I was listening to this today for the millionth time and thought there has to have been a thread at some point. There hasn't been. What a goddamned masterpiece.


1 My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
2 Thrasher
3 Ride My Llama
4 Pocahontas
5 Sail Away
6 Powderfinger
7 Welfare Mothers
8 Sedan Delivery
9 Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

Discuss

I played it twice in a row Thursday night. And again immediately after I woke up.

Been playing guitar and singing along with "Powderfinger" every fucking day.

Whole album is just so good that it's unfair.

When we got on the ship
He brought out something for the trip
And said "it's old but it's good"...

Yeah. That's my cut. It's a great album--not my favorite--but that song kills it. That and Sedan Delivery.

there have been some nice Neil Young threads on this board in the past that I have lurked through. I'm feeling too lazy at the moment to search to see if they are still there. probably time for a new one anyway

Damn right. Only one dude responded to my post in the amazing 20 page Neil Young thread that I bumped this morning (I read some of Campaigner's reviews in there like every week... one of the best things I've seen on the internet.)

I am always on a seemingly eternal NY kick, but this past week or so has been crazier than usual.

I had a good time listening to Harvest Moon while working on the house this weekend. Will probably spin this one next.

that 20 page neil young thread is most likely the actual best thread ever presented on here....i have gone back and read campaigners reviews mutiple times as well

...and yes this album is a 10...plain and simple

"Thrasher" & "Pocahontas" are my personal jams, but you could be forgiven for thinking any other song on here is the album's best

Do I like this or Zuma or On the Beach more? I don't really know. All are at or near the 10 level imo. Rust started off as my favorite NY though.

I always flip-flop between what Neil Young release I like the best. More often than not though, this is the one that's at the top. Perfect record.

"Sail Away" is a sweet tune, but it doesn't really belong on this album. That makes it a fraction under being a ten I guess.

Can't fault anything with the production. The whole record sounds so good, especially when it's cranked. Even the acoustic tracks.

especially the acoustic tracks, imo. nothing sounds as gorgeous as "Thrasher"

"Sail Away" is ok. I sort of understand what you mean, but it's not bad at all.

"Pocahontas" is one of my personal fave NY songs. "Powderfinger" is fucking "Powderfinger." "Thrasher" is up there too. Those are probably my three favorites on Rust.

One of my favorite moments in the history of Neil Young, maybe music for that matter, is on "Powderfinger" at 4:30

Big Guitar Solo just finished, all this drama built into the amazing song you're listening to, and Neil and the band come in harmonizing with " Shelter me from the powder and the finger/Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger". I hesitate to use this word and sound like a douche, but it's just transcendent.

There's something about that moment that just gets me where I live.

"Powderfinger" and "Thrasher" are the two greatest songs ever written and recorded by anyone. And then the rest of the album is almost as good.

I mean, it's Neil Young closing out one of the all time great runs in rock history with a set of songs that manages to be the most confident and fully formed he's ever done. Not only that, but it's a live album. Not just a live album, but a Neil Young live album, arguably the best kind of album, period. But he takes out the audience noise and does all new songs and the whole thing is more immaculately produced than any of his proper studio shit. Even the one or two songs that were just studio leftovers sound like they're being played on some kind of heavenly concert stage.

"Sail Away" is phenomenal. Maybe it would have worked better on Comes A Time where it was intended to appear, but that would have been a waste, IMO... great record, but the handful of mediocre songs don't deserve a song as flawless as that. Neil Young LPs at that point were just bound to be cobbled together messes, anyway. The most you can hope for is quality and consistency. And Rust Never Sleeps is nothing but that. Those kinds of things are extra special when you get them out of an artist as notoriously all over the fuckin' map as Neil Young.

OTM, Gooch. Long my favorite Neil song, that's exactly the moment that sells it, every time. Maybe it's the way his voice almost breaks?

I've never been entirely clear what exactly is happening in the narrative, apart from this young kid being forced into a position he's not really the equal of, but Neil seems so wrought up at that point - he's clearly affected by whatever the song means to him. For all the talk about passion and conviction in popular music over the years, there's a surprisingly small number of artists who don't end up putting emotional distance between themselves and the song.

There's no distance between Neil and his subject on "Powderfinger." Whatever inspired it, and whatever he's on about, he's feeling it and, because he is, we do, too.

I think that it's beyond reasonable to measure a person's worth by how high they rank "Powderfinger" on their list of favorite Neil Young songs.

I don't care if you have the blandest, most offensive taste in Neil Young imaginable. The only truly inexcusable position would be to claim that "Powderfinger" is any worse than, say, third best.

I can't even worry anymore about "best" or whatever - "Powderfinger" just sounds like the consummate Neil song, at least as regards Crazy Horse. When I think of Neil with those guys, I think "Powderfinger."

The Crazy Horse backing vocals definitely contribute to that particular part's climactic quality. First time in the song that the guys are doing anything other than those sublime OOOOOHHHHHs. The song is overloading with passion and fire from the beginning and those high yelping harmonies send it right over the edge.

As for the lyrical content... the thing is open to interpretation, and yet the lyrics still manage to be some of the most terrifyingly vivid ever penned. Pretty sure it's about a kid who is forced to take shit into his own hands and defend his family's farm from pirates (not really, but something close to 'em) but of course he just ends up going down in a blaze of glory. I don't know. It really doesn't matter. It's still one of the 2-3 most moving pieces of rock 'n roll music I've heard.

The solos in "Powderfinger" are among my favourite guitar solos of all time. The Weld version kills.

I've always wanted to hear a full-on, electric Crazy Horse jam of "Thrasher".

You know what - I haven't actually listened to music in about 2-3 months.

Sure I've sat down and heard some tracks, but I haven't actively sought out something specific to listen to.

It sometimes takes one of the best albums of all time to break you out of a funk.

I just put on Rust Never Sleeps four minutes ago and 'Thrasher' is starting up now. Funk over.

fucking fantastic record.

This is the best Neil Young record. Some great posts in this thread. I think any thread about Neil Young brings out the best posts the SOMB has to offer generally.

And Powderfinger is a great song. Might be my 3rd favorite on Rust Never Sleeps. Could also be my 3rd favorite Neil song. Not sure though. He has so many great songs.

What did he play at the closing ceremonies? I missed it.

Hurry before NBC pulls it

Phenomenal disc.

Now go write more "Shakey II" reviews!

I know what a Mutron octave divider is because of this album, and that's a positive outcome. If you can't appreciate how that thing burps and farts during "Hey Hey My My"....

Awesome.

I've always wondered why that guitar tone was so fucked up.

Fork in the Road review started yesterday afternoon. Can't say when I'll finish it, but hopefully today if things work properly.

Awesome. Very awesome.

Now I can bug you about getting to Archives, b-sides, other miscellaneous shit, etc.

I always thought "Powderfinger" was about moonshine. This backwater family is running a still, the cops come up the river to bust them, the son, left alone on the property, takes up arms against the government and gets his head blown off. At any rate it's Neil Young's best song ever and "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" is second.

This album got me to check out the first Crazy Horse album...and for that I thank it.

Just picked a used vinyl copy last week at Reckless

No arguments here about the quality of RNS. I do find myself listening to Live Rust more often. Probably because it's a way to pull out one CD and hear Neil's live peak, playing the best of his 70s output. If I was to pick one Neil album to take to a desert island, it would be Live Rust, though I'd ask if I could swap out the version of Cortez the Killer for the one on Weld.

The version of "Tonight's the Night" on Live Rust is terrific. I've been blasting the shit out of that one a lot recently.

Guys, I have a confession...

I've never really liked Tonight's the Night that much.

It's alright man, nobody's perfect.

Yeah, I'm an asshole...I know. There are just like...a ton of NY records I'd rather listen to before I hear Tonight's the Night.

fair enough. it's probably not in my top 5.

that said, I do love it.

That, On the Beach, and the Massey Hall thing from a couple years ago are in constant jockey for my favorite NY album.

I used to not really dig most of the songs on Tonight's The Night. Probably wouldn't have been able to sing even a few bars from certain ones. Didn't even think "Albuquerque" was one of the greatest songs of all time (which it is), somehow.

That changed at some point, though. I love the whole thing. Fucking awesome songs, nearly every single one of which contains at least one of my all time favorite Neil moments (Nils Lofgren's solos in "Speakin' Out," the bridge in "Lookout Joe," everything about "New Mama," "Mellow My Mind," etc.) Pretty on board with the critical hyperbole spewed in its direction. Usually somewhere in my NY top six or so.

Never has been my "favorite" and never will be, but my enjoyment/admiration of the thing is pretty much unmovable. It took me a while to get there, but that's the case with a lot of Neil's stuff and why his discography is so incredible. Albums that weren't that great become great and songs that you were once into lose their appeal while the ones you ignored end up having the greatest impacts of all. All parts of the journey, my friends.

I was gonna say, the Lofgren solos absolute make that album. And "Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown."

Edit: now playing Tonight's the Night by Neil Young

top 5 Neil would probably look like this, for anyone that gives a fuck.

1. On The Beach
2. After The Goldrush
3. Zuma
4. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
5. Tonights The Night

well look at that, it IS in my top 5. fancy that

Mine's this, probably:

Rust Never Sleeps
On The Beach
Zuma
Live At The Fillmore East
Tonight's The Night

Rust over On The Beach eh.

not sure i could get behind that.

You don't have to.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere would probably top my list, if not Rust

Time Fades Away would be way up there, I think


It's really hard, and sort of pointless, to try and rank NY albums

I agree with the last sentiment. Everybody Knows, Time Fades Away, Ragged Glory, Tonight's the Night all hover in an eternal circle of godhead in my universe.