Neil Young or Bob Dylan

[Towelie]

Neil Young is boss.

Still writing amazing albums even today. Just listen to Peaceful Valley Boulevard from Le Noise. Doesn't get much better than that.

[DieselDaisy]

Waging Heavy Peace was an odd book. It took me awhile to get into the writing style. He does like his trains! And this pono project!

Neil Young is boss.

Still writing amazing albums even today. Just listen to Peaceful Valley Boulevard from Le Noise. Doesn't get much better than that.

Have you heard Psychedelic Pill. It is literally another full blown Horse masterpiece, like another Ragged Glory. Best album I have heard in years.

[Mr. Dude]

Neil Young is boss.

Still writing amazing albums even today. Just listen to Peaceful Valley Boulevard from Le Noise. Doesn't get much better than that.

Le Noise is a great record. The revamped version of Hitchhiker, Love and War are downright masterpieces. That album has such an eerie, haunting, heavy presence.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Mr. Dude

[Mr. Dude]

Waging Heavy Peace was an odd book. It took me awhile to get into the writing style. He does like his trains! And this pono project!

Neil Young is boss.

Still writing amazing albums even today. Just listen to Peaceful Valley Boulevard from Le Noise. Doesn't get much better than that.

Have you heard Psychedelic Pill. It is literally another full blown Horse masterpiece, like another Ragged Glory. Best album I have heard in years.

Honestly, I didn't like Waging Heavy Peace all that much. Its not an easy read. There's no chronology or really any kind of logical order to the book. I thought he got lost too much on tangents and as long as it is I don't feel like there's a whole lot of info in there (not when you consider his long, vast, and varied career). It reminded me of the way he'd get lost in one of his epic guitar jams- but that free-form style doesn't work as well for an autobiography.

I like Pyschedelic Pill a lot. Walk Like a Giant is super, vintage NY & CH. Unfortunately I think its probably the last we're going to hear from him w/Crazyhorse. I even liked Americana. Only Neil Young and Crazyhorse could turn the Jesus Chariot (She'll be Comin Round the Mountain) into a sledgehammer of a rock song.

[Towelie]

I have mixed feelings on Psychedelic Pill. The 27 minute opening track is an endurance test at best. I'm all for long extended guitar jams if the song and the groove is worthy of that length (No Hidden Path, Down By The River, Ordinary People, Cowgirl In The Sand - I wouldn't cut one second from those tracks). But Driftin' Back says all it really needs to say in the first five minutes and then just goes on and on and on and on. And on.

I dig Walk Like A Giant but the last two minutes are very annoying. My favourite on the album is She's Always Dancing. Overall though, in terms of his albums with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill isn't a patch on Ragged Glory.

His best latter day albums IMO are Chrome Dreams II, Living With War and Le Noise.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Towelie

[Redhead74]

I recognise Dylan's song writing genius but I just don't ever like listening to him singing his own songs. Whenever someone covers one of his songs I think it's incredible, so perhaps I just don't like him as a performer, despite the fact that he is incredibly talented.

Neil Young on the other hand, is amazing. Love his songs and he performs them beautifully. I also think he has quite a bit of diversity from his Harvest Moon sound to the stuff he has done with Crazy Horse, they are so different. I'm a big fan of Psychedelic Pill, especially those long, meandering tracks. The rhythm in the whole album is incredible, each track takes you on a little musical journey and you have to really listen to it and absorb yourself in it to appreciate it properly IMO.

[Guest Len B'stard]

As someone who wants to get into him, where do i start? I heard the soundtrack he did for the Johnny Depp film Dead Man.

[Towelie]

I'd start with Chrome Dreams II. It showcases both his softer folksier acoustic side as well as his harder, more grungy sound with crunchy guitars and long jams.

For more of his softer acoustic stuff you can't go wrong with Harvest. For his darker grungy stuff check out Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (if you don't like Down By The River and Cowgirl In The Sand then you won't like any of his shit).

Edited January 3, 2014 by Towelie

[DieselDaisy]

I have mixed feelings on Psychedelic Pill. The 27 minute opening track is an endurance test at best. I'm all for long extended guitar jams if the song and the groove is worthy of that length (No Hidden Path, Down By The River, Ordinary People, Cowgirl In The Sand - I wouldn't cut one second from those tracks). But Driftin' Back says all it really needs to say in the first five minutes and then just goes on and on and on and on. And on.

I dig Walk Like A Giant but the last two minutes are very annoying. My favourite on the album is She's Always Dancing. Overall though, in terms of his albums with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill isn't a patch on Ragged Glory.

His best latter day albums IMO are Chrome Dreams II, Living With War and Le Noise.

You see I love that. 27 mins was too short haha. I am a total Horse addict. In my opinion, Psychedelic Pill is on par with Ragged Glory. I might be even tempted to say I prefer it.

I do not like Living with War. Even for Shakey's standards it is terribly uncooked.

As someone who wants to get into him, where do i start? I heard the soundtrack he did for the Johnny Depp film Dead Man.

After the Goldrush. Good blend of Horse (Southern Man) and gentler moments.

[Mr. Dude]

As someone who wants to get into him, where do i start? I heard the soundtrack he did for the Johnny Depp film Dead Man.

For the more standard fare-

Everybody Knows this is Nowhere - (Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, Cowgirl)

After the Gold Rush - (a good soft-heavy contrast that does well to represent his artistic range)

Harvest - (of course, with your seemingly punk sensibility this might not be your cup of tea, its the most popular widely known record)

Some of my favorites

On the Beach

Tonights the Night

Zuma

Live Rust

Greendale

Edited January 3, 2014 by Mr. Dude

[Mr. Dude]

I have mixed feelings on Psychedelic Pill. The 27 minute opening track is an endurance test at best. I'm all for long extended guitar jams if the song and the groove is worthy of that length (No Hidden Path, Down By The River, Ordinary People, Cowgirl In The Sand - I wouldn't cut one second from those tracks). But Driftin' Back says all it really needs to say in the first five minutes and then just goes on and on and on and on. And on.

I dig Walk Like A Giant but the last two minutes are very annoying. My favourite on the album is She's Always Dancing. Overall though, in terms of his albums with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill isn't a patch on Ragged Glory.

His best latter day albums IMO are Chrome Dreams II, Living With War and Le Noise.

Ragged Glory is great, but there are only a few new songs on the record. Same thing for Chrome Dreams II. Doesn't make them any less though, even though some of those songs were 15 years old they don't feel out of place.

[Mr. Dude]

I have mixed feelings on Psychedelic Pill. The 27 minute opening track is an endurance test at best. I'm all for long extended guitar jams if the song and the groove is worthy of that length (No Hidden Path, Down By The River, Ordinary People, Cowgirl In The Sand - I wouldn't cut one second from those tracks). But Driftin' Back says all it really needs to say in the first five minutes and then just goes on and on and on and on. And on.

I dig Walk Like A Giant but the last two minutes are very annoying. My favourite on the album is She's Always Dancing. Overall though, in terms of his albums with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill isn't a patch on Ragged Glory.

His best latter day albums IMO are Chrome Dreams II, Living With War and Le Noise.

You see I love that. 27 mins was too short haha. I am a total Horse addict. In my opinion, Psychedelic Pill is on par with Ragged Glory. I might be even tempted to say I prefer it.

I do not like Living with War. Even for Shakey's standards it is terribly uncooked.

As someone who wants to get into him, where do i start? I heard the soundtrack he did for the Johnny Depp film Dead Man.

After the Goldrush. Good blend of Horse (Southern Man) and gentler moments.

Southern Man isn't a Crazyhorse song. Ralph Molina drums on it, but otherwise its Nils Lofgren and CSN.

Living With War is what it is. I didn't have a problem with it, but the message supersedes the music. The arrangements are forced and not thought out at all, but that was kind of the point. Its almost like a stronger arrangement would have taken the focus away from the very basic and straight-ahead anger and frustration. Its a statement, but its not an artistic statement and its not a masterpiece and its not supposed to be.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Mr. Dude

[DieselDaisy]

So it is. You are correct. I knew about Nils but I thought Billy played on it also - it is Greg Reeves. Goldrush does however contain 'When You Dance' which is the augmented Horse (with Jack Nitzsche on keys). I think the general point still stands in that you have two songs which represent the rockier side of Young (Southern Man and When You Dance) and the rest is the acoustic - more commercial - side. It is a perfect introduction however Goldrush was how I first discovered Neil so maybe I am biased.. Any of those three albums (EKTIN-Goldrush-Harvest) can in fact serve as an introduction. The problem with the first one of those is, the two epics are either going to make a complete convert of you, or put you off for life. Goldrush or Harvest are the gentler path I feel.

Of course, he could just go for Decade?

My personal favourite album, if I had to choose and had a gun to my head, would be Zuma. Zuma, and the two ditch albums that preceded it are probably a little raggedy for an introduction though. I would certainly not recommend Tonights the Night to a newbie! I might be tempted to recommend Rust Never Sleeps which is probably my second favourite of Neil’s and is particularly appropriate for Len as it is, punky.

I understand what you are saying and agree to a certain extent but I simply find Living With War one of Neil’s poorest albums and not an album I would ever listen to too often. There are only two songs I truly love on it, Shock and Awe and Restless Consumer. The rest of the album just sounds like it was thrown together in two minutes. One oft-criticised album that I champion is Are You Passionate?, Neil with Booker and the Mgs. It is certainly no masterpiece but, ignoring Let’s Roll, there is some great stuff on there (e.g. She’s A Healer, title track, Going Home) and I like that, clean, vibrant, guitar tone Neil utilises for that one album (slightly reminiscent of his tone in the Blue Notes).

[Towelie]

I love Living With War and rate it as probably his best record of the last ten years (alongside Chrome Dreams II). It is so impassioned, the choir, the subject matter... it's an incredible album from start to finish.

And yeah, Rust Never Sleeps is an incredible record. Thrasher is my all time favourite NY song.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Towelie

[Use Your Delusion 1]

I love Living With War and rate it as probably his best record of the last ten years (alongside Chrome Dreams II). It is so impassioned, the choir, the subject matter... it's an incredible album from start to finish.

And yeah, Rust Never Sleeps is an incredible record. Thrasher is my all time favourite NY song.

Thasher is god like

On the Beach is his finest for me

love Le Noise of the latest stuff though

[dalsh327]

If you're going by body of work and concert performances? Neil wins.

Neil is also one of the best when it comes to "epic" songs.

[classicguns4life]

Bob Dylan is more classic all around. He's written better songs and been more influential.

Having said that, I'd definitely vote Neil Young as my favorite of the two.

[DieselDaisy]

'Better' is subjective.

[machinegunner]

It's harder to get a proper grip on Neil Young's discography and figure out what he's about, i'm finding. I should read his biography - 'Shakey' is the best one, right?

Edited February 2, 2014 by machinegunner

[Sixes]

It's harder to get a proper grip on Neil Young's discography and figure out what he's about, i'm finding. I should read his biography - 'Shakey' is the best one, right?

what I tend to do with someone I'm just discovering, I start at the beginning of their discography and work my way to the present

I don't listen to greatest hits albums or pick what other people say are the best albums...I like the ride and the peaks, valleys, growth and/or regression in listening to a discography from beginning to end...

same goes with directors

and on topic, if I had to pick between the 2, I'd pick Dylan

[machinegunner]

It's harder to get a proper grip on Neil Young's discography and figure out what he's about, i'm finding. I should read his biography - 'Shakey' is the best one, right?

what I tend to do with someone I'm just discovering, I start at the beginning of their discography and work my way to the present

I don't listen to greatest hits albums or pick what other people say are the best albums...I like the ride and the peaks, valleys, growth and/or regression in listening to a discography from beginning to end...

same goes with directors

and on topic, if I had to pick between the 2, I'd pick Dylan

That's a good approach, actually. I might do that even though i've already got about 8 NY albums plus Decade.

[Sixes]

It does take time though..he's gotta have close to 30 albums if not more...and then there's also his stuff with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young...it almost seems endless!

[Johnny Drama]

Dylan but he hasn't had a song simple and mind blowingly awesome as The Needle and The Damage Done.

[DieselDaisy]

The 80s is the sort of, deformed child, of the Neil Young discography. I warn you, approach with extreme care!

[Use Your Delusion 1]

was listening to my Neil Young playlist last night; Borrowed Tune followed by Computer Age, couldn't help but smile, GOAT artist in any culutral genre.