2. music
  3. 195758-119399

Neil Young

Thought I would share a few thoughts here.

Neil Young is again on tour, so I am again giving this artist some thought.

I remember reading an interview with Bryan Ferry where he said that Neil Young was one of his favorite artists. I thought this odd given the glam rock of Roxy Music. But he described Neil Young as a musical chameleon, always changing up his music and bands, which is why he liked him so much.

That quote stuck with me.  Buffalo Springfield, Laurel Canyon, Solo Acoustic, CSNY, The Shocking Pinks, The International Harvesters, Rockin’ In The Free World, and so on.  Always a new twist for Neil.  He really doesn’t stay stagnant.

Then, reading about his current tour it seems at every stop he is breaking out some long forgotten and unplayed live tune to keep his set lists interesting.  

I’ve never seen him live, and frankly don’t think I have that much interest in seeing him live.  Yet I own a metric ton of his recorded material.  I remember reading someone else who described Neil as a one string soloist when it comes to rock guitar playing.  That kinda stuck with me.

I do appreciate his approach to analog releases from his vast catalog.

Anyway, he is indeed a hall of famer.

pgaulke60

Showing 1 response by ozzy

ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,671 posts
 

I have been a fan since his CSNY days and have seen him live many times through the years.

But honestly his last releases since Freedom/Glory Days, has been awful. I always thought he needed to rehearse the songs more before recording them, they seem so incomplete, and empty, compared to his earlier body of work. But I guess Neil thinks he can just sit down in one take and record them and then magic happens. Well, it doesn’t anymore.

And I believe that performers on stage should keep their politics to themselves. It’s alright to write a song about it, just don’t preach about it on stage to a captive audience who are there to hear music.

ozzy

More to discover