Neil Young

Certain Songs #1296: Neil Young – “My Pledge”

August 18, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Peace Trail
Year: 2016

Recorded at Shangri-La Studios, Malibu on September 10, 2016

So, after nearly 50 years and over 60 posts, we come to the end of Neil Young. Well, not really the end of Neil Young, per se — he put out The Visitor in 2017 and a film directed by Daryl Hannah called Paradox just a few months ago — but the end of the Neil Young songs I’m writing about.

So why not end it with a weird, surrealistic confessional from a man who his still burning brightly well into his eighth decade?

Certain Songs #1295: Neil Young – “Peace Trail”

August 17, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Peace Trail
Year: 2016

Recorded at Shangri-La Studios on September 11, 2016

After putting out two Crazy Horse albums in 2012, Neil Young didn’t release any new music in 2013, but put out two albums in 2014.

The first was A Letter Home, and it was recorded with Jack White, which on paper seems great until you read the fine print: it was a bunch of covers recorded on something called the Voice-o-Graph, which was basically a phone booth sized chamber with a mic that allowed you to record directly to vinyl. The result was fun, but non-essential.

Certain Songs #1294: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Ramada Inn”

August 16, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Psychedelic Pill
Year: 2012

Recorded at Redwood Digital on February 26, 2012

So naturally, after perhaps the most experimental album of his entire career, Neil Young returned to the basics, and after the longest non-Crazy Horse drought of his career, released not one, but two NYCH albums in 2012.

The first one, Americana, is a bit of a controversial entry in the canon: it’s all covers, and covers of traditional songs — and, er, “Get a Job” — to boot. Oh, and they fucked with the melodies of the more well-known songs as well.

Certain Songs #1293: Neil Young – “Hitchhiker”

August 15, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Le Noise
Year: 2010

Recorded at Le Noise, Silver Lake on March 29, 2010

After Prairie Wind, each of the new studio albums that Neil Young released for the balance of the 2000s had an interesting backstory, as well a few good songs, maybe even great ones.

In 2006, Living With War tried literally to raise rabble with pointed songs about Gulf War II like the title track and “Shock and Awe,” as well as the controversy-generating “Let’s Impeach The President,” (for lying, which seems both quaint and totally apropos today), though the best one was “The Restless Consumer,” a catchy commentary on late capitalism which was nevertheless too strident by half.

Certain Songs #1292: Neil Young – “No Wonder”

August 14, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Prairie Wind
Year: 2005

Recorded at Masterlink, Nashville on March 19, 2005

It would be 2005 before we got another good Neil Young album.

That’s not as bad as it sounds, I guess. First off, Broken Arrow was his last album of the 20th century, unless you count 1999’s CSN&Y album, Looking Forward, which I don’t even remember, so I guess I don’t.

But even a glance at the always helpful timeline on the invaluable Neil Young Archives shows an absolute paucity of studio recording during that period, and no lost albums.

Certain Songs #1291: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Slip Away (Los Angeles 09-11-1996)”

August 13, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Year of the Horse
Year: 1997

Recorded at the The Forum, Inglewood on September 11, 1996

Along with “Big Time” and “Music Arcade,” “Slip Away” was a definite highlight of Broken Arrow, but where it truly shone was on Year of The Horse, where it had time to slowly unfold.

I mean, sure, it slowly unfolded on Broken Arrow, too, but it kinda got lost a bit, being the third long slow song in a row to start off on that record, whereas on Year of the Horse, it was the first song on the second disc, following a pair of shorter songs that ended the first disc.

Certain Songs #1290: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Barstool Blues (Santa Cruz 05-09-1996)”

August 12, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Year of the Horse
Year: 1997

Recorded at the Catalyst, Santa Cruz on May 9, 1996

One of the fun things about Year of the Horse, the live album that Neil Young culled from the nearly year-long tour he undertook with Crazy Horse, was that it contained not one, but two songs originally on Zuma, neither of which was “Cortez The Killer.”

One of those songs was an utterly epic take on the long-lost “Danger Bird,” and other was a great, jammy version of “Barstool Blues,” which was definitely not a blues, but felt like it was written at last call.

Certain Songs #1289: Neil Young – “Music Arcade”

August 11, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Broken Arrow
Year: 1996

Recorded at Plywood Digital, Woodside, CA on March 29, 1996

But the best song on Broken Arrow wasn’t one of the long Crazy Horse jams, but rather just Neil alone with an acoustic guitar singing in an incredibly hushed manner, like he really didn’t want to sing the song, but also felt obligated to, as well.

Mood-wise, it’s almost a companion piece to “Borrowed Tune,” and while utter despair conveyed by that tune has been replaced with acceptance, the tone is still sad:

Certain Songs #1288: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Big Time”

August 10, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Broken Arrow
Year: 1996

Recorded at Plywood Digital on March 25, 1996

Since 1989, Neil Young had been on a roll: five studio albums and two live albums, not to mention TV appearances, sold-out tours, and an overall acknowledgement that he deserved the lifetime pass he’d already earned by the time the 1980s rolled around.

And while it’s not surprising that all of that critical and commercial goodwill would eventually dry up, what’s weird is that it dried up on the occasion of the occasion of his third Crazy Horse album of the decade; an album that was made up of many of the same ingredients — especially the long, loose jams — that people loved about Ragged Glory & Sleeps With Angels.

Certain Songs #1287: Neil Young – “Throw Your Hatred Down”

August 9, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Mirror Ball
Year: 1995

Recorded at Bad Animals on February 10, 1995

For some reason, Mirror Ball has kind of a bad rap, but I prefer it to the two Crazy Horse albums that sandwiched it — Sleeps With Angels and Broken Arrow, as the former is too dark conceptually and the latter is too muddy sonically.

Not to mention that none of the best songs on those records rose to the level of the best songs on Mirror Ball: “Act of Love,” “Scenery,” the titanic “I’m The Ocean,” and the utterly thrashing “Throw Your Hatred Down,” which was as typical of a great Neil Young song as “I’m The Ocean” was atypical.