Dez's Record Guide: Neil Young, Pt. II

For an explanation of these guides and Pt. I, see the post below.

I’m a defender of Neil’s 80’s work, as difficult a job as that can be. I actually defend his 80’s output more than his much more celebrated 90’s work, because it was more interesting. It is one of the most eclectic, haphazard discographies in most any major artist’s catalogue. The 20 years that followed started strong, then got a bit complacent, with a quiet renaissance in recent years…

‘Where the Buffalo Roam’ soundtrack (1980) *
Rightfully an obscurity, Neil composed hokey guitar music for this offbeat Bill Murray film.

Hawks and Doves (1980) **
Re-Act-Tor (with Crazy Horse) (1981) **
Neil awkwardly enters the 80’s and tries to marry Crazy Horse to some New Wave elements…interesting in theory but both records are marred by weak compositions.

Trans (1982) ***
Perhaps the most notorious release in his entire catalogue, Neil goes Kraftwerk (including singing through a vocador through half of the record); drenched in synths and sequencers with his guitar slashing through, and then augmented by three tunes recorded in Hawaii from totally unrelated sessions from an earlier abandoned album…it is a marvelously strange record and I love it.

Everybody’s Rockin’ (with the Shocking Pinks) (1983) **
Old Ways (1985) **
A Treasure (live, with the International Harvesters) (1985/2011 Archives series) ***
He recorded a country album around ‘83 that was rejected by Geffen, they wanted “rock and roll.” Fine. So he records a rockabilly record instead (Everybody’s Rockin’), and further alienates himself from his former 60’s compadres by seemingly embracing Reaganism. I love how he takes one of his old trunk songs, “Wonderin’,” and turns it into a fantastic rockabilly/doo-wop tune. Old Ways was his second try at a straight country record, and this time Geffen let him put it out. “Misfits” is awesome, and he even duets with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings on some tunes. Neil’s shows on his Old Ways tour were semi-legendary, and indeed the live work is more exciting than its studio counterpart.

Landing On Water (1986) *
Life (with Crazy Horse) (1987) **
Landing on Water is possibly his worst record, he sounds totally at a loss trying to play rock in an 80’s world. The one exception is probably his best song of the decade, the savage “Hippie Dream” where he pointedly rips David Crosby and others for being hypocrites and drowning in their own excesses. Life is also a weak effort, but includes probably his second best song of the period, “Mideast Vacation”: “I was Rambo in the disco / I was shootin’ to the beat / when they burned me in effigy / my vacation was complete.”

This Note’s For You (with The Bluenotes) (1988) ***
Why not try a big band blues record next? It is actually pretty good and creates a nice atmosphere. The title track is his third best tune of the period, a great attack on rock commercialism that savages MTV (the video was first banned by the network, and then won Video of the Year at its awards).

Lucky Thirteen (compilation of 80’s period) (1982-88/1993) ***
You would think Neil would take this opportunity to present his dizzying 80’s genre jumping in a nice compilation, just to make some sense of it all, but he of course picks random album tracks, unreleased songs and live tunes instead. It is as chaotic as the decade of Neil’s work that it purports to anthologize.

Eldorado (EP, with The Restless, 1989, Japan only release) ****
His most earsplitting, savage playing, even more ramshackle than Crazy Horse. A preview of the masterpiece that was about to arrive…

Freedom (1989) *****
The last truly brilliant Neil Young record, a bold declaration after the interesting wilderness years of the 80’s; this stands toe to toe with the best of his 70’s work.

Ragged Glory (with Crazy Horse) (1990) ***
Weld (live, with Crazy Horse) (1991) ****
Arc (live, with Crazy Horse) (1991) *
Critics fawned over Ragged Glory (with Rolling Stone’s five star review claiming that Neil Young has single-handedly saved rock and roll for the new decade), but in reality, it is simply a solid but not stellar set of plodding Crazy Horse numbers that would have been deep album cuts on the better 70’s records. Weld is better. Arc is an interesting thirty minute pastiche of feedback and distortion sound collage…but are you ever really going to listen to it from start to finish? Well, I have, but would you?

Harvest Moon (with Stray Gators) (1992) ***
Dreamin’ Man ’92 (live) (1992/2007 Archives series) **
Unplugged (live) (1993) ***
More critical fawning for the much ballyhooed “follow-up” to Harvest; it is actually more akin to the slick and more mediocre Comes a Time. The title track may be his prettiest song, though, a mature and not cheesy ode to domestic happiness. Dreamin’ Man is solo acoustic renditions of the entire Harvest Moon album. They’re fine, but the point? With so much amazing stuff still in the vault, I was expecting better choices for the Archives releases. Where is a show from the Tonight’s the Night tour? Release Time Fades Away on disc. The much bootlegged Bluenote Café. Why this? Unplugged is cool with a few surprises, like the pump organ version of “Like a Hurricane.”

Sleeps With Angels (with Crazy Horse) (1994) **
I keep thinking I need to revisit this. Then I do. And it is still just OK.

Mirror Ball (with Pearl Jam) (1995) **
Definitely a lost opportunity, what should have been a summit of kindred spirits turns out a batch of riffs disguised as songs and half-baked ideas.

Broken Arrow (with Crazy Horse) (1996) ***
More of the same. But it’s pretty good.

‘Dead Man’ soundtrack (1996) *
Ambient guitar noodling.

Year of the Horse (live, with Crazy Horse) (1997) **
Do we need another of these? As Neil says before the opening song, “they’re all the same song!” Yep.

Silver and Gold (2000) ***
A very nice acoustic record comprised of trunk songs that he dusted off and finally recorded. I really like this, even if it is not that important of a record.

Road Rock, vol. 1 (live) (2000) **
Are You Passionate? (with Booker T. and the MGs) (2002) *
Greendale (with Crazy Horse) (2003) *
Greatest Hits (compilation) (2004) ***
Prairie Wind (2005) *
Living With War (2006) *
Living With War: In The Beginning (2006) *
Chrome Dreams II (2007) **
Perhaps I am too harsh on ’02-’07, but I find it to be his most boring set of records. Critics were quite pleased with these. Yes, the 80’s were bad (spectacularly in some cases), but at least it was interesting. I saw the tour with Booker T. and it was great, but the record they made together is so dull. Greendale is a stupid concept album that I won’t waste space even explaining. Prairie Wind is slick Comes a Time-like professionalism. Living With War is embarrassing, an anti-Iraq War/"I hate George W. Bush" toss-off that is infantile in both writing and execution. Finally Chrome Dreams II (Chrome Dreams is the name of one of his most sought after bootlegs, so the title is a cheeky reference to that) is a collection of songs he had accumulated over the years and finally decided to record…most of them could have stayed in the vaults. With an artist with as much work as Neil, a single disc Greatest Hits collection is really pointless, especially when you put “Cowgirl in the Sand” and “Down By the River” back to back. Who picked that sequencing? Neil probably.

Fork in the Road (2009) ****
A concept record with songs about how much he digs his electric car. And it is loose, fun, witty and rockin’. As I said in my original review, it is record as blog post.

Le Noise (with Daniel Lanois) (2010) ****
Neil alone with an electric guitar (mostly) getting the Daniel Lanois atmospheric treatment on a strong set of songs.

Americana (with Crazy Horse) (2012) ****
Some of the American folk song canon getting run though the Crazy Horse barn; loose, loud, fun and very American.

Psychedelic Pill (with Crazy Horse) (2012) **
What the f***, Neil?

A Letter Home (2014) ***
Gimmicky, but oddly effective. Neil visited Jack White's studio where White had a vintage 1947 Voice-o-Graph machine which allowed people to make their own scratchy records. Armed with some odd covers, Neil entered the phone booth and recorded an affecting in places, loose, ramshackle set that captures an era gone by. His rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" is the highlight.

Storytone (2014) **
Another headscratching detour, this time Neil works with a 92-piece orchestra on most tracks, and with a blues big band on three others. Mot very good, and the lyrics are often a mismatch for the setting, although the fun "I Want To Drive My Car" and the gorgeous "When i Watch You Sleep" are keepers.