The last Neil Young album you really cared about

Sleeps With Angels

 

Broken Arrow (1996). Silver And Gold was good. Then started a long decline which has never been halted, though Chrome Dreams 2 and parts of Psychedelic Pill and Le Noise are enjoyable. Often each album has 2-3 good songs, and the rest is trash.

 

"Psychedelic Pill"... before that maybe "Greendale", but certainly "Broken Arrow"...

 

I care about all of them whether I like them or not. There are still a lot of gems embedded in his albums and I admire the fact that he is still as ambitious and productive as he is.
Aside from, all the rock guys are dying off. Any of them who can still churn out material should. It will not be long before they are all gone.

 

"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". First, last, and only Neil Young album I ever cared about.

 

same here, i'll always care

 

Same

I really 'don't like' Monsanto Years

 

Rust Never Sleeps / Live Rust

.

 

Really cared about as a whole? Greendale.

Thoroughly enjoyed and love some parts of?
Chrome Dreams 2 and Psychadelic Pill (Ramada Inn & Walk Like A Giant- Yeah!!)

 

I believe there was some controversy where after they recorded Le Noise Neil discovered it wasn't tracked in the highest res possible. So he made them pump it through a big PA and record that in hi res and then blend the two.

He talks about it in his book...

 

Ragged Glory.

Possibly my favourite Neil Young album ever.

 

Briggs brought "The spook"...a certain vibe that has been sorely lacking on every NY release since 1994. Some of Neil's post-Briggs records have come close, but still no cigar IMO.

Having said that, though- to answer the OP's question, the last Neil album I cared about was Psychedelic Pill. If that is the Horse's last hurrah (which, sadly, it probably will be) then they went out with a bang.

 

When it came out, I decided to skip "Americana" because I was not interested in a covers album project at that time but instead preferred to wait for his album of original material to come in the same year, "Pyschedelic Pill".

Last year, I gave "Americana" a 2nd chance and now, I consider it to be the better album of the two.

 

Living with War, Le Noise and Psychedelic Pill are all albums that I enjoy. Oddly, I don't have much use for Greendale, although others cite it as a favorite.

But if the question is "caring passionately", then I guess I would go back to the triple punch of Eldorado, Freedom and Ragged Glory. Just . . . . . . . . . amazing.

 

Yes I like all of them. Ragged Glory is the last one that is a truly classic album but there are many very enjoyable albums since then. I have really enjoyed listening to The Monsanto Years the last couple of months, so I probably still care about that whilst admitting it is not going to trouble his top 10 classic albums of all time. Fork In The Road was fun too; although completely tossed off. The only album by him I still really don't like is Landing On Water (Hippy Dream excepted).

 

Harvest Moon was the last album I bought( cold digital recording ). Ragged Glory'This Note For You are also good. His four legged horse run (first 4 LPs)'can't be beat though.

 

Psychedelic Pill. Before that Silver And Gold (but Are You Passionate, Chrome Dreams II and Prairie Wind Are worthy efforts). The last consistent run was from This Notes For You through to Sleeps With Angels which includes greats - Freedom, Harvest Moon, Ragged Glory and Unplugged. If I play NY though I first go to albums 2 to 4.

 

Rust Never Sleeps

 

The Monsanto Years

 

WELD!!!!

 

Harvest.

 

I became a big Neil fan in the 90s when Freedom reignited my interest. I went back an found all the albums I was missing from the 70s and 80s and found lots to love. All the way through to Silver and Gold, I spent significant time with new releases and always found that time well spent (Even Living With War!). Beginning with Greendale, it's been diminishing returns. Greendale was an admirable effort but felt like a long slog to me...more to admire than to listen to regularly. But, since then I have enjoyed each record a little less and less - only Prairie Wind and Chrome Dreams II stemmed the flow. Each record may have 1 to 3 songs that I would like to listen to repeatedly, but that's it. The last Neil I bought was Psychedelic Pill - maybe I'm old, but when I have 30 minutes to enjoy music, I'd like to hear more than one song with a repeated riff.

I support Neil's desire to pursue his muse and record and perform in any manner he likes. He doesn't owe me a thing. But the things I loved about his music...the melodies, the clever turns of phrase, the human insight, the mondo power...just don't seem to be there right now for me.

The operative phrase there is "right now"....based on history, I am certain those things will come roaring back someday.

 

Silver and Gold

 

Harvest Moon, and before that Rust Never Sleeps.

 

There's plenty to like on pretty much all of his albums.
The last one that I was blown away by and played to death was "Mirror Ball".
Since then I've enjoyed them all to varying degrees, but they've never had a really strong impact on me.
My favourite since "Mirror Ball" is "Greendale".