Back in 2010 and into 2011, contributing writer John Truslove from Perth, Australia did an incredible Bruce Springsteen countdown of his favorite 101 songs, Top 101 Songs Of Bruce Springsteen. The series was both informative and highly personal.
It's my pleasure to bring you another project by Truslove. This time around his taking on the daunting task of discussing the Neil Young discography. Every week we'll publish another installment. The discography, and Truslove's musings on it, will run chronologically. So let's get underway with part 1.
Written by JT of Perth, Australia (follow him at @thesonofnoone on Twitter)
For my favourite artist, I can't believe there's so many songs I dislike, and so many albums that I just plain don't get. But that's ok, because the highs well and truly make up for the lows, and even then - the lows aren't as disastrous as the lows by his peers.
So, what have we got? Well, it's all over the fuckin' place (as if you didn't know this already). There's the beginnings with the Buffalo Springfield, the initial solo career, the CSNY sojourns, the full-blown superstar years, the years where he was unfuckwithable, the underrated 80s, the (somewhat) overrated 90s, and everything since.
A lot to cover - so let's begin with a little detour.
How the hell does Neil Young survive in a band where he wasn't the lead singer, nor the main songwriter? How the hell did he get through the years when some of his own songs weren't even sung by him? Well, the answer is that he barely did. But what he did while in and out of the band was more than promising. Sure, some of the songs weren't classics (they can't all be), but some have yet to be topped.
1966-1968 - The Buffalo Springfield Years.
Buffalo Springfield (1966) Spotify
'Nowaday's Clancy Can't Even Sing' - Jesus, that's a crappy song title. And Neil's not even singing! But that doesn't matter much, because Richie Furay does more than a decent job. In the first Neil Young song to be heard by the mainstream, you can tell that this guy's not your normal run-of-the-mill songwriter. It's a strange piece (but not his strangest), but it works somehow. I can't specifically pinpoint one area where it soars - it's timing changes aren't really great and the melody is just good (but not fantastic). But as I said - somehow it works.
Do I score these things? If so - Clancy gets a 6.0
'Flying On the Ground is Wrong' - This is more like it. Still no NY vocals, but it's a better song. A more memorable chorus, sweet backing vocals that don't have as much Stills influence in them (not knocking Stills). Already you've got this knack in Neil Young's writing where you know he's writing about something simple but you (well, me at least) aren't really sure what the fuck he's actually trying to say. Nevertheless, a pretty decent song. 6.5
'Burned' - That's more like it - there's the voice. What a great little track as well. Still awkward, but the song goes by at such a speed (well, comparing to the other NY songs on this album it's a song by The Ramones) you can forgive the awkwardness. This shit just gets better and better. 7.5
'Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It?' - Hell, another crappy title. But not a bad song. A step down from 'Burned', but that's ok - it's still the first album NY had anything to do with, and you can't expect masterpiece after masterpiece. Only played twice live - both in 2004. Don't know why I said that, but it's interesting that NY pretty much neglected the song for almost 40 years, yet songs like 'Motorcycle Mama' get pride of place (meaning they're played every damn night on not one, but two tours). Not really the best NY song on the album. 6.0
'Out of My Mind' - Wow. Masterpiece #1. Starts off a little odd - like it's the main instrumental theme to 'Requiem for Everyone's Favourite Surfer' (or something like that). But man, when those vocals kick in it takes you to another planet. 'Out of My Mind' indeed. Simple lyrics that fit perfectly with the song. You think that it could've been an album of songs like this that NY was trying to record for his debut album (but more on that later). Let's just bask in this song. Fuckin' glorious. 10.0
Buffalo Springfield Again (1967) Spotify
'Mr. Soul' - OK, here's where I spit in the face of some other NY fanatics. I don't really love this song at all. There are days where I really like it - but I've never loved it. The closest I've got is some of the live versions with Crazy Horse in 1986. I don't know what it is about 'Mr. Soul' which I dislike, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I think it strives for a greatness it was never going to reach. After all, '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' had already been written and perfect by the Rolling Stones. Next! 6.5
'Expecting to Fly'. Double wow. Masterpiece #2. Neil Young's best song of the 1960's (and knowing what he would come up with in a few years - that's saying something). The kind of song where if you were dreaming and lived out this song in your head, you'd wake up in tears. How much we can attribute to Jack Nitzsche, I don't know. But with or without knowing how much he helped - I'll give the credit to NY himself. "Babe, now you know I tried." He did more than that - he wrote the first ten of his career. It wouldn't be the last. 10.0
'Broken Arrow' - Isn't this just the little mess? You can tell that Neil Young aimed for the stars but ended up almost shooting himself in the foot. It's a song that if I didn't know that he laboured over it for hours and hours on end, I'd think that it'd be the kind of song to labour over for hours and hours on end. But I appreciate the effort. Could've done without the 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' interlude, but genius to have Dewey Martin sing the faux-'Mr. Soul' intro. As an autobiographical song, it's not bad at all, but it's no 'Don't Be Denied'. 7.5
Last Time Around (1968) Spotify
'On the Way Home' - OK, so Neil Young's disowned the album, but he hasn't disowned his contributions. 'On the Way Home' is a great song, one that other bands could base their career around. But I can't talk too highly about this version because I know there's better versions out there. Not knocking Richie Furay's voice - because it really is great, but this is a Neil Young song, meant to be sung by Neil himself. Still, worthy of a pretty high score. 8.0
'It's So Hard to Wait' - A co-write, so we can't attribute to complete and utter awfulness of this song just to Neil. Richie Furay gets equal blame for this turd. 2.0
'I Am a Child' - A song that many NY fans love. But I'm not sure why - maybe it was its use in the 'Rust Never Sleeps' film, but I just don't get the love for it. It just sounds like a demo - which is kinda perverse, because when he finally releases the actual demo of the song, it will have about 200 times more soul than this take. Next! 5.0
Next? what's next? Oh that's right - he quit the band for good before Last Time Around got released. Onto the solo career!!
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