No. 350: Rust Never Sleeps

Band: Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Album: Rust Never Sleeps
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: "Rust Never Sleeps" is Neil Young's most Neil Young-y album. There are heavy riffs, political messages and Young's classic whine/wail.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album is so decidedly stylistic that it doesn't let Young show his various non Neil Young-y skills. It's classic Young, with all the trappings, both good and bad.
Best song: Sure, why not? "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" has one of Young's heaviest -- and best -- riffs.
Worst song: "Welfare Mothers" is muddled and I don't care for it.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely.

Neil Young fancies himself something of a philosopher and "Hey Hey, My My"/"My My, Hey Hey" is his Crito. Young's thoughts on the future of rock and roll were made famous by Kurt Cobain's suicide note ("It's better to burn out than to fade away"), but the hard rock electric riff of "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" is heavenly. The searing distorted guitar is perfect for the record and is looked at as Young's classic electric song.

But, the song is also "Young as older man." Young had gotten to know DEVO and was familiar with the burdeonging greater punk scene and wrote the song as a reaction to said scene. The rock and roll critical community had begun to call Young (specifically) and his contemporaries dinosaurs in the wake of the punk movement. As bands like the Clash and Sex Pistols started to gain traction, Young found himself mired in critically disfavored albums before "Rust" and had to look inward.

And so he wrote "Hey Hey, My My"/"My My, Hey Hey." The song's lyric is clear: Punk rock will not last forever. Johnny Rotten is specifically namechecked, as Rotten went back to being John Lydon upon the Sex Pistols' breakup (as in, Lydon was "fading away"). Young's introspective bitterness is palpable.

To be honest, that attitude works better on "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)." The song's sound has been described as proto-grunge and it remains one of his most popular. For the most part, it's the song that kept him as a viable "artist" (as opposed to sellouts like McCartney and the Stones) in the 1980s. It's that viable artist thing that made Young into the "godfather of grunge" and eventually even worked with Pearl Jam on "Mirrorball." It's all because of this song, basically.

---

The rest of the album, in a lot of ways, is just as strong as the signature track. "Welfare Mothers" follows Young's other bizarre political work, falling somewhere between the hawkishness of "Hawks and Doves" and the sadness of "Rockin' in the Free World." "Pocahontas" is another of his Young's "history of the Native American" songs, though probably his best. "Thrasher" is similarly great.

Robert Christgau gave the album a rare A+ and I think he gets it right:

The miracle is that Young doesn't sound much more grizzled now than he already did in 1969; he's wiser but not wearier, victor so far over the slow burnout his title warns of.

He's right. This is an album of Neil Young's aging and it sounds great.

No. 331: Tonight's the Night

Band: Neil Young
Album: Tonight's the Night
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: A record written and recorded in the direct aftermath of two Young friends (Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and band roadie Bruce Berry), the album is straight ahead rock and roll. The lyrics are stark and, at times, morbid. It's a dark record, but beautiful'
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Young's best stuff still remains his most radio-friendly (“Harvest,” “After the Gold Rush,” etc.) and “Tonight's the Night” will make you want to kill yourself.
Best song: "Borrowed Tune” is a great creepy drug use song while the title track is a tribute to Young's fallen comrades.
Worst song: “Mellow my Mind” isn't very good.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

Neil Young's career is dotted with albums he delivered to labels and were promptly rejected. “Tonight's the Night” was his second straight album in the '70s and you can see why the label had no interest in it. It's a dark, dark album; it's the type of thing Jason Molina base much of his Songs:Ohia stuff upon. It is not the type of record cone listens to as background.

Nevertheless, it's brilliantly written – even if some songs were written while totally wasted – and one of the highlights of Young's post CSNY work. The title track is rhythmic and cool, while “Tired Eyes” has the narrative qualities of a Velvet Underground murder mystery. The lighter “Albuquerque” is downright positive and whimsical in its celebration of a certain life.

It's not Young's best work, but it's an interesting, introspective look at death and mortality.

No. 208: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Band: Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Album: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Young's second solo album is solid throughout, mostly on the strength of "Cinnamon Girl" and the record's meandering side-enders ("Down By The River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand"). It's folksy but hard, almost like an extended jam session.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's not as tight as some of Young's better albums, specifically the marvelous "Harvest" or the somber "After The Gold Rush." Still, it fits at 208.
Best song: "Cinnamon Girl" stands out as one of Young's best songs, not just on this album. Its lightweight Sabbath riff is nearly as hard as the Canadian rocks.
Worst song: "Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's up and down, but it's an excellent record.

What's so amazing to me about Neil Young is that he continues to make records at a solid clip. He's released four records since 2005's "Prairie Wind," which is pretty impressive.

"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" is Young's second solo album and was made during his most productive time (he was also making Buffalo Springfield and CSNY records during this period). It was the first with Crazy Horse, so the record's sond has a jam-quality to it.

In fact, the album's centerpiece, "Down By The River" is known as Young's jam song. Just over nine minutes long on the record, Young has been known to play versions normally going over 20 minutes long. In fact, at the 1998 Farm Aid concert, he teamed up with Phish to do just that: Jam for 20-plus minutes on the song:



On the record, the band is loose and fun and Young's guitar solo goes nowhere, as the album title indicates. I love Neil Young, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who finds him to be a great guitar player. His solos on this album are not good, from poorly fingered one on "Down By The River" to the one-note (seriously) piece on "Cinnamon Girl."

---

Again, the band isn't particularly tight, but Young's songwriting finally comes into its own on this record. "Cowgirl In The Sand" is long,but pretty, the title track is desperate and "Cinnamon Girl" is one of Young's best riffs.

It's one of Young's better records, though because of it being an early Young record, he doesn't explore his sound as much. He was developing what a Neil Young song sounds like -- we'd later find out that "Cinnamon Girl" was an early prototype -- so, experimentation (like on "Hawks & Doves") isn't there. Still, a fine record.

No. 78: Harvest

Band: Neil Young
Album: Harvest
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: "Harvest" is probably Young's best album. It's certainly his most well-known and had his first big hit in "Heart Of Gold." Poignant songs like "The Needle And The Damage Done" and "Old Man" show Young's ability to emote in his cry/whine, while his use of the London Symphony Orchestra peppers "There's A World" and the probably sexist "A Man Needs A Maid."
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's a better album than "After The Gold Rush," which is before "Harvest" on the list.
Best song: "Old Man" is wonderful. "Heart Of Gold" is great. Basically, the whole album is wonderful.
Worst song: "A Man Needs A Maid" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely. It's a favorite of mine.

Neil Young hurt his back in 1971, so he wasn't able to play electric guitar as he couldn't stand up for long periods of time. So, he decided to write and record songs on his acoustic guitar. The result? "Harvest."

"Harvest" takes country influences and soft-rocks them up in a way that's wonderfully palpable. Like the proverbial spoonful of sugar, Young's whispery voice and acoustic work makes the country twang go down a little easier for me. "Out On the Weekend" opens the record in this fashion, featuring James Taylor on the banjo. "Are You Ready For The Country" takes early rock and roll honky tonk and combines it with the folk rock Young knows so well.

Lyrically, Young is more mature on "Harvest." Despite his thematic plagiarism on his response to Skynyrd in "Alabama," Young is more measured than in "Southern Man." "The Needle And The Damage Done" -- a song about the overdose and death of Young roadie Bruce Berry -- is reserved and mourning, while "Words (Between The Lines Of Ages)" is a pretty little metaphor storyline.

Young himself isn't the biggest "Heart of Gold" fan (he's called it "middle of the road"), but that doesn't take away from what is a great song. A number one single, "Heart of Gold" paved the way for much of the soft rock in the '70s. It'd be easy to hold that against the song, but it's still a fantastic number that relies on a pounding acoustic guitar riff and some interesting slide guitar.

"Harvest" is Neil Young's best work. It has a collection of near-flawless bouncing from country to rock to symphonic rock, all mixed with a heavy dash of Young's Canadian folk tendencies.

No. 71: After The Gold Rush

Band: Neil Young
Album: After The Gold Rush
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Neil Young's this solo album marked a period of prolificness (yes, "prolificness" is a word. I looked it up) in Young's career. He'd released two solo albums in the previous year, as well as "Deja Vu" with CSNY. Building on the ethos of the Boomers letdown of the late '60s, "After The Gold Rush" bounces from optimism to pessimism in a matter of a minute. "Tell Me Why," the title track, "When You Dance I Can Really Love" and "Southern Man" are classics.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's not Young's best effort (that'd be "Harvest," listed seven positions down at 78), nor is it his most identifiable. In the original RS review, the reviewer called it "dull" and -- save for "Southern Man" -- it is.
Best song: "Southern Man" portends the fantastic protest music that Young would write ("Ohio" in 1971 and "Alabama" in 1972 come to mind).
Worst song: "'Til The Morning Comes" is pretty bland. Thankfully, it's only a minute long.
Is it awesome?: It's close, but it falls short.

In his constant battles with his band Crazy Horse, Neil Young must have fired them 20 times. Before recording "After The Gold Rush" was the first time. So, Young built a tiny studio in his house, holed himself in there and record "After The Gold Rush."

Mostly inspired by a never-shot screenplay of the same name, "After The Gold Rush" is full of Young staples. There's a soft-ish plea for a cause (the environment on the title track), a love song with strange metaphors and an all-out attack on something (the South on "Southern Man"). What makes "After The Gold Rush" great is not just the brilliance of those archetypes, but the expansion of other songs. The storytelling of "Don't Let It Bring You Down," the country-tinged optimism of "I Believe In You" and the melancholy sad love of "Tell Me Why." It's an expansion of Young's abilities and that's to be celebrated.

At the risk of sounding like a boomer myself, "After The Gold Rush" is Young's "Rubber Soul." It had shades of brilliance before the actual masterpiece. In this analogy, "Rubber Soul":"After The Gold Rush, as "Revolver":"Harvest."