Neil Young's weakest album?

Mate
I think you nailed it

 

I did enjoy Americana and loved Psychedelic Pill. Those were the last two Neil Young albums I really enjoyed. That is why I was so stoked when I heard Neil Young was recording with Crazy Horse for the Colorado album. Then when I heard Poncho wouldn’t be on the record I started to worry. When Colorado was released I got it immediately. It was an awful awful record. It actually made me angry. I don’t even know if Poncho could have saved this hot mess. Neil Young has been such an Automatic buy for me over the years but he has released nothing but sub par studio albums (I don’t count the great NYA releases) since Psychedelic Pill. If Neil Young can’t make a decent record with Crazy Horse... that says it all for me. I am only buying NYA stuff these days.

 

Later this week I'll make a vote count for the albums to see which is the worst according to Steve Hoffman users.

 

We should set up a poll now. I'm too busy at work, but if someone want's to do that, then great!

 

Trans and Fork In The Road are both great.

 

I've come around to appreciating just about something in every one of his albums, except Everybody's Rockin'. Just cannot get into that one at all.

 

Landing On Water or Old Ways for me. Everybody's Rockin' was also in the running.

 

Broken Arrow shouldn’t be on a Neil Young worst list. As a matter of fact, it shouldn’t be on any worst list.

 

So true. Speaking as a Neil Young agnostic, Harvest Moon, Sleeps with Angels, Mirror Ball and Broken Arrow were the first ones I heard in real time. I had an "in" with Warner Bros., so they were free advance promos accompanied by free concert tickets. Good times! Mind you, I haven't heard the last three in a while, so ...

People also talk about being "disappointed" with certain albums, implying they had expectations. This thread has suggested I should have no or negative expectations for the likes of Everybody's Rockin' and anything post-2000, so maybe I would enjoy them?*

And finally, there's a difference between "bad" and "boring." Is "bad" Neil Young really that bad? If there's a boring album, like Petty's Wildflowers - as someone mentioned earlier - then that is arguably less forgivable.

* - Or maybe life's too short? Per the Everybody's Dummy review site, there's only one above-average studio album post-2000, Le Noise. No memories of this album, but I attended a release party at Daniel Lanois' house for it. Maybe I already own it.

 

I haven’t bought any since Chrome Dreams II so can’t comment on the umpteen recent albums. Of those i have I think Sleeps with Angels or Mirrorball was the last great NY album. Silver & Gold is okay but not earth shattering (Razor Love is good). Greendale didn’t click with me when it came out. Should I give it another go?

 

I can't believe people don't like Americana. I think it's great. Clementine, Oh Susannah, Jesus' Chariot, Travel On, and even Get a Job are loose, fun and very much warrant repeated listens.

 

I find Americana really enjoyable, wish he had played some more of that album during the 2013 tour.

 

I've lost interest in Neil years ago. I think the last record I enjoyed was "Ragged Glory". Plus, the "Eldorado" ep.

 

Just listened to ‘ Landing on Water’ for the first time...I’d been putting it off for a long time based on the negative reviews. I actually really enjoyed it . The Drums sound great on this record.

 

Another strange thread, but at least more interesting than a lot of them.

Got into Young very late into his career because of my age, but I've heard most of his stuff and own a lot of it. Perhaps too much. The latter stuff doesn't really stand up too well compared to his younger days. But what a past! Trans, Life and even Everybody's Rocking are at least fun, IMO. Life has a few of my favorite songs by him. Most of the records up to and including Sleeps with Angels are great and even the stranger detours are at least interesting.

There are good to great songs on quite a few albums after that, but ever diminishing returns seems to be the modus operandi now.

The worst I've heard? Mosanto Years and Fork in the Road. The latter is particularily grim. Haven't really bothered to played those more than a few times and I can't see myself ever wanting to hear them again.

But I love Psychedelic Pill and enjoy Le Noise and The Visitor quite a bit.

 

I finally got around to doing a vote count. It was... tough. A lot of posts talking about whatever and even more that weren't really firm on their votes. It's far from a definitive vote count, I probably missed a post or two and didn't really pay attention if the same user posted a vote twice. Still, it does give an idea about what albums are considered the weakest.

I counted all albums that were named directly. If one mentioned 3 or 4 albums, either by decade or the weakest 3, that would be counted. I did not count posts like "Everything from X onward is crap", as that could imply a vote of more than 15 or 20 albums. Live albums and compilations were not counted except for "Arc", that's something else entirely.

WITH 15 VOTES, THE WINNER/LOSER IS: Everybody's Rockin'

13 votes: Landing on Water
11 votes: A Letter Home
10 votes: Trans, Fork in the Road
9 votes: Are You Passionate?
7 votes: Old Ways, Arc
6 votes: Peace Trail
5 votes: Living With War
4 votes: Life, Mirror Ball, Broken Arrow, Greendale, The Monsanto Years
3 votes: Long May You Run, Dead Man, Storytone, Colorado
2 votes: Harvest, Americana, The Visitor
1 vote: Hawks & Doves, Re-ac-tor, This Note's for You, Silver & Gold, Chrome Dreams II, Le Noise, American Dream

 

No, save yourself the trouble. You have the right picture.

 

Okay, who were the two wise guys who voted for Harvest?

 

Trans
A Letter Home

 

Obviously, a couple of Ditch diggers! (;-)

 

Harvest got two votes ?
Whoever voted must be shot right now before he/she/they breed.
...
Well, maybe i'm a bit too radical.

 

I can’t say because I haven’t heard them all. But I had Are You Passionate? For a while. Got it when it came out. The idea is so cool. Booker T. But I kept going back to it trying to enjoy it. Sold it after many attempts. Just kinda didn’t work, to me.

 

Too radical, but I don't get it.

Even if you think there are a couple of klunkers on it, how can it be called worse than Everybody's Rockin ?

 

Harvest getting voted as Neils worst is just insane. I can certainly understand it not being someones favourite or not a top ten, hell I could even see not top 20 if you really didnt like countryish Neil. But the worst? Makes me think those people havent heard half of the albums that have been released.