best albums ever.

But is it just me, or is almost every song making allusions to other Neil Young songs?  With some of them I'm singing "Hey Hey My My" or "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World" because the chord progressions are exactly the same, and the melody lines similar but not exact (the Keep on Rockin' one in particular is much slower and in a minor key, but it's obviously the same song) so I'm wondering how much of this is intentional and how much is just Neil Young sounding like Neil Young.

Still, it's brilliant.  "The Restless Consumer" is just amazing.  The whole album sounds restless and urgent.  I'm usually not a fan of sound clips and stuff in songs, but of course the Bush quotes in "Let's Impeach the President" are wholly appropriate.

Neil Young's albums are often angry, or bourne out of sadness and anger, but this is probably his angriest.  Jesus.

[pmcd9]

I think he recorded it in an afternoon so maybe he just copped some of his favorite lines from his other songs.  One of my favorite lines from the Greendale album is Grandpa Green singing "That guy singing this song, been doing it a long time.  Is there anything he knows, he ain't said?"   So if he's run out of things to play or say, at least he is aware of it.  Remember he's also the guy that wrote "It's better to burn out than to Fade Away."  And that was 25 years ago.  According to Johnny Rotton, he was over the hill then.

I just got Tonights the Night (Thanks Miles) and there is a chord progression on it that is exactly like one on Prarie Wind.  I can't remember which ones the two similar song are at the moment.  Actually they aren't similar at all, one is about death, the other is about love, but they do share a common chord progression.

He announces at the start of the Year of the hoss album "It's all the same song, they're all the same"

Rock and Roll will never die.

~Paul

[jough]

Into the black.

Yeah, he recorded Living with War over three days, but he wrote the song while on the Prairie Wind tour, so he and his band had a lot of time to practice the new stuff and get it right before going into the studio and recording it.

My favourite R.E.M. album was done the same way - with about half of it actually recorded on the road, with one song being recorded in a locker room bathroom.

[KeithHernandez]

Which one?

[jough]

The one that was recorded on the road and had a track recorded in a lockerroom bathroom in Philly.

[Drygioni]

New Adventures in Hi-fi?

[pmcd9]

Please don't pollute this Neil Young thread with a bunch of REM talk.

Heh heh...

~Paul

[Drygioni]

Can anyone recommend me any Neil Young albums? His music is thoroughly decent from the snippets I've heard. But the guy has released a ton of highly acclaimed albums, and I just know that if I pick one myself it'll be too inaccessible. Bear in mind that I am a product of the '90s; if it ain't something I can enjoy even slightly on the first listen, it can go hang.

Or should I just go for the lily livered option and get a Best Of?

Because really, we don't need REM talk.

[jough]

Well, if you're a child of the 90s I'd say try "Sleeps with Angels," his tribute to Kurt Cobain, or "Mirror Ball" where Pearl Jam is his back-up band.

Otherwise, if you want his GOOD albums, start with "Harvest" and then follow that up with "After the Gold Rush," which is arguably his best album.  I think Gold Rush came out just before Harvest, actually, but if it were me I'd start out with great (harvest) and then listen to a bunch of the others before returning finally to Gold Rush and just being ready to die.

Because you're not ready to die until you've heard that album. 

[Drygioni]

Well, if you're a child of the 90s I'd say try "Sleeps with Angels," his tribute to Kurt Cobain, or "Mirror Ball" where Pearl Jam is his back-up band.

Damn, Jough. I'm not that kind of child. I'd feel vaguely insulted, but the finishing line on that recommendation makes up for it. You get a can.

[pmcd9]

Can anyone recommend me any Neil Young albums? He sounds like an awesome dude and his music is thoroughly decent from the snippets I've heard. But the guy has released a ton of highly acclaimed albums, and I just know that if I pick one myself it'll be too inaccessible. Bear in mind that I am a product of the '90s; if it ain't something I can enjoy even slightly on the first listen, it can go hang.

Based on what I know of you via mix tape I'm not sure what to recommend.  I think his greatest album is After the Gold Rush, but it's mostly accoustic.  Everyone is going to have a different opinion, but After The Gold Rush is also one of his most enduringly popular albums.  Of his more rockin' albums Gosh I don't know, Freedom is pretty damn good.

~Paul

[AugustWest]

Rust Never Sleeps is another good one.

[side_show]

You know what a great starter Neil Young album is?  Neil Young Unplugged.  It's less embarrassing than your standard greatest hits compilation, and, well, I just really enjoy it.  There are moments of raw honesty on that album that still bring me to the brink of tears.  If you can, just listen to it while driving along the prairie, and well, that's Neil Young to me.

[Limmo]

Can anyone recommend me any Neil Young albums?

You are going to buy a 2-CD set called Decade.  Amazon has it, and a used copy will set you back less than a new single CD. 

Decade is the greatest greatest-hits compilation ever made.*   You cannot possibly go wrong with it.  It covers all of his different stylistic quirks, and will point you towards the other albums in his catalog you will eventually want.

Decade.   Definitely.

*Except maybe for James Brown's Star Time box set.