Tony's Picks - Neil Young

I've got a fairly large CD library. In my collection, one of the artists that is a big part of my collection is Neil Young. My wife Carol and I found out early in our relationship that we each had a mutual liking of Neil. I have almost everything he's put out [almost]. There's lots of gold in those CDs as well as quite a bit of trash. Maybe that's why he's so endearing - he's willing to follow his muse, whether it results in good or bad. The good far outweighs the bad. Here is my Top 25 picks of what I think is the best of Neil Young. Others have their own favorites that do not match mine. Without further adieu, not in any particular order...

1. Revolution Blues – from the 1974 On the Beach LP. Inspired by Charles Manson, whom NY met during his Topanga Canyon days. Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars/But I hate them worse than lepers and I'll kill them in their cars. This song always bothered Crosby, who played rhythm guitar on the record, along with Rick Danko and Levon Helm from The Band. The first time I heard it was at a solo acoustic show in Denver in 1983. It was great then, still great now.

2. Powderfinger – from the 1978 Rust Never Sleeps LP. Reprised [no pun intended] on 1979’s Live Rust. An excellent story-telling song performed with Crazy Horse about some backwoods family doing something illegal and getting caught by the Feds (moonshining perhaps?). I heard this one at the same Denver show that I heard Revolution Blues. I always thought the lyrics “then I saw black and my face splash in the sky” were the best ones in the song - “wow – a dead guy is telling this story…"

3. Cortez the Killer – from the 1975 Zuma LP. Another song performed with Crazy Horse that just so happens to immediately follow Powderfinger on Live Rust. I was immediately hooked with the words He came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns/Looking for a New World and a palace in the sun…References to Montezuma, beautiful women, cocoa leaves and pearls paint a vivid picture. Guitar solos abound!

4. Like a Hurricane – from the 1977 American Stars ‘N Bars LP. Yet another Crazy Horse song [see a pattern?]. I first heard this one as a freshman in college in 1981 in Boulder, Colorado. A guy from La Junta who lived down the hall from me would always play this one real loud before all of us had to go take a math exam. This is the song that got me hooked on Neil Young. Many thanks to Phil Gerard, the guy who got me hooked.

5. The Old Laughing Lady – the original version of this song is from NY’s 1968 debut LP. It’s a long slow meditative production piece. I prefer the version he did on 1993’s Unplugged – just him and a twelve-string guitar. This one opened the 1983 Denver show.

6. Ohio – a 1970 single with CSNY. NY said the 1970 Kent State shootings that inspired this song was probably the most important lesson taught at an institution of higher learning. But what was the lesson?

7. Eldorado – from the 1989 Freedom CD. This one takes place in Latin America. It starts fairly quietly with a strumming acoustic guitar with an electric playing some fairly-restrained fills. This arrangement goes on for most of the song. One hears about a drug deal going down [“the briefcase snaps goodbye…”], the mission church, the villas, beautiful women dressed in diamonds and sables, a mariachi band playing next to a garbage heap. The final verse has a bullfighter dressed in gold lame, killing the bull for the excited crowd, then suddenly the loudest Neil Young guitar power chords you’ll ever hear. If that doesn’t wake you up out of a trance, nothing will. Priceless!

8. When God Made Me – from the 2005 Prairie Wind CD. This one is one of NY’s most thought-provoking songs. This one reminds me of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. He asks ten questions about God –

· Was he thinking about my country, or the color of my skin?

· Was he thinking about my religion, and the way I worshipped him?

· Did he create just me in his image, or every living thing?

· Was he planning only for believers, or for those who just had faith?

· Did he envision all wars that were fought in his name?

· Did he say there was only one way to be close to him?

· Did he give me the gift of love to say who I could choose?

· Did he give me the gift of voice so some could silence me?

· Did he give me the gift of vision not knowing what I might see?

· Did he give me the gift of compassion to help my fellow man?

Who knew Neil Young was a philosopher?

9. When You Dance I Can Really Love – from the 1970 After the Gold Rush LP. This one is a three-minute quickie with Crazy Horse and Jack Nitzsche on piano.

10. Cinnamon Girl – from the 1969 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere LP. Another three-minute quickie with Crazy Horse. What Neil Young list would be complete without this one? This song probably started many a garage band.

11. Down By The River - from the 1969 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere LP. A minimalistic 10-minute guitar workout with Danny Whitten. I can identify with the guy who found out his girlfriend cheated on him one time too many. I think I’d shoot her too.

12. War of Man – from the 1992 Harvest Moon CD. I’m not really sure what this one is about. An animal’s eye view of the planet, as suggested by David Downing [author of Dreamer of Pictures]? That explanation is as good as any I guess. I like the arrangement – the acoustic guitars, fretless bass, drums, soaring female vocals. This one is all about atmosphere.

13. This Note’s For You – from the 1988 This Note’s For You CD. Remember a time when MTV used to play music videos from guys who played instruments? This song with his “big power swing band” rejects all kinds of corporate sponsorship that was just becoming prevalent in the music business. NY takes the piss on Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Pepsi, Coke, Budweiser, Jovan perfume, etc. This annoyed the MTV suits, who banned the video. NY got the last laugh because this video won the MTV Video of the Year the following year. Very humorous.

14. Rockin’ in the Free World - from the 1989 Freedom CD. Jimmy McDonough, in his Neil Young biography Shakey, tells the origins of this song. Frank Sampedro, the other guitarist in Crazy Horse, saw a newspaper article on Ayatollah Khomeini’s funeral and remarked “Whatever we do, we shouldn't go near the Mideast. It's probably better we just keep on rockin' in the free world." NY asked if Frank was using that in a song, Frank said no, so NY said he would instead. Two versions of the song appear on Freedom: a live acoustic version recorded at Jones Beach, NY at the beginning of the CD, and the electric version at the end. This song came out right around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, so many people thought it was a celebration of capitalism over communism. It isn’t. The lyrics criticize Bush 41 [“we got a thousand points of light for the homeless man/ we got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand…”], drug-addicted mothers, pollution [“Styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer…”]. An intense song. Check out YouTube for his performance of this song on Saturday Night Live if you don’t believe me.

15. My My, Hey Hey [Out of the Blue]/Hey Hey, My My [Into the Black] – from the 1978 Rust Never Sleeps LP. Like Rockin’ in the Free World, this song begins and ends Rust Never Sleeps – an acoustic beginning, an electric ending. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols was very much on NY’s mind, and he’s lamenting what he thought was his own self-perceived irrelevance to the music scene. Little did he know he created a classic. From the first few notes, you know exactly who it is.

16. Love and Only Love from the 1990 Ragged Glory CD. This CD came out shortly before I deployed to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield. I heard all the songs on the CD over and over, and this is the one that stuck. Over ten minutes, it’s a very loud guitar workout with searing feedback. But what else does one expect with a CD with Crazy Horse?

17. Pocahontas – from the 1978 Rust Never Sleeps LP. Another acoustic piece inspired by the person who portrayed an Indian who refused Marlon Brando’s Oscar for The Godfather. I heard an electric version of this with Crazy Horse in 1996 – it sounded like shit. The acoustic version is so much better. Pocahontas, Marlon Brando and me. Did he sleep with Pocahontas to see how she felt? Was Marlon Brando sitting by the fire talking about Hollywood, the Astrodome and the first TV? Pretty surreal stuff. Right up my alley…
    

18. No Wonder - from the 2005 Prairie Wind CD. The star on this acoustic gem is Ben Keith and his pedal steel. Spooner Oldham’s Hammond B-3 only adds to the atmosphere. NY evokes 9/11, name-checks Chris Rock and Willie Nelson. Sometimes I think this is some kind of lamentation of mortality, but then again NY did this CD right after he was told he had a brain aneurysm that had to get fixed soon.

19. Peace and Love – from the 1995 Mirror Ball CD. NY recorded this CD with Pearl Jam over a couple of weekends in Seattle. The very nimble Pearl Jam could play rings around the lumbering Crazy Horse, and often does on this CD. Blistering.

20. Act of Love - from the 1995 Mirror Ball CD. A song about abortion. The first time I heard this song when NY was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In fact, NY debuted the song there. Who else but Neil Young would do that at that event? NY played this song with Crazy Horse but recorded it live with Pearl Jam for Mirror Ball. Another blistering workout [see Peace and Love].

21. Birds - from the 1970 After the Gold Rush LP. I heard Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers once refer to the “most beautiful Neil Young song.” I think this one is it. There are three recorded versions of this song, but this one is the best. It’s just NY playing piano with Danny Whitten harmonizing.

22. Old Man – from the 1972 Harvest LP. NY’s song about the caretaker of his ranch. James Taylor’s banjo and Ben Keith’s pedal steel add just the right color.

23. The Needle and the Damage Done - from the 1972 Harvest LP. Recorded live at UCLA’s Bryce Hall, this is probably the best anti-drug song I’ve ever heard. NY said in the liner notes of Decade that he wasn’t one to preach, but hard drugs took a lot of good people. Foreshadowing of Tonight’s the Night. Speaking of which…

24. Tonight’s the Night, Part 1 – from the 1975 Tonight’s the Night LP. This one was recorded before, but released after On the Beach. NY said that the success he received as a result from Harvest pulled him toward the middle of the road, so he headed for the ditch, where he met a lot of more-interesting people. This whole record was inspired by the drug-related deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and CSNY roadie Bruce Berry. NY, the remains of Crazy Horse, Jack Nitzsche and Nils Lofgren all got together had a drunken bash, recorded for posterity to commemorate their dead friends.

25. Soldier – from the 1972 Journey Through the Past LP. NY solo with piano and a roaring fire from a sawdust mill. NY sings he doesn’t believe in Jesus because “you can’t deliver right away” to wishes and prayers. He sings of the soldier whose “eyes shine, they shine like the sun.” Is this a reaction to what this soldier saw in Vietnam?

Well, there you have it. Feel free to disagree, which I'm sure you will. Thanks for reading.