Best Neil Young Albums
Over the years, folks have written in asking about what's our favorite Neil Young album here at Thrasher's Wheat? Or which is the best Neil album? It's a tough call with so many offering up their own greatness.
We're quite partial to Rust Never Sleeps and Tonight's The Night. But those are just two from the 1970's, a period considered to be his artistic peak.
Nevertheless, here is some data for you. Here are the top five Neil Young albums as ranked by fans on the Rust list:
#1
Rust Never Sleeps (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips
#2
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips#3
Tonight's The Night (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips#4
Ragged Glory (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips#5
After The Goldrush (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips
Also, see the most up to date statistics on top 5 Neil Young albums (as compiled by Amazon.com).
Also, see the most up to date statistics on top 50 MP3 Neil Young downloads (as compiled by Amazon.com).
Also, see The Essential Neil Young.
Labels: best album, essential, neil young
by thrasher@PermaLink: 1/04/2008 11:23:00 AM
63 comments
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63 Comments:
Wow ...where is On the Beach????
My top 5:
1) On The Beach
2) After the Goldrush
3) Harvest
4) Harvest Moon
5) American Stars and Bars
After losing my old vinyl supply of Neil and after years in my own wilderness finally getting back to his music - I can't help but think 'Live at Massey Hall 1971' is a fantastic experience to remind you of the man's greatness.
Oh man, how can anyone pick a favorite Neil Album? That's like asking someone to pick their favorite kid! :)
I do have to say Massey Hall turned me on to some vintage Neil that I had never heard before, and I've been listening to him since 1974!
Most Neil songs bring back different memories for me, and all of his songs speak to my soul.
My top five:
1. Rust Never Sleeps
2. On The Beach
3. Zuma
4. After of the gold rush
5. Harvest.
Saludos from Lima - Perú.
You know what I keep coming back to time, and time again for some great Neil Young? My "In Berlin" DVD...It just always blows me away.
1. On the Beach
2. Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
3. Tonight's the Night
4. Time Fades Away
5. Ragged Glory
6. His next album
And, I agree with the comment on the "In Berlin" DVD. I also love watching Neil rocking it out at "Bob-Fest" - his All Along the Watchtower should be ranked up there with the greatest tour de force performances. Also, the Weld DVD is simply fantastic...(if only it were actually available on DVD - I have a bootleg version)
1) Tonight's the Night
2) After the Gold Rush
3) Zuma
4) On the Beach
5) At the Fillmore 1970
top 5
1-Rust never Sleeps
2-Tonights the Night
3-On the Beach
4-Everbody know this is nowhere
5-tie between Freedom and Zuma
Roy from Norway says:
1) On the Beach
2) Evrybody knows......
3) Harvest
4) Zuma
5) Live Rust
Man, this is impossible. I'm a limey BIG Neil fan... love the guy.
Okay, heres my take on this...
1. Tonights the Night.
2. Live Rust
3. Zuma
4. On the Beach
5. El Dorado (an EP) so I'll have 1 more go.
5a. Time fades away
Being the self-indulgent jerk that I am, I could never stop at five. How about ten?
1. Rust Never Sleeps
2. Tonights The Night
3. Sleeps With Angels
4. Ragged Glory
5. Freedom
6. After The Goldrush
7. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
8. Comes A Time
9. Live Rust (Vinyl Version)
10 Greendale... Yes I know a much lambasted album, but the more I listen to it, the better it sounds to me.
Massey Hall is a divine record / performance and is the best single disc one can have from Neil.
Goldrush, Harvest, Rust, of course, deserve to remain classics.
Among the less talked about, I very much like Zuma (for its rawness), Old Ways (country), Freedom (it was rare 5-star Rolling Stone magazine review) and Silver & Gold (acoustic).
1a) After the Goldrush
1b) Rust never Sleeps
3) Tonight's the Night
4) Freedom
5) Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
In no particular order:
Year of the Horse
Sleeps With Angels
Tonight's the Night
On the Beach
Time Fades Away
Also been listening to RE*AC*TOR lately - turn it up loud!
1. After the Goldrush--
it's tight, polished, perfected--it has a timeless quality and nostalgic feeling about it that's unique in rock-and-roll--It's right up there with the similar quality albums by the Band (Music at Big Pink) and Dylan (Basement Tapes). The guitars--both acoustic and electric--are scintillating and electrifying.
2. Harvest--One of his great concept albums--a treasure trove of unique, creative songs--the diversity of the songs is part of the concept--the harvest basket is full of all the diverse wonder of creation.
3. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere--Go to it for the never-die hits and more amazing classic guitar work--all of the music on this album has a haunting power that never seems to wear out--I still continue to be amazed by it decade after decade and listen after listen
4. Prairie Wind--Perhaps no one has been paying attention, but I'm convinced that this is the more recent late Young masterpiece--a mature, sophisticated, polished presence, and a diverse collection of phenomenal songs--a handful of these songs are as good as anything Young has written--the title track itself is extraordinary--even better is the DVD concert of this album peformed in the Grand Ole' Oprey building
5. A massive tie between about 12 other albums--Some of my other favorites in no particular order (Rust Never Sleeps, his first album, Tonight's the Night, Zuma, Comes a Time, Freedom, Live at Massey Hall, Hawks and Doves, etc.)
A lot of you guys seem to think Neils career ended when the seventies did. I am in my thirties and grew up with Neils 90's grunge period. Believe me this guy has produced powerful music throughout his career. His 90's work is just as important as the stuff he did in the 70's. I hated his greatest hits because it seemed to end in 1979, ignoring the powerful work he has done since.
My top Five.
1. Sleeps With Angels.
Power, emotion, anger, loss, love. Its an incredibly emotionally intense album and probably because of Cobains death means more to Generation X than the baby boomers.
2. Everybody Knows.....
The first album with Crazy Horse is phenomenal. Incredible rhythm section and the guitars set the template for rock for the next thirty years. If I personally ever feel I am drifting away from the source of music I play this album.
3. Tonights the Night
Music does not get darker than this. The dirty side of California, the dark side of living on the beach with all the temptations that surround LA.
4. Greendale
A phenomenal piece of work, risky by nature Neil gambled with this one and it paid off. The album can make me cry. Bandit is one of Neils greatest songs but the whole concept is a brave look at Bush''s America.
5. Rust Never Sleeps
Neil does acoustic better than anyone and he does Rock and Roll better than anyone. This album combined the best of both into a great piece of vinyl.
Other great albums
Neil Young - the first album is haunting, emotionally so mature for such a young man.
Silver and Gold - Underrated, a great album about love and family values.
Living with War - 'Don't need no more lies' enough said!
I really like the previous "Anonymous" post (1/25): he's absolutely right in that Neil has kept on producing great music right through his career. It didn't end in 1979 and I'm sure it hasn't ended as of 2009 (regardless of mixed feelings about Fork in the Road.) In fact, Neil has released so much good music in the recent years that I could compile a top five list of the last decade or so alone. I've decided to split it two ways: best of classic Neil, and Best of (what I'll call) "post-Classic Neil."
Best of classic Neil:
. After the Goldrush
. tie between Rust Never Sleeps and Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
. Harvest
. Neil Young
. American Stars 'n' Bars
Best of Post-Classic Neil (what I've really been looking forward to doing):
. Sleeps with Angels
. Chrome Dreams II
. Silver and Gold
. Living with War
. Trans
Im 31 and have been slowly building up my back catalogue of NY records. Started (like most my age) with the classics like Harvest and After the Gold Rush but I must say at the moment my favourite 5 are:
Harvest
After the Gold Rush
Prairie Wind
On the Beach
Harvest Moon
As you will work out I prefer the mellow, acoustic stuff to the more rockier late 70s-80s stuff.
Greetings from Australia
Here is my 5
Everybody Knows this is knowhere
Zuma
On the Beach
Broken Arrow (Slip Away - what a song )
Greendale
1) Tonight's The Night
2) On The Beach
3) Zuma
4) Harvest
5) After The Gold Rush
Personally, whenever this subject comes up on a Neil Young board, I split into two sections: Best of Classic Neil and Best of Post-Classic Neil. "Classic Neil" is material up to 1979--the albums that usually fill everyone else's lists in spite of the many excellent albums released since, particularly in the '90s and '00s--and "Post Classic" is everything from 1980 on, discounting Archives releases as I consider this a separate part of Neil's catalogue. In addition, my selections are subject to alteration fairly often-- choosing favorites is difficult and sometimes my mood dictates which albums I prefer.
So: Classic Neil:
1. After the Goldrush
2. Harvest
3. Rust Never Sleeps
4. Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
5. On the Beach
*Honorable mentions to Neil Young and American Stars 'n' Bars*
Best of Post-Classic Neil (which is where it gets interesting, at least for me)
1. Sleeps with Angels
2. Chrome Dreams II
3. Greendale
4. Trans
5. Silver and Gold
*Honorable mentions: Life, Living with War*
I'm guessing not too many people will agree...
Hi there!
I'm from germany, 32 years old and my english isn't really good. But I'm a huge Neil Young fan, so I felt to share my Top 5 Albums here (which is difficult):
My favourite Album is Zuma. I think it's a timeless piece of music. I love every song on the album. Dangerbird is a real highlight on the album for me. But hey, it's all 1 song! (and it feels so good)
2nd would be Freedom. I really like how the whole album is build. Again I love every song on this album. Don't Cry needs to be R-rated tho, look at those guitar solos. :)
3rd is Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Just fantastic stuff here. Every song's a killer.
4th ... Weld. Great versions of songs like Cortez The Killer, Powderfinger, Love To Burn...
5th :( Dam, only 1 album left to mention. OK, it's After The Goldrush then.
Peace, a guy from germany
1. Everboy's Rockin'
2. Landing on the Water
3. Are You Passionate?
4. Freedom
5. On The Beach
The worst is Dead Man.
I'll give it a try:
1. After the Gold Rush. As stated before this has a unique feeling to it
2.Harvest. Another obvios choice
3. Weld. Better than Live Rust? I do not know.
4. On the Beach
5. Freedom
Up there any other day: Sleeps with Angels, Zuma, Living With War, Freedom, Tonight's the Night, Comes a Time etc.etc.
I cant help to think 'Where is WELD?'. The live album where the horse just cuts everything down, and Neils sound on these recordings...unbelievable. And some of my favorite horse-songs are on Weld. So here is my list:
1. Ragged glory
2. Broken Arrow
3. Weld
4. On the beach
5. Greendale(live acoustic version)
But then again, it could change...arg...cant choose...
Here are my Top 5:
1. Broken arrow
2. Sleeps with angels
3. Mirrorball
4. On the beach
5. Rust never sleeps
I like so many different songs, from so many different Neil Young albums difficult to pick 5
#1 Harvest & After the Goldrush (sorry it's a tie)
#2 Time Fades Away
#3 Rust Never Sleeps
#4 Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
#5 Live at Massey Hall
janee ☼
The Loner:
Top 5 Neil Young albums???
Impossible to do:
There's Time Fades Away - the most emotional album for me
Harvest or Harvest Moon or Silver and Gold - pick 'em
Everyone Knows this is Nowhere
The bootleg: Live at the United Palace Theater or Live Rust or Weld or Massy Hall????
1) Tonight's The Night
2) Everybody knows this is nowhere
3) on the beach
4) rust never sleeps
5) zuma
And ive always enjoyed live at canterbury house
His music is so diverse, it's hardto pick overall favourites.
1. Harvest
2. After the Goldrush
3. Tonight's the Night
1. Weld
2. Ragged Glory
3. Freedom
1. Zuma
2. This Note's for you
3. Everybody's rocking
Looking at how many people love Zuma, I can't understand why it's not in the top 5! Aren't Danger Bird, Barstool blues and Cortez all on there? Ok let's just say it should be in the official top 5.
Here's five that I'm going to listen to today:
Weld (all three discs- gotta love the Arc noisefest)
Greendale (DVD)
Ragged Glory
Broken Arrow
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (for that 60s-70s vibe).
Zack of the plains.
My favourites are the three consecutive albums he made in the mid seventies (On the beach, Tonight´s the night and Zuma). Feelings are so intense and raw and guitar work is unbelievable.
I don´t know why the delicious Comes a time is so overlooked, I prefer this one to Harvest.
On the other hand Sleeps with angels is so overrated... And, seriously, Mirror Ball sucks.
Anyway Neil rules
JHer
There is a real simple answer to his best album.
It has been the same answr for me sice the mid seventies.
The answer is, quite simply - HIS NEXT ONE.
TRYING TO PICK A TOP 5 IS DIFFICULT , TO PUT IT MILDLY. I WOULD HAVE TO GO WITH....1)TRANS 2)LIVE RUST 3)EVERYONE KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE 4)AMERICAN STARS AND BARS 5)AFTER THE GOLDRUSH ALL OF THESE ARE IN MY VINYL COLLECTION. LONG MAY YOU RUN BY THE STILLS YOUNG BAND IS A GOOD PICK ALSO
hard to say which is the best...depends on my mood but I always go back to...
1. Live rust, it's the first Neil album I bought. I was in 10th grade and it was brand new!
2. On the Beach
3. Ragged Glory
4. Time Fdes Away, I love how raw it is.
5. Tonights The Night
AMERICAN STARS 'N BARS
Freedom
Rust Never Sleeps
Live Rust
On The Beach
This comment has been removed by the author.
Reid Etherington said...
My top 5:
1) Rust Never Sleeps
2) Tonight's The Night
3) On The Beach
4) Freedom
5) Reactor
Its cool to see Sleeps with Angels shows up so much, just threw it in for the firs time since like '94 or '95 when it came out ... always thought it was a great album
Guess I feel like its impossible to rank them but here's some favorites - EKTIN, Harvest, TFA, TTN, Comes a Time, Freedom, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon, Sleeps with Angels, CD II, Le Noise
This comment has been removed by the author.
Just way way too many great albums to choose from.
1) Rust Never Sleeps + Live Rust
2) On the Beach
3 Tonights the night
4) After the Goldrush
5) Harvest (a tie with) American Stars & Bars (a tie with)
Prairie Wind.
1) Tonight's The Night
2) Rust Never Sleeps
3) After The Goldrush
4) Harvest
5) Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
This is hard, but I think it boils down to these five for me:
1. Tonight's the Night. The most real music I've ever heard, no pretension at all. Intense and dark.
2. On the Beach. Great mellow feeling. Thank god for those honey slides ;)
3. Harvest. The first NY album I heard, it's a timeless classic. My favorite numbers are the electric ones, Alabama and Words.
4. Zuma. This is the best sounding album ever if you ask me. That guitar sound blows my mind every single time!
I can't make up my mind on the last one. There are just to many good Neil Young albums. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Weld, Massey Hall, Live Rust, Time Fades Away...
Well trying to rank Neil's music is futile. Depends on your mood is what you want to listen to. About 15 years ago when my brother was in University his roomate was from Malaysia I was going to pick the top 15 tunes from my collection i couldn't cut any from the top 120... so Good luck with the rankings
I've Seen Neil Young 45 times in concert here's my top 5
1. Zuma
2. Tonight's the Night
3. Rust
4 Decade..Greatest 3 record compilation ever released by a solo performer bar none...
5. Harvest
I have seen them all, and nobody can touch Neil Young and Crazy Horse Rust Never Sleeps Tour...Sorry nobody
Most Neil songs bring back different memories for me, and all of his songs speak to my soul.
1) Freedom
2) Greendale
3) Ragged Glory
Long live Neil Young and his activism, Family FARMS (that's me), climate change and fairness.
I have worn out at least one Freedom CD!
Long Live Neil Young from this OZ fan, four concerts here and three Greendale in the RCMH NYC.
Long Live Neil Young.
jimbob AKA crazyhorse here ,my top 5 neil cds are
1)Rust never sleeps
2)live at Massey Hall
3)greendale
4)Time fades away
5)After the goldrush
I need to make this into a top ten list so....
6)Chrome dreams 2
7)prairie wind
8)Harvest
9)On the beach
10)Tonights the night
Even albums that are not included here have fantastic songs,the man is a livin legend and along with Lennon,Dylan is one of the top three greatest singer/songwriters in the history of music!
I've only just got into Neil's music so I still have a lot of albums to listen too and I'm sure a lot of great music to discover, so at the moment I only have a top 3:
1)Harvest
2)Everybody knows this is Nowhere
3)After the Goldrush.
My favourite song so far is probably 'Heart of Gold', followed closely by 'Old Man'.
I've really come to appreciate Neil's voice - it's really a one of a kind.
I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the albums.
I think I'm going to give 'On the Beach' a listen next followed by 'Harvest Moon'.I'm also very curious to discover what 'Mirrorball' sounds like as Pearl Jam is another band that I love, although I haven't seen it mentioned in anyone's top 5 and I believe it doesn't have the best reviews.What are your thoughts on this album?
It's wonderful discovering all this great music that's been right under my nose the whole time!
I've just given 'Prairie Wind' a listen on Mike Pulley's recommendation.Thanks Mike! Now I have another album that I can't wait to listen too.
1. On the Beach
2. Rust Never Sleeps
3. Ragged Glory
4. Tonights The Night
5. Zuma
Tomorrow.....
1. After the Goldrush
2. Greendale
3. Mirror Ball
4. Time Fades Away
5. Are You Passionate? seriously such an underrated gem
Wow I thought I was the only one that loved my number one fav!
1. Broken Arrow
2. Sleeps with Angels
3. On the Beach
4. Greendale
5. Ragged Glory
6. Tonights the Night
7. Rust Never Sleeps
8. Freedom
9. After the Gold Rush
10. Landing on Water
TRANS!
Seriously, I play it more than any other. Genius.
Weld is my fave - surprised how few votes it has so far. This will no doubt take second place to an alchemy tour album if and when released.(Oh for a recording of Danger Bird from The Plenary, Melbourne, 13 March '13)
Must say I then listen to live youtube recordings more than any of his other albums.
Hard to choose but here goes, probably change next week.
1) After The Gold Rush
2) Tonight's The Night
3) Zuma
4) Rust Never Sleeps
5) Decade
My top 5 ny bootlegs
Boston 76
Neil Bernstein tapes aka acoustic young
King biscuit 89....old gringo
Cow palace 86....love all of 86 shows
Bridge 94
There are so many more
Life
Greendale
Living with war
Rust never sleeps
re ac tor
no joke!
Five and five:
Acoustic:
Silver and Gold
Harvest
Hartvest Moon
Comes a Time
P. Wind
Electric:
Sleeps w. Angels
Ragged Glory
Weld
Greendale
P. Pill
Alright, to start with, It's darn near impossible to pick his best albums because there isn't one album that doesn't have at least one or two songs that i love but I'll try to come up with 5 plus an honorable mention. Mind you these albums are very close to each other so it's almost a 1a 1b 1c etc...My list #1 After the Gold Rush #2 On the Beach #3 Zuma #4 Harvest #5 Freedom and my three honorable mentions are Tonight's the Night and two oft overlooked and very underappreciated albums, his debut eponymous Neil Young album and his mid-90's record, Broken Arrow....Whew!!!!! That was difficult!! I wanted to include Rust Never Sleeps, Comes a Time and Harvest Moon. His two more recent albums Psychedelic Pill and Le Noise are very good as well.
1-Rust never sleeps/live rust,,- first Neil record(s) I bought
2-After gold rush
3-Harvest
4-Freedom
5.Everybody knows
6.on the beach
1-Rust never sleeps/live rust,,- first Neil record(s) I bought
2-After gold rush
3-Harvest
4-Freedom
5.Everybody knows
6.comes a time
7.on the beach
Top 10
Tonight's The Night - Neil's supreme masterpiece
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - a close second
Harvest
After The Gold Rush
Zuma
On The Beach
Sleeps With Angels
Psychedelic Pill
Broken Arrow
Freedom
1 Ragged Glory
2.Greendale
3.Are You Passonate
4.Sleeps with Angels
5.Living With War
1) Neil Young
2) Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
3) After The Goldrush
4) Time Fades Away
5) Rust Never Sleeps
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