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Fans Album Reviews For:

NEIL YOUNG
(7 reviews sent in so far)

After the Gold Rush
by Darius Henry            
January 22, 2010
Rating: 9.5

After 40 years, there is no better album to start off this new year with than Neil Young’s third solo LP, and possibly his best, work. For 40 years, After the Gold Rush has been praised as one of the best from the 1970s. One thing is for sure is that this is one excellent album and it was a great way to start the 1970s, and a great way to get to know who Neil Young was/is.

This album opens with “Tell Me Why”. It’s a great way to start this excellent album. Love the singing, the harmonized backup vocals, and love the Folky acoustic guitars. The funny thing is there is no answer to that question. The next song, the title track, is a nice song, though not my favorite. I love the piano, but I don’t dig the vocals that much. But I do love the horns, though. Good song about the apocalypse. “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” is a song that I truly love. I can truly relate to it because of me falling in love time and time again, I always get heartbroken and this song speaks to me. I love the singing, especially the harmonized part, love the guitar, and the drumming is fantastic. “Southern Man” is a great song about the racism. This is the hardest Rock song on this album. Love the guitar on here, it's the best guitar work on this album. I also love the drumming and the piano is sick. The funny thing is a couple years later, a Southern group named Lynyrd Skynyrd would make an answer song that everyone would know called “Sweet Home Alabama”. The next song, “Till the Morning Comes”, is a great Country song. Love the piano and the drumming on this one. But there’s one tiny problem; THIS SONG IS TOO DAMN SHORT!

“Oh, Lonesome Me” is another great song. Keno gave it a 5.4, but I thought it was excellent. Great lonely Blues song on here that I can truly relate. Love the harmonica, which express the loneliness, and love the piano on this one. “Don’t Let it Bring You Down” is another very good Soul/Folk song on here. I dig the piano on here and I dig the acoustic guitar, plus we can’t forget the drumming. “Birds” is a very gentle, yet very boring song. It’s just Young’s singing and the piano. It’s a cool love song, but it could’ve been better. “When You Dance I Can Really Love” is one of my favorite songs on here. I love this upbeat song and the best part is you can actually dance with your lover with this song. Love the guitar riffs, love the drumming, love the vocals, and love the upbeat piano. “I Believe in You” is another nice love song. Love the vocals and love the piano on this song. Plus cool guitar on here. This album ends with another short song, “Cripple Creek Ferry”. I honestly can say I don’t know what this song is about, but still a nice campfire song to sing along with.

After just finish listening to it, I realize that maybe it is one of the best album of the 1970s. IDK. But it sure is a great way to start the 1970s with Young and his band, the Crazy Horse. You can never go wrong with Neil Young, who is, IMO, one of the best singer-songwriters of all time.

To listen to some soundclips from After The Gold Rush or to purchase it, click on: After the Gold Rush (Buy.com)

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
By Jacob
June 15, 2005    
Rating: 10.0

First of all, I've always been drawn to albums with a variety of song lengths throughout an album and longer songs that can grab my attention throughout the whole song. I love long epic songs, which makes me a big Pink Floyd fan. Neil Young's Everyone Knows This is Nowhere really grew on me and became my favorite album in his long career. The album starts of with two of his best more upbeat heavy riff based songs 'Cinnamon Girl' and the title track. Both short and to the point with great guitar riffs you can easily jam to and nod your head a bit. Then the album slows down with 'Round and Round (It Won't Be Long)', a moving song with the help of a female vocalist backing Neil up. 'Down by the River' is the first example of a long epic song on the album I love, running over 9 minutes keeping me interested all the way through with Neil's great guitars. Another upbeat song 'The Losing End' has a comical turn on in during the song. 'Running Dry(Reqiem for the Rockets)' is a beautiful song that throws in a gorgeous string instrument throughout it. The album ends with 'Cowgirl in the Sand', another epic song, the longest on the album that is a perfect finish to a perfect album by Neil Young and the Boys. I love this album!

To listen to some sound clips from Everybody Knows This is Nowhere or to buy it, click on:  Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Buy.com

Tonight's The Night
By Larry Masterson
May 12, 2007
Rating: 8.5

Tonight's the Night by artist Neil Young may well be the most revealing look into the mind of this amazing songwriter. The album in itself seemingly tells a story with each track representing another chapter in a dark period of Young's life. Also revealed, is a realistic representation of the drug laden, darker side of the rock 'n roll hippie culture of the era, and a true look inside the west coast rock 'n roll scene. The album itself was recorded (if memory serves) in an empty theater and mostly done by live performance (without audience). As a result, the tracks are raw and undecorated. Pure rock n roll, imperfect yet elegant, in the style for which Young has become so well known. The haunting piano riffs that open the title track 'Tonight's the Night,' which is about the overdose death of Young's friend and roadie, gives a preview of what is in store for the listener; a dark ride through a tough period of his (Young's) life. The vocals, sang in the raw, plaintive voice that is Young's trademark, is augmented by equally raw, undecorated guitar. This album is a deep, and not always flattering look at the culture of the time. Raw, Real, and unpolished. Though Tonight's the Night never won a great amount of critical acclaim, at least not at first (it was a late bloomer), it still holds up today as a true reflection of what West Coast style rock and roll was all about, and an influence to other artists of the period.

If you are wanting to kick back and relax to some good ol' rock 'n roll, this is not the album to put on. But if you want to hear cult rock 'n roll that speaks to the soul, temperament and attitudes of the generation of the sixties and early seventies, this is the place to go. Surely, this would have to go down as possibly the watershed of Young's career; the demarcation point in which this amazing song writer stood up and said "listen to this, this is what I see, this is how I feel." If you are interested in the many twists and turns of the long and diverse career of Neil Young, this is the album.

Tonight's The Night
By cristov bonaly
March 3, 2003
Rating: 9.5

Tonight's The Night is a quarking good album with everything but the blooze bottle thrown in. We have a ragggety Neil with a raggamuffin cast of players who can alter one's polar coordinates with their sloppy alterations of country and rock and roll. If you don't own this album, and you don't consider yourself to be a certifiable nowhere square from Delaware, you should run, drive, hydroplane, etc. to your nearest purveyer of good albums and buy it, because it will change your life like it did mine. Now I like my music sloppy and drunk, so this album really makes it, you know. Neil was upset and rightly so after the overdoses of two good friends, namely Danny Whiten, lead guitar in his sometimes-backing band, Crazy Horse, and Bruce Berry, his favorite roadie. They both did too much smack and died. Neil got very drunk on tequila and recorded this album. The songs are ragged and beautiful an scary and make-you cry-depressing and wonderful. The title track and its reprise bookend the album. There are already chills runnin down my furry back when the first song is over. Other stand-out tracks include "Mellow My Mind", in which Neil plaintively instructs his baby to make him feel like a schoolboy, while his voice careens so far outta key that my dog pisses on the floor every time he hears this track. "Tired Eyes" is a great disorderly mess, featuring Neil mumbling some pap about a drug-deal gone bad and bloody, and tryin' to make sense of tragedy, and the persistent chorus (Please take my advice, please take my, uh.. PLEASE TAKE MY ADVICE. OPEN UP THE TIRED EYES OPEN UP THE TIRED EYYYYES...) really makes me feel good, yeah. There are many more really great tracks, but I'll leave my review knowing that the readers are people of fine taste and will not forsake my advice: open a bottle of cheap wine or Old Crow whiskey and put this album on, and then listen to it standing up and rocking back and forth on your heels and toes and you will be feeling very well. enjoy!

To listen to some sound clips from Tonight's The Night or to buy it, click on:


HARVEST
Name: JT C
May 25, 2006
Rating: 10.0

I’ve never liked country. However, I love Neil Young’s HARVEST. It’s one of his finest. It doesn’t have the same epic Crazy Horse jams that you will find on EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE (Crazy Horse is not on this album) or the same fine Crosby Stills & Nash harmonies on AFTER THE GOLDRUSH (CS&N only appear on a few songs here) but Neil’s songwriting surpasses everything. The first half of the album is drenched with country including the opening “Out on the Weekend” which features Neil playing his harp. “Harvest” is pure country, but nicely sung by Neil with some great rhythm guitar playing. “A Man Needs a Maid” is a great song when it’s just Neil playing piano and singing, but I could do without Jack Nitzsche’s orchestration. “Heart of Gold” is of course a classic. It really is just a well-written song with such great dynamics and fantastic lyrics. Don’t let the country sound keep you from listening to this fine song. I’ve never been a big fan of “Are You Ready for the Country” and Nitzsche’s slide playing is not that great. However the melody is great and Crosby and Nash sing great harmonies as always. Side two begins with the fantastic sing along “Old Man” with great lyrics and a showcase for James Taylor playing banjo. “There’s a World” is just overblown by Nitzsche’s orchestration. “Alabama” is just pure Neil Young beautiful anger-driven rock ‘n roll. The lyrics question the south’s cruelty, the hard guitars played by both Neil and Stephen Stills are great, and the harmonies sung by Crosby Stills & Nash are fantastic as is the melody itself. You can’t really hear anything greater than Neil by himself, just guitar & vocal, on “Needle and the Damage Done” the lament for guitarist Danny Whitten. The only epic jam on here is “Words (Between the Lines of Age)” and a good one at that with a strange 11/8 timing during the jam with some great harmonies with CS&N. Don’t let the country influence keep you from buying one of the greatest albums of the 70s.

HARVEST
By Brian
March 24, 2001
Rating: 10.0

In my opinion, this is Neil Young's best work. Every song is good, and some of the songs are perfectly done. Whenever I am down, I put this on, and I seem to feel a lot better. I usually put on 'Old Man', 'Heart Of Gold', 'A Man Needs A Maid', 'The Needle And The Damage Done', or 'Words'. I think that Neil Young is one of the greatest song writers of all time. This album displays his awesome lyrics, beautiful guitar work, chilling piano, and heartful harmonica. Crazy Horse is a great band, and it shows on this album. 'Old Man's' lyrics are great, the banjo is cool, and the guitar is very full. 'Heart Of Gold' is a great all around song, with a great harmonica part, along with great guitars. 'A Man Needs A Maid' is perfect, the lyrics are great along with all the string instruments. 'The Needle And The Damage Done' is a song that was made for just Neil, and his guitar(This song was recorded live at Royce Hall). Words follows the applause that ends 'Needle And The Damage Done', this song is just awesome.

Well, here is my song by song rating. 'Out On The Weekend'(9.5), 'Harvest'(9), 'A Man Needs A Maid'(10), 'Heart Of Gold' (10), 'Are You Ready For The Country?'(9.5), 'Old Man'(10), 'There's A World'(9.5), 'Alabama'(9.5), 'The Needle And The Damage Done'(10), 'Words'(10). So, all around, Harvest is a great album, with great songs, and some under-appreciated songs. The reason I gave this album a 10, instead of a 9.5 (this album got a 9.7), is because this sounds like nothing else before it. I think that this is my 2nd favorite album of all time, following Dark Side Of The Moon.

To listen to some sound clips from HARVEST or to buy it, click on: Harvest

WELD
By T.H.
November 1, 2003
Rating: 4.0

First this is not a pan, it is the truth. This is a live album of Neil & Crazy Horse's 1991 tour to promote Ragged Glory. An live video of the same name was also released at the same time. This Album is two disks and my review is of one and two.
Let me tell you the reason that I gave this Album a 4.0: It is not the best Neil you can hear (anyone who has heard Neil perform live can back me up).
"Hey Hey, My My" was originally taken from Rust Never Sleeps and was already released on record twice before this release. "Crime In The City" is the first of the tracks from Ragged Glory. Neil's cover of  Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" just doesn't cut it for me. "Welfare Mothers" was originally released on Rust Never Sleeps and there is the better cut! "Love To Burn" is another of the Ragged Glory tracks and (I may sound repetative)there is the better cut! "Cinnamon Girl" is the shorstest (of I know) of the version's he has released, and that truly is the only reason that the song is good! "Mansion on the Hill" and "F*!#in' Up" are both Ragged Glory Tracks.
On To Disk Two "Cortez The Killer" & "Powderfinger" were originally taken from Rust Never Sleep and are fair. "Love And Only Love" is another From Ragged Glory. "Rockin' In The Free World" is the poorest of the songs on the record, I think. "Like A Hurricane" Is A LONNGGG THIRTEEN Minutes. "Farmer John" Is Another From Ragged Glory. "Tonight's The Night" & "Roll Another Number" Was taken from Tonight's The Night. So If you are a die-heart fan I guess your required to buy this album. All in all a rair album.

To listen to some sound clips from Weld or to buy it, click on: