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Neil Young – The Rust and the Glory

A Neil Young retrospective

by G. Fernández – theartwolf.com

People of my age / They don’t do the things I do / They go somewhere / While I run away with you

Neil Young – I’m the ocean (1995)

When an old rocker is lucky enough to reach his 60th birthday alive and healthy, he is usually already retired on a sunny Southern California ranch, far from the noise and stress of any music activity. Some of them make a temporary return to record a new anthology or greatest hits, or even to begin a short tour, relying on an always loyal audience. Only a selected group seems to find the strength, spirit and inspiration to keep composing original, high quality albums; and be the reference for hundreds of younger artists.

Neil Young: Neil Young (1968)

Neil Young: Neil Young (1968)

After a series of doubtful albums that culminate in the critically panned “Are you passionate?” (2002), it seemed that Neil Young was finally far from his peak. But then Young surprised the music world realising the epic “Greendale” (2003), musically interesting and conceptually admirable: emulating the best Steinbeck, Young invents an entire town in his loved California, and, focusing in the Green family, embraces values such as Freedom, Peace and Ecology, ideas that he has been defended since the late sixties. To complete this particular revival, in 2005 Young delighted his fans with the excellent “Prairie wind”, with no doubt his best work of the last 10 years, an album that gave us back the essential Young of “Harvest” (1972) or “Harvest Moon” (1992)

Looking back, Young’s musical opus, even with its obvious ups and downs, looks admirable and full of highlights. From that young musician who left Buffalo Springfield at only 22 to release his first album, “Neil Young” (1968) to the venerable veteran of “Prairie wind”, more than 40 albums form an amazing and essential discography, unreachable for almost any active musician.

In the early 70s, Young released two top-quality albums that catapulted him to the stardom of the folk-rock world: “After the gold rush” (1970) already possessed all the main elements that characterize Young’s particular universe: complex, suggestive verses with smart pints of surrealism, a brilliant musical accompaniment, and Young’s unmistakable nasal voice. Nevertheless, the success of this album can not be compared with “Harvest” (1971), released the following year, and considered by many (although not by me) as his masterwork. This album included the wonderful single “Heart of Gold” , which gave Young his first nº 1 in the USA .

Neil Young: On the beach (1974)

Neil Young: On the beach (1974)

“On the beach” (1974) is, despite the apparent calmness of its songs and even of its cover, the nearest Young was to compose a “damned” album. After many years of addictions and excesses, Neil released what the magazine Rolling Stone described as one of the most desperate albums of all time. This is evident in lyrics as those from “Vampire blues” , “Ambulance blues” , and, above all, “See the sky about to rain”. To add to this particular “curse”, the album was not released on CD until 2003.

Next year, Young released another of his unquestionable masterworks: “Zuma” (1975) is perhaps the best balanced and paradigmatical work by Young, featuring wonderful, rhythmic songs as “Don’t cry no tears”, furious electric guitars in “Danger bird”, or a merciless critic to Spanish colonialism in “Cortez the killer”. A fabulous, more electric version was included in the live album “Weld” (1991)

Neil Young: Zuma (1975)

Neil Young: Zuma (1975)

Young did not release an album of this quality (or even superior) until the magnificent, supreme “Rust never sleeps” (1979), a work structured in two different sides: an acoustic first side, featuring masterworks such as “Thrasher”, “Pocahontas”, or the acoustic side of “My, my; hey, hey (out of the blue)”, while a furiously electric second side includes “Powderfinger”, “Welfare Mothers” and concludes with the epic “Hey, hey; my, my (into the black)”, arguably Young’s strongest masterwork and one of the all-time peaks of the rock music. The album is an extraordinary crescendo that features all the elements that characterize Young’s best works, together with implicit or explicit references to the collapse of CSNY (“Thrasher”) the British punk boom, or the validity of rock n’ roll (“Hey, hey; my, my”) After this album Young began a long tour that concluded with the live album “Live Rust” (1979).

Neil Young: Ragged Glory (1990)

Neil Young: Ragged Glory (1990)

The hangover of such titanic effort was not positive for Young, who in the early 80s began an evident collapse that lasted until the end of that decade. Albums as “Re-ac-tor” (1981) “Trans” (1982) or “Landing on water” (1986), while featuring some interesting songs, made some fans and critics believe that Young’s artistic end was very near. However, “This note’s for you” (1988), a not very ambitious but musically interesting album, and the EP “Eldorado” (1989) showed traces of the genius, already admired by post-punk bands like Pixies or Pearl Jam

With the sensational “Freedom” (1989) Young reached one of his biggest achievements. Repeating the structure acoustic-electric sides shown on “Rust never sleeps”, Young gave us the beauty of “Someday” or “Hangin’ on a limb” the surrealism of “Eldorado” (already released on the EP with the same name) and even a quite cool version of the famous “On Broadway”. But over all of them, the successful and politically committed “Rockin’ in the free World”, in both versions: acoustic and electric.

Young was not satisfied with that, and the following year he released “Ragged Glory” (1990), another furiously extraordinary album, featuring masterworks as “Mansion on the hill”, “F***** up”, or “Love to burn”. It looked like if Neil Young, contemplating the success of the post-punk or the apparition of grunge, wanted to send an explicit message to the new generations, something like “beware kids cause I’m still the fucking boss”, and of course he does. Personally, I cannot understand those critics who don’t consider this album as one of his masterworks. In my opinion, it forms, along with “Harvest”, “Zuma”, “Rust never sleeps”, and “Freedom”, the essential pentagram of Young.

Neil Young: Harvest Moon (1992)

Neil Young: Harvest Moon (1992)

Neil Young was still experimenting in the early 90s, releasing albums as interesting as “Harvest Moon” (1992), which represents a momentary return to his origins in folk music (though it is also true that this origins were never fully forgotten) with songs as “From Hank to Hendrix”, the interesting and pessimist “Sleeps with angels” (1994) or the brave “Mirrorball” (1995) in which the young band Pearl Jam accompanies the Canadian music. This album includes the fabulous “I’m the ocean”, without a doubt the best song by Young from the last 15 years.

Neil Young in Austin, Texas, 1976

Neil Young in Austin, Texas, 1976 – ©Mark Estabrook

ESSENTIAL SONGS

Being conscious of the risks that such a subjective decision entails, theArtWolf has humbly selected ten songs that, in our opinion, represent the most prominent of the majestic Neil Young’s discography.

After the gold rush (album: “After the gold rush”, 1970)

An end that is also the beginning. Searching his own identity after the CSNY rush with the full moon in his eyes. A piano marks the way. Flying Mother Nature’s silver seed to a new home in the sun. Young’s universe begins here.

Heart of gold (album: “Harvest”, 1972)

Golden folk. The song that best describes the complex and permanent search for love underlying in every Young’s theme. I’ve been a miner for a Heart of Gold. It’s harvest time, the field is now ready. And I’m getting old.

The Needle and the Damage Done (album: “Harvest”, 1972)

You can feel the pain in this song. An ode for friends gone too soon. Ooh, ooh, the damage done…

Winterlong (album: “Decade”, 1977)

The Indian summer is gone. Orange sky, northern wind. The first snowflakes. Wonderful invocation to the Great Winter that Black Francis and his Pixies admired 15 years later.

Like a hurricane (album: “American Stars ‘n’ bars”, 1977)

Sometimes a single verse says it all: I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream. Desperate, devastating. Like a hurricane. Young composes this electric marvel in a quite irregular album.

Hey, hey; my, my (into the black) (album: “Rust never sleeps”, 1979)

Electroshock. An electric storm (over)charged with a ferocious and merciless vitalism: It’s better to burn out than to fade away (do you agree, Cobain?) The Indian Warrior running prairies and plurichord canyons. Crazy Horse rides on his side, unchained, runaway.

Neil Young in Ottawa, Canada, 2006

Neil Young in Ottawa, Canada, 2006 – Photo by Adrian M. Buss

Thrasher (album: “Rust never sleeps”, 1979)

Lyrically, this is Young at his very best. The literal and the metaphoric hiding its identities behind hay bales and shrine. The definitive confirmation of his own identity, a praise to individuality: they were just deadweight to me . Dinosaurs -CSNY- stuck in canyons, eagles raising. I’ll know the time has come to give what’s mine

Rockin’ in the free world (album: “Freedom”, 1989)

On the road again. The 80s were not a golden age for Young, but he came back with the fabulous Freedom (1989). Furious and politically committed, Neil proves that he has still a long way to go. Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive

Mansion on the hill (album: “Ragged Glory”, 1990)

Yeah, Rage and Glory. Old rocker of chrome and gasoline. His words were kind, but his eyes were wild. A highway to the sun, a rocky road. A mansion on the hill.

I’m the ocean (album: “Mirrorball”, 1995)

Young chose Pearl Jam’s fresh sap to compose a supreme, epic, almost monotone song. Like the ocean. Like the giant undertow. Although the work exudes electricity, the permanent demand of his own identity and individuality relates it with “Thrasher” or” After the gold rush”. Tremendous.

If these ten songs are not enough (surely they are not) let’s select a few others songs, although I guess that if I continue in this way I am risky to put here every Neil Young song (which would be probably fairer!)

Cinnamon girl (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1969)

Are you ready for the country? (Harvest, 1972)

See the sky about to rain (On the beach, 1974)

Tonight’s the night (Tonight’s the night, 1975)

Don’t cry no tears (Zuma, 1975)

Cortez the killer (Zuma, 1975)

Powderfinger (Rust never sleeps, 1979)

Pocahontas (Rust never sleeps, 1979)

This note’s for you (This note’s for you, 1988)

Eldorado (Freedom, 1989)

F***** up (Ragged Glory, 1990)

From Hank to Hendrix (Harvest Moon, 1992)

Western hero (Sleeps with angels, 1994)

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Neil Young - The Rust and the Glory