Neil Young: The last 25 years recommendations

I've been on a Neil Young kick lately. I own and love all his 70's albums, can't really get into the 80's stuff when he switched labels, and think he made a great comeback late 80's /early 90's with albums like Freedom and Harvest Moon.

The dilemma for me is his music of the last 25 years or so. SO MUCH MUSIC, so many differing opinions. As an example: I've heard people give high praise AND trash the albums "Sleeps With Angels' and "Greendale".
I searched the forum but cannot find a NY album-by album thread, so I'm asking any experts on his music of the last 25 years. Which are top-tier, which are ok, which are forgettable.

I must mention, I did just buy "Psychedelic Pill" and love it. Nice, long, psychedelic, guitar-heavy tunes. Reminds me of "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere" in places.

 

I like Mirrorball w Pearl Jam as his backing band.

 

Sleeps With Angels
Mirror Ball
Silver and Gold

Like those? Move on to

Broken Arrow
Fork In the Road
Peace Trail

Stop there.

 

broken arrow.

 

A few years before your window, but Freedom is fantastic. My first Neil Young album.

Harvest Moon, Sleeps With Angels, and Silver and Gold are favorites.

 

If you like the looseness of TTN and American StarnBars as I do try Fork inthe Road.

 

Thanks--so much to check out! What are opinions on Greendale? I had a friend who loved it, and the tour. I had another friend (big NY fan) who thought it was a real low-point in his discography.

 

I didn't enjoy Psychedelic Pill as much as others have. I found Greendale ordinary.

I did enjoy Americana and--unlike many others--A Letter Home for it's quirkiness.

 

I found Greendale a snooze fest but others swear by it.

 

For the studio albums, these 5 worked for me. The others I could probably live without.

1. Sleeps With Angels
2. Psychedelic Pill
3. Chrome Dreams II
4. Living with War
5. Mirror Ball

Americana has a good Crazy Horse tone, but not a fan of the song selection.

 

Yeah, I've always felt that album was overrated. It just never clicked with me.

 

Sleeps With Angels
Mirror Ball
Broken Arrow
YotH
Silver & Gold
Are You Passionate
Americana
Psychedelic Pill
Peace Trail
And all archive albums

 

I like Mirror Ball, Prairie Wind, Chrome Dreams II, and Psychedelic Pill (the normal-length tracks, anyway). The orchestral version of Storytone is kind of cool, just because it's so different from anything else Neil ever did.

Problem with most of Neil's later stuff is the hurried, dashed-off nature of so much of it, like writing and recording albums in a week or two is an accomplishment, instead of a mistake. There's some cool songs sprinkled on the other ones, but a lot of them also have the feeling of "hey, I wrote 10 songs on Monday, and had the album done by Friday" kind of vibe. Anything Neil does is worth listening to, but a lot of it didn't really make an impact on me to where I wanted to listen to it again.

This period definitely would be best be covered by some kind of compilation carefully curated by true Neil disciples, who have more time to wade through all the lesser efforts than I do.

 

Love Greendale.

 

Greendale to me is close to the last time Neil was being himself. There after, a song every now and then. I'm assuming you mean for new Neil and not archives issues such as Fillmore East, Roxy, Cellar Door, etc. which are all Neil being pure Neil.

 

i really like it a lot one of my favorite neil young records.i wish i had been able to see the tour.
stripped down CH only neil-on guitar.i like the story line and the songs. the playing is tough like they are ready
to rumble.

 

Sleeps with Angels-a bit long but the high points are really high
Greendale-one of my fave neil records.stripped down crazy horse. i like feel of the music and the story line.
tough record like they are ready to rumble in a really stoned kinda way.
Living with War- again stripped down neil this time.some really great songs and i like the feel of the music.
Chrome Dreams ll- good not great and a bit long.
Fork in the Road- a quirky record.a small rocking gem
Americana- i really like this record.came out the same time as Psychedelic Pill(which i find lumbering and too
self indulgent ,like the guys trying to show they still have it) and like it and it's concept.
The Monsanto Years-fine record i like the energy the nelson brothers bring
Earth-again a somewhat quirky live record with the energy of youth.
Peace Train-this record really grabs me.

***please don't forget about Ragged Glory from 1990. few bands have ever rocked this hard***

 

I don't mind the much loathed Are You Passionate and like a lot of Prairie Wind as well as Silver and Gold. Le Noise and Mirror Ball are good. Sleeps With Angels and Ragged Glory are essential. I enjoy Fork In The Road but don't play it much. Psychedelic Pill is too long but good. The overlong soloing and some dreadful lyrics let it down a bit, but I like it overall. I either haven't heard the others enough or don't like them. Greendale does nothing for me, but I heard A Letter Home once. I found it to have a lot of charm and enjoyed it.

 

It's impossible to forget about Ragged Glory it was a brilliant recording released at an interesting time in music. Although I've heard wishes that Farmer John didn't make the cut.

 

Sleeps With Angela is the only one that measures up to his 70s work.

Mirrorball, Broken Arrow, and Silver And Gold are pretty high quality.
After that I would only recommend Chrome Dreams II.
Greendale has a couple of good songs but is pretty terrible imo.
Fork In The Road is fun if you like ZZ Top boogie (I do) with stupid lyrics about cars.
Everything else up to P Pill has 2-3 good songs. After that I had to zone out as it got too painful and can't comment.

 

This subject has been discussed countless times. If you had searched you would have found these threads that would have saved making yet another one:
Who has kept up with Neil Young?
Which Neil Young purchase shall I make next?
Neil Young - Last Album You Liked, Really Liked

And there's more than this.

 

Just get them one by one in order and decide for yourself. Almost every album has been listed above as someone’s favorite. My favorites have been praised and trashed.

 

This is the perfect opportunity to use the Archives site. Listen to them all, in high quality, for free! Then buy what you like.

 

Love Greendale. Just buy it and listen to it a few times until you follow the story. Buy the DVD too.

 

Am I the only one here who enjoys Le Noise and finds The Visitor worthy of re-visiting?