Definition of a True Artist Always follows his muse Totally unconcerned if you don't like where his muse led him Totally unconcerned about commercial considerations Not that concerned about what his label thinks about it either Often inspiring Sometimes baffling Sometimes infuriating But his new one is always worth at least one listen He's got conviction He's got integrity He's got cool He's got soul He ain't got no T-Bone
I'm a little down on Neil for the typical reasons (unexciting releases, Archives delays). However, I only have to think back to the 2012 US tour with Crazy Horse to feel better about 'ol Neil...EPIC! His Les Paul was carving mountains from stone that night; some of the best live Neil I've ever witnessed.
Favorite albums-almost every track stellar IMO: 1-Ragged Glory-#1 Fave by a lot. 2-Zuma 3-Comes A Time 4-Freedom 5-Harvest Moon 6-Greendale 7-Tonight's the Night 8-Long May You Run 9-American Stars & Bars (For Star of Bethlehem, Bite the Bullet, & Like A Hurricane) 10-Psychedelic Pill Can't figure why so many fans like, and in many cases LOVE the albums below. Some historically great tracks but otherwise avg. at best to my ears. Balance of his output is unfamiliar or uninteresting. 1-On The Beach 2-Harvest 3-Rust Never Sleeps 4-Live Rust 5-After the Gold Rush Except in rare cases, artists' lifestyles, politics, etc. don't attract nor repel me from purchasing their music. Only how the music resonates with me. All the best, GT
NY should retire gracefully and concentrate on archive releases. There is still a change he will be remembered for the good stuff.
Neil should retire because you don't like what he is putting out? Right. I'm sure he will get right on that. What kind of artist would he be if he felt himself beholden to what the masses/critics thought counted? I'm a fan of Neil because he keeps on putting stuff out, whether or not it is receiving the reception he might like, simply because he wants to. He could retire. He could live on archival releases. But he doesn't. I respect that. Are his newest releases my favourites? No. But if he didn't keep at it I wouldn't have either the song or video for "Ramada Inn". And that is glorious. So keep at it Neil. Your live show is still incredible, and I keep on finding those diamonds in the rough.
Can anybody vouch for the HDCD remaster of Harvest? I need a good copy of this album on CD since the original leaves much to be desired...
this seems like as good a place as any for this story. On the Blue Notes tour, a buddy and I were 19 or so and were headed off to the show in Toronto when his mom, who was all of 37, hands him an envelope and says, "can you give this to Neil?" He's like, "mom - what the hell? there'll be 15,000 people there - I can't give him a letter - like what, This Note's For You? No, sorry." And she says, "we dated when i was 16 you know - your grandfather punched him in the head and told him not to come back unless he got a haircut, and I never saw him again." so, that pretty much made our night.
I saw Neil Young play The Shoreline at the Bridge Benefit shows in 2011. The first show, headlining, he did 4 songs. My friend and I were in shocked and mad as hell. The second night he did TWO songs as headliner. There was no excuse for that short a set unless if was not listed on the bill, and he was.
I was at Massey as well. I've seen Neil a number of times... he's never given less than 100% (well... in 1991 on the Ragged Glory tour he may have played just over 90 min at Maple Leaf Gardens cause they were late starting and I believe he was sick as a dog... or so I remember hearing at the time... great show anyway). Point being... Neil cutting an audience short is most definitely the exception.
