Neil Young-Silver and Gold

What did you think when you first heard this album? I listened to it in full today and found it a deeply moving listen. A very calming and soothing album with fantastic musicians. Was it recorded on "the green board"?

 

Great album as is the Silver and Gold DVD as well.

Scott

 

I remember hearing Good To See You, Razor Love and Buffalo Springfield Again on WXRT in Chicago when it came out. I was really amazed at the strength of those tracks (maybe a little less so for Buffalo Springfield Again) and to this day I rank those tracks up there as some of my NY favorites. I was a pretty poor just out of college - just married for a couple of years person at that time and so I wasn't able to pick it up for a couple more years. I was a little let down when I heard the whole album, it didn't quite live up to my hopes based on the tracks I had heard. Still I think it's a pretty great record and it's my favorite thing he has released since the 80's began (with the caveat that I haven't heard everything from the last decade).

 

I remember him doing "Razor Love" on SNL, in front of a campfire set. 7 minutes of pure magic, he later did the title track.

 

I first heard the song "Razor Love," which I immediately loved. The CD had just come out. I remember buying it and, at the time, being a little disappointed. I didn't think the other tracks were as strong as "Razor Love." In particular, I thought the version of "Silver and Gold" was weak compared to one I had just heard on a bootleg cassette (I can't recall which version I heard since I think Neil has recorded this a couple different times). Plus, the whole CD was not much more than a half hour long, which seemed a bit of a let down for someone as prolific as Young.

I listened to it some more. I even played it for my wife. She liked some of his music, particularly Harvest, and she really liked this one. Over time, I have come to like it more than I initially did. I still think "Razor Love" is the best track, but many of the other tracks are strong, too. Like the OP said, it is very calm and soothing. It seems to be somewhat of an overlooked item in his catalog.

 

I've liked it since I first heard it.

 

Originally it was an acoustic, solo project.

 

i thought "this is going to win the grammy" when i first heard it... was surprised how relatively little of a splash it ended up making.

 

I have recently discovered this album and I just love it! Great tunes and playing!

 

In the top third of his catalog. Bought the vinyl when it came out.

 

I thought it took a long time to get to Razor Love and Without Rings, the only two great tracks. The rest is sleepy.

 

I am not their "yet" on my Neil journey Although, I did see Neil bust out redesign this year in concert. ;0

 

A great album indeed, but an often overlooked one. Neil took 3 great songs from the sessions to this album to CSN to create the CSNY album "Looking Forward", and they are the best 3 on that album. This way, the CSNY album effectively becomes a companion piece to "Silver And Gold" and vice versa.

 

Perhaps the last NY with universal appeal - ie no skippers.
BTW, Oscar Butterworth is Kenny Buttrey.

 

I'm getting this album for Xmas.

 

My home made CDr of this album includes "Looking Forward" and "Slowpoke" to make it a more complete album. These songs obviously go together with the rest of the album.

I don't care for the other NY song on the CSNY album. This is an album that I like a lot until you get to the last song, which they didn't write. What were they thinking?

 

Without Rings is my favorite NY song of all of time, and this album holds a special place in my heart.

 

To me, the songs are better than the studio execution, which is too mannered; I would have preferred it had he used live performances from his 1999 solo tour, which was one of the best he's ever done. The DVD gives you some of that, but not all of the new songs. (Similarly, I prefer Dreamin" Man to Harvest Moon; would love to see a similar comp done for the '99 tour as part of the Performance Series.)

 

Agreed. I saw a couple of shows on the 99 solo tour where he played some of these tunes and was impressed. When the actual album came out, I found it a bit disappointing.

 

It's a nice album, I'd rate it somewhere in the middle of his catalog.

 

The production of this album is a little "off," isn't it? It's as if it doesn't have that usual Neil Young clarity, which is one of the hallmarks for his more folky music. There' a little mud thrown in, despite the album being top-flight, song wise.

I feel you, but I don't think I'll ever understand the lack of love for "Out of Control." I believe this to be a classic melody in every sense of the word. I could go through a musicological discourse on what makes the melodies so appealing from a pure theory standpoint, but instead I'll just say, if this song were on After the Gold Rush it would be considered a true "classic," today.

 

Funny that I listened/watched only the DVD which is just him alone, live acoustic. I had the CD but never bothered to listen to it because I could just throw in the DVD and have not only audio but also video...fast forward many years later and I decide to put the CD version on my phone for car/walking music. To my surprise, a totally different sounding piece of music than what I had known it to be. All the tunes but with a full band. For some reason I just thaught it was an acoustic project because it worked with just guitar, harmonica and voice so well on the DVD. I like the acoustic version better but the other is growing on me.

 

and piano...

 

I really loved it. It was my most played album of 2000. Still holds up, I think, as a very good middle-tier Neil Young album.