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Let's talk about this.  I'll just give one reason.

1.  HIs solos are the most emotive I've ever heard!  I feel EXACTLY like he must when he solos... like he's trying to NOT kill the guitar, because if he played as big as he felt, the guitar would be in pieces, like his solos, however long, are exhausting exercises in restraint!

Okay, done gushing,  you're next.

Neil's lyrics and singing are the very definition of "art."  He manages to blend genuine poetry with a direct and soulful singing style that communicates scores beyond the literal meaning of the words.  He makes language music and his guitar echos the words with a sensitivity that is only approached by the brilliant interpretations of Billie Holiday- they make so much art out of such spare language.

Also, he's fucking LOUD when he plays Old Black and that is a frackin' AWESOME thing.

Yeah, I'm a fangurrrrl.

i went as Buffalo Springfield era Neil for Hallowe'en this year...full on mutton chops and leather jacket with 9 inch fringe all over

I really like him too, great songwriter and guitarist, for all the reasons you mentioned.

Now I don't want to spoil the party, but recently I bought 'Decade', a compilation-album. I heard the song 'A Man Needs A Maid' for the first time and I can only pray it will be the last time, it's godawful. Now I'm wondering if the song is just one of his few mistakes (like Rockin' in the Free World)?

I LOVE A Man Needs A Maid. I love pretty much all of Harvest.

I like that record a lot too. Greendale is probably the best record from beginning to end that I've ever heard. I had high hopes for Prairie Wind before it came out, but I don't care for much of it. To be fair though, I haven't put in uch listening time because I was so put off by it right away.

Justin

as far as harvest goes; 'words...between the lines of age' is where it's at.

but then i pretty much love everything neil has done, well, except the 80's stuff (trans etc) 

nealescott wrote: but then i pretty much love everything neil has done, well, except the 80's stuff (trans etc)   ???

Trans is one of Neil's greatest albums!!!  It's my favorite, as well as Thurston's favorite! Oh, and once Blixa was over at my apartment, he saw my CD of Trans lying on coffee table and he said, "That's a brilliant record. You're smart to listen to it." No kidding!!!  (Man, I miss living in San Francisco.)

On The Beach is just... . That album will never grow old. Ambulance Blues is one of the best songs I've ever heard.

Other than that...everything. Neil Young is an absolute legend, and that includes Trans in my opinion. I've heard him for most of my (short - only 18) life, but he only really clicked a few months ago. It was like, I'd heard buckets of his music and took it for granted because my Dad liked him. So when I hear a song of his, off an album I've not got myself...something just goes off in my brain and I remember it. Like, Out On The Weekend, I'd heard for the first time deliberately about a week ago (avoided Harvest for ages), and yet I remember most of because of daddio playing it on his guitar.

The thing is, even without that story, there is something about his music that seems timeless. His melodies and arrangements seem to be something you've always known, even if you've never heard, more so than any other artist I think. And, unlike so many artists, he never really "went bad". He's had a few inconsistent records, like anyone else, but there's no period you can pigeonhole him as having sold out, or gone crazy, like Dylan's religious albums, for example. And when he did things slightly off-kilter, like Trans it was for him and not because the trend suggested it. A  true god among musicians.

Some of my favourites:

1. Tonight's the Night
2. After the Gold Rush
3. Everybody's Knows This Is Nowhere
4. On The Beach
5. Rust Never Sleeps
6. Harvest
7. Zuma
8. Sleeps With Angels
9. Dead Man (soundtrack)
10. Arc/Weld
11. Re-ac-tor

nealescott wrote: as far as harvest goes; 'words...between the lines of age' is where it's at.

but then i pretty much love everything neil has done, well, except the 80's stuff (trans etc) 

I heard Trans was a "leasebreaker"  he was trying to get out of a contract...

Who Ran The Iron Horse? wrote: On The Beach is just...

Yeah, that's my favourite of his I think.

As for Trans, I suspect it may be one of those albums where we'll never know just how serious the artist's intent was, like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music (I'm sure Maggieo will have an opinion here!).

I'm gonna be slightly obvious here and say that "Cortez the Killer" is one of the best songs ever recorded.

the guitar tone (and I hardly EVER really discuss guitar tone) is PHENOMENAL!

mezcalhead wrote:

Who Ran The Iron Horse? wrote: On The Beach is just...

Yeah, that's my favourite of his I think.

As for Trans, I suspect it may be one of those albums where we'll never know just how serious the artist's intent was, like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music (I'm sure Maggieo will have an opinion here!).

On The Beach is one seriously awesome album. 

What?

Oh, an opinion on Trans?  Well, everything I've read suggests that Neil was quite serious about it and that it came out of the work and sessions he'd been doing with DEVO, along with the work he'd been doing with his autistic son and using a vocoder to communicate with him.  "Transformer Man" was written for his son and is about his attempts to communicate with him.  Google around and you can find more of the backstory- it'll see if I can find some later, too.

Actually, I thought the words Metal Machine Music would summon you ..



I believe On The Beach was written just after his son was diagnosed? It certainly has a very melancholic feeling to it.