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Neil Young

Thought I would share a few thoughts here.

Neil Young is again on tour, so I am again giving this artist some thought.

I remember reading an interview with Bryan Ferry where he said that Neil Young was one of his favorite artists. I thought this odd given the glam rock of Roxy Music. But he described Neil Young as a musical chameleon, always changing up his music and bands, which is why he liked him so much.

That quote stuck with me.  Buffalo Springfield, Laurel Canyon, Solo Acoustic, CSNY, The Shocking Pinks, The International Harvesters, Rockin’ In The Free World, and so on.  Always a new twist for Neil.  He really doesn’t stay stagnant.

Then, reading about his current tour it seems at every stop he is breaking out some long forgotten and unplayed live tune to keep his set lists interesting.  

I’ve never seen him live, and frankly don’t think I have that much interest in seeing him live.  Yet I own a metric ton of his recorded material.  I remember reading someone else who described Neil as a one string soloist when it comes to rock guitar playing.  That kinda stuck with me.

I do appreciate his approach to analog releases from his vast catalog.

Anyway, he is indeed a hall of famer.

pgaulke60
whart's avatar
whart
3,378 posts
 

I like Harvest as well. Along with Zuma, which had a dirty distorted sound. When I lived in NY along the Hudson, I'd run into Jonathan Demme at the local sushi joint- we never talked about who he was, it was more like neighbors chatting about local stuff. He was low key and a very nice guy. 

larsman's avatar
larsman
3,154 posts
 

@stuartk + 1

@scalar9 + 1

russwill
56 posts
 

I think Neil is an aquired taste. He's creative, a great guitarist but, if he doesn't speak to you move on. He is very diverse. I saw him in 83 on his Trans tour. He was booed and wildy applauded at the same show. I was also at the show Laps referred to and it was so was great! You have to take his albums and multiply it 2 or 3 to get close to live. Even his live recordings are not quite the same.

Unfortunately like all are hero's he's slowing down and losing a couple steps. I would say watch him on You Tube and make your own judgement.

bolong
963 posts
 

Many great artists - and Young is one - are febrile personalities, and similar people types can trigger the heck out of them.

lcniii
7 posts
 

Saw him live in Toronto about 10 years ago, 6/10 performance. Then came the new politics and now I can't bear 2 seconds. All complaints - no solutions!  Anybody here remember Zappa, "Shut up and play your guitar"?

If you can't add value, shut your gob.  A total Bozo at best!!!

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