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An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
A must read. As interviewer Peter Howell so observantly, insightfully and expertly writes:
"You just never know which Neil Young you’re going to get.
When I was flying to California to interview him, he made me change my flight reservations seven times because he kept changing his mind about where and when the interview would happen."
Neil Young stopped by the show to do another hauntingly beautiful cover song. This time, it's "Pants On The Ground," as seen on last night's American Idol.
Scary. Very scary.
UPDATE: OK. So obviously we're totally clueless about pop culture.
"Jimmy Fallon broke out his spot-on Neil Young impression last night for a heart wrenching rendition of 'Pants On The Ground.' The tune, penned by 62-year-old 'American Idol' contestant General Larry Platt, has been making the rounds this week due to ridiculous lyrics like 'Pants on the ground / Lookin' like a food with your pants on the ground!'
But coming out of Neil Young's emotional voice, those words never sounded more poignant."
"Throughout all the chaos and excitement that has been taking over the late-night community, everybody has been asking what will happen to Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno and Carson Daly. But as a handful of people pointed out on Twitter yesterday, nobody seems to be inquiring about the future of Jimmy Fallon. Perhaps the reason is because Fallon has mostly stayed out of the sticky fray while Leno, O'Brien, David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel all trade barbs. But perhaps it has more to do with the fact that Fallon's show has been steadily improving and it seems impossible that he'll go anywhere.
Case in point: While most of the late-night hosts kept devoting their shows to the future of 'The Tonight Show,' Fallon put together a segment that did everything a top-shelf comedy program is supposed to do. The host resurrected his spot-on Neil Young impression (last seen crooning the theme song to 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' a few months back) to deliver another spot-on impression of the rock legend. His cover of choice this time around? 'Pants on the Ground,' the instant hit originally written and performed by Larry Platt on Wednesday night's episode of 'American Idol.'"
The thing that really makes the above video work is the total earnestness with which Fallon delivers the tune. When he was on "Saturday Night Live," he gained a reputation as the guy who could never keep it together during sketches, and even on his show he sometimes seems flustered. But he's like Brando when he slips into the guise of Young.Even though it'll probably end once the schedules get shuffled around for good, it definitely seems like we've stumbled into an accidental golden age for late-night comedy, and Fallon is more than happy to contribute.
If you've been on the Internet at all today, then you likely know everything there is to know about the incredible General Larry Platt and his anti-sagging rap "Pants on the Ground." The guy is everywhere! The New York Times has written about him three times, his life story (which is pretty impressive) has been dug up, and the YouTube versions of "Pants on the Ground" are increasing at an exponential rate. Now Neil Young's cover is here. Earlier today at the taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the legendary singer-songwriter delivered a heart breaking rendition of "Pants on the Ground." It's stirring.
General Larry Platt’s “Pants On The Ground” has taken the nation by storm! DJ Larry P performed the showstopper at the American Idol Atlanta Auditions Wednesday night and by Thursday morning there were at least three different remixes going viral! (See his performance at the bottom of this post)
But all that is just plain silliness. It took the great Canadian Grandfather of Grunge Neil Young to reveal the emotional depths of this song. I almost promise his rendition on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon will bring you to tears.
Wow. That was fast. On Wednesday night’s “American Idol,” they let an old man shine in the spotlight with his song-and-dance, because obviously, they wanted people to experience the song, “Pants on the Ground.” Well, Jimmy Fallon took the bait, and within hours, he and his musical impersonation ability were live onstage as Neil Young, opening his show with a very Neil Young cover version of the song. Kudos, Jimmy! Kudos.
My wife tells me I’m way late to the party on this one, but as a die-hard Neil Young fan, I have to say this is a pretty amazing impression. (Fallon reprised the role last night, signing the new American Idol hit, “Pants on the Ground.”)
I was never much of a fan of Fallon on Saturday Night Live — what a lot of people found endearing (laughing in the middle of nearly every skit) I found unprofessional and annoying. But this is an amazingly well-done bit.
Having seen Neil do this sit down in the dark and play motif several times, Fallon has everything right — especially the staging and the sound. Neil often uses a slight echo effect on his mike in these appearances that make him sound like he’s singing in a canyon. It also makes the harmonica sound all the more haunting. Fallon really nails that here. This says a lot for Fallon’s maturity as a comic, not to mention his musicianship."
The “Pants on the Ground” phenomenon continues to resonate. One night after 62-year-old “General” Larry Platt introduced the contagious public-service advisory for urban youth on American Idol, Neil Young appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with his own neilyoung-y rendition. Well, sort of.
Of course, that was actually Fallon, who had previously impersonated Young while singing the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Fallon’s late-night future might be out of his hands, but his unique talents are another reminder that the boldest and most original chatfests air after midnight.
General Larry Platt's 'Pants on the Ground,' as seen last night on American Idol, is taking the nation by storm.
On Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight, 'Neil Young' stops by and performs a hauntingly beautiful, extremely moving cover of the song.
It's a magical moment, truly inspirational. People all over the country will likely hike up their pants after hearing this version of 'Pants on the Ground.'
Perhaps the days of people walking around looking like fools with their pants on the ground will soon be history.
So have you seen that totally awesome new viraly video of 62 year old American Idol contestant Larry Platts performing his original song Pants On The Ground on last night’s show? Well that shit was so 9 AM, because Neil Young has now covered it.
The new song, Pants on the Ground, from 'General' Larry Plat has been soaring since it aired on American Idol Wednesday night. By yesterday afternoon there were already at least 4 remixes online, several of them making the song sound like a real Top 40 hit. If you go to the club this weekend, you may even hear one of the remixes.
Last night on Jimmy Fallon's show he presented Neil Young who sang his version of the song, which you can see below, I loved it.
And Yes, I do realize it's actually Jimmy Fallon and not Neil Young!
Everybody is getting into the "American Idol" "Pants on the Ground" act. Check out this Jimmy-Fallon-as-Neil-Young take.
Jimmy Fallon's Neil Young impression is so good, it fooled us for a bit. We thought Neil Young had actually covered "Pants on the Ground," which would be amazing.
We soon realized it was Jimmy Fallon doing Neil Young, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. Fallon does a dead-on impression of Young and his guitar and harmonica talent is also good.
Musical mimic and late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon does a mean Neil Young impersonation, a skill he showed off recently by performing the theme song to The Prince of Bel Air as the Canadian godfather of grunge. The video became an instant Internet sensation.
Now, Jimmy “Neil Young” Fallon has turned his attention to another lyrical masterpiece: “Pants On The Ground,” the bizarre song American Idol contestant Larry Platt energetically busted out on the show last week. (”With the gold in your mouth/hat turned sideways/pants hit the ground/call yourself a cool cat/lookin’ like a fool/walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground.”)
According to this version of “Neil,” flying on the ground is still wrong, and pants on the ground are highly questionable.
"Thursday's 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' episode featured the host getting into character as the veteran rocker and performing a mournful, acoustic version of 'Pants on the Ground.' The latter, of course, is the song that everyone's been talking about since Wednesday's 'American Idol,' where 62-year-old 'General' Larry Platt unveiled his bizarre original song and had both judges and viewers howling. Since it aired, Pratt's 'Idol' audition has gone practically bubonic -- remixes and parodies are blowing up across the net, and eight of the top ten most viewed videos in YouTube's music section contain the phrase 'Pants on the Ground.'"
"Last night's take on 'Pants on the Ground,' featuring Fallon's spot-on Neil Young impression, hopefully closes the book on our nation's brief love affair with the novelty song, playing it for laughs by turning it into a more woeful tale."
"Which leads us to the Neil Young version of “Pants On The Ground,” as imagined by Jimmy Fallon. Which is, in a word, awesome. (The American Idol original is awesome, too, but in a whole other way.) But also, it’s good. And damn accurate — at first I really thought they’d gotten Neil Young to sing “Pants on the Ground” for Fallon. The whole thing was hilarious and wacky and smart and fun. It almost makes me sad that war between Team Leno and Team Conan is almost over, because wow has it been good for Team Fallon."
"Jimmy Fallon made the second funny of his career last night by reviving his Neil Young bit to cover General Larry Platt's 'Pants on the Ground,' which has become a hot meme since Platt performed it on American Idol this week. The best part is that this would make sense as a Neil Young song, and Rolling Stone would probably praise it as Neil's message to the young kids of today if it was."
"Above is “Neil Young” — who previously stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel to perform a Harvest-ified version of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme — taking on Platt’s “Pants on the Ground.” With his trademark croon and morose harmonica, “Young” transforms Platt’s baggy pants protest song into a heartbreaking ballad about the lack of belts being worn in the Dirty. We can all only hope this appears on Archives Vol. XIII."
Pants on the ground, pants on the ground Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground With the gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways Pants hit the ground, call yourself a cool cat, lookin’ like a fool Walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground. Giddy-up! Hey, get your pants off the ground. Lookin’ like a fool Walkin’, talkin’ with your pants on the ground. Giddy-up! Hey, get your pants off the ground. Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground.
Heck. We can't even get the pop culture term "jumping the shark" right (see comments below). It's so sad to be so retro and un-cool.....
For many, Greendale is their favorite release of the Zero's. For others, "more traditional acoustic" Neil releases such as Prairie Wind (2005) and Silver & Gold (2000) are preferred.
Interesting poll (thanks Thrasher), but I have to find laughable the idea that Greendale, LWW, and FITR "constitute a cohesive trilogy that may just validate Neil's early 21st century work."
Neil's "21st century work", by all accounts other than the commentators on this website, has been spotty at best. I don't see anyone in the music media or otherwise re-assessing the original, prevailing view that the three albums mentioned above were a mixed bag (at their finest) and cliched and simplistic drivel (at their worst). Any allusion to the Ditch Trilogy (a set of albums that sound timeless and nuanced themes with dark emotion), with the most recent "trilogy" (a bang-you-over-the-head, literalistic, and current-events-driven collection of songs) is an insult to the work that established Neil's greatness.
To put it more simply, if I played any of the albums in the "21st century Trilogy" to my buddies or family members, they would laugh their ass off, and not in good way.
-Big Old Rig
Thanks Big Old Rig for comment.
A couple of points. Of course, "[You] don't see anyone in the music media or otherwise re-assessing the original, prevailing view that the three albums mentioned above were a mixed bag (at their finest) and cliched and simplistic drivel (at their worst)".
Mainstream media music criticism is intellectually bankrupt and brain dead. Probably always has been. Probably always will be.
We're not trying to say that the trifecta of Greendale/LWW/FITR is on par with Tonight's The Night/Time Fades Away/On the Beach ditch trilogy. No comparison, really.
The point is that no one at the time -- or for a very long time after the fact -- recognized the thematic brilliance of the unflinching Tonight's The Night/Time Fades Away/On the Beach ditch trilogy cycle. In fact, it wasn't even critics that found a connection between the three albums. It was fans who came up with the phrase "ditch trilogy".
We're not really sure how to refer to Greendale/LWW/FITR. There is so much going on here. We'll just call it the "Be the change" cycle until we think of something else.
We challenge you Big Old Rig to listen to these 3 albums back to back and not be stunned by what's going on here. If your ears opened, your eyes and mind will be too.
As for playing for your buddies who would laugh. Of course. That's always the case with Neil's challenging work.
Lastly, we were also struck by the remark that someone made about after seeing the blockbuster film Avatar , the first lyric that popped in their head on leaving the theater was the line from Greendale: "Be A Goddess in the Planet Wars". On some fundamental levels, the messages of Avatar and Greendale are very similar.
Patti Smith Covers Neil Young's "Helpless" Paris 20 juin 2008 - Fondation Cartier, Les Soirée Nomades, Summer Solstice
Over on Hidden Track, there's a poll for favorite cover of Neil Young's "Helpless".
There really are an astonishing array of nominees:
Buffy Sainte-Marie Cowboy Junkies Fareed Haque Group k.d. lang Nick Cave Outformation Patti Smith Perpetual Groove Reid Genauer & Jamie Masefield Ryan Adams & Gillian Welch YARN
Tough call but we think it's Patti Smith all the way. Check out the other "Helpless" covers on Hidden Track.
Classic Rock Magazine (February 2010 Issue) has an interview with Stephen Stills.
STILLS: And as the British are always reminding me Neil Young came along & stole my thunder'-- But who wants to talk about him.
CRM: I guess you would.
STILLS: Obviously I love Neil.I saw him recently in the finest car builders shop in the world in South San Francisco. He's been working on an electric/hybrid engine which he's put into this 19 foot long 1958 Lincoln Continental.He's got it running on practically nothing.
It's funny seeing it next to all these gorgeous gas-guzzling hot-rods. You know Neil once he gets his teeth into something.
As a guitarist I love his weirdness. Ironically, in Buffalo Springfield he'd be the one who stood still and played while I was the madman. Now he's got all the goddamn energy and I got too many cuts and bruises from life. I was a lot more athletic back then and I'm paying the price. But I still love it when he and I get unleashed occasionally. We've always been a good team'.
Another musician influenced by Neil Young -- Justin Sullivan from New Model Army. From Altsounds.com:
[altsounds] I think people just generally like a band they can follow and grow up with. You always seem to progress. You haven’t reverted back to an old successful period which is what a lot of eighties bands tend to do.
[Justin] I think that’s what everybody else is forced to. I think it also has to do with some kind of arrogance or something?
You know, the whole Neil Young thing? Neil Young is someone I’ve always been a fan of. But out of all the people from the sixties he’s the one still standing and that’s because he never gave a shit of what the audience wanted. He did what he wanted and it’s always been his thing, he’s going to do what he thinks is good and nevermind what anybody else wants for him.
Suddenly, forty-fifty years later he’s the one out of all that sixties generation who’s still relevant, brilliant and inspiring. I think that’s the way to do it and I think that’s the reason why we’re still here because we always had the same attitude: “This is what WE are doing.” This means a lot to us and if some people don’t like it... you know like “if they don’t play that song I’m gonna stop coming!” I don’t mind, that’s fine. Maybe they’ll come back, maybe they won't. We’re not here to please people, we’re here to try and make something that we think is great.
Very close voting results with Greendale (2003) receiving 27%, followed by Chrome Dreams II (2008) with 20%. Prairie Wind (2005) and Silver & Gold (2000) are tied with 18%.
Living With War (2006) is next at 11%. Are You Passionate? (2002) and Fork in the Road are tied at 3%.
As a contemporary piece of art, Living With War is probably the best one out of all these, but in the long run it will be Greendale that will be remembered. No matter which way you look at it, you will have to agree that, as a concept album, which touches on many societal aspects, such as environmental issues, it is right up there with albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Who's Tommy.
It's also one of the more focused efforts of Neil in the 00's, after all, it came with a book, live concert series and even a movie! Perhaps even more than Living with War, Greendale is quintessentially Neil: when he started performing his new (unreleased) material on the road, people were just as surprised/angry as they were in his heyday when he gave the songs form Harvest, Time Fades Away and Tonight's the Night the same treatment. Greendale is not merely an album, it's a full blown art project, and for that reason it's his greatest achievement in the last decade and one of the greatest in his career.
I voted for 'Living With War', Neil really went on a limb with this one. No one else did anything like this or sang anti war sentiment in such a direct way. I applaud him for that. It was of it's time, and will date quickly as it's hard to replicate the feelings around at the time. These songs were only toured once and we will probably never again, hear them live. It was the album Neil had to do.
'Greendale' was my real favourite, but Living With War gets my vote as the message was, well, potent.
I picked Fork in the Road, primarily because it's an awesome sounding album with extremely strong material on it. I believe the material on FITR is stronger than Greendale, even if it doesn't have that overarching concept/story that made GD so special.
Everything from the mix to the songwriting, the guitar playing, etc. on FITR just works for me.
A lot of people dismiss this album, but I think they'll eventually come around - just give it some time and a bunch of spins and it'll start opening up to you.
I voted for Living with War in the original poll, because it's the most socially important album he's done in the 00's. But FITR is just getting short-shrift, and it shouldn't be.
I also agree with anon 2:20 - Sleeps with Angels is most definitely a masterpiece that hasn't quite had a successor in the 00's.
You polled for 'favorite' which I voted for Silver and Gold.
But the one the hit me the hardest was Living With War.
That thing grabbed me and shook me and didn't let me go for about 2 months. I hate war. I hate hate. I hate necessary evils which I think war is. But when the guy is coming at you with his hate clenched in his actions you either fight or die. Even that part sucks. Anyhow, I'm glad that with mother nature on the run in the 21st century we still have uncle Neil to help us along. Long Live Neil Young and his music.
Best Album of this lot, hands down, it's Silver and Gold - most polished, accomplished, introspective and immediate. The Great Divide is astounding... Razor Love is amazing... Silver & Gold is timeless... And Distant Photograph has be balled up in tears. And, to top it off, Buffalo Springfield Again is nostalgic. So, I say S&G as #1 - second choice would probably be Greendale, since Grandpa's Interview, Sun Green and Be the Rain are so strong... -jim
Recently, we wrote about how the initial consensus around Neil Young's Greendale and Living With War was that they were flawed and misguided. Our opinion was that Fork in the Road seemed to be falling right into the same mindset. But we maintain that the three works together actually constitute a cohesive trilogy that may just validate Neil's early 21st century work.
There's an intriguing arc between the three albums. With Greendale , Neil sounds the alarm that something has gone terribly wrong on a number of fronts. Living With War was a direct confrontation of the need for a call to action. Fork in the Road -- the 3rd installment of the trilogy -- reveals Neil coming to grips with the fact that first you recognize a problem, then you call out the need to address it, and finally you do something about it.
All 3 albums were recorded very quickly without heavy production and stylistically cohesive. Raw Neil. We like it that way. Keeping it real.
A very strong decade, indeed. So what will those 'Teens bring Neil fans? Some Crazy Horse? Some acoustic? Something off the wall?
Poll: Favorite Neil Young Studio Album of 21st Century
Quite a bit of discussion lately over on the Rust List regarding folks favorite Neil Young release in the 21st Century/The Zero's.
Of course everyone has their favorites and those they can pass on. Eventually, Karen put together a poll on streamland to put the question out there. Karen's poll included all of Neil's 21st century output -- studio and non-studio.
Surprisingly -- or not so surprisingly - The Archives came in first place.
So we thought we might try this from a different angle and just include studio releases since 2000.
Some interesting comments on the recent post on Phish and Neil Young. The post contained a YouTube video of Phish and Neil Young performing a 26 minute version of "Down By the River" at the 1998 Farm Aid.
Phish from 1993-1998 live was an AMAZING live outfit.
Neil Young is my church of choice.
So when this went down it was a dream come true, my old roomate and I had this dialed in via CMT, and cranked through a 2.1 set up.
The performance exceeded all my expectations, and is still one of the coolest NY or Phish live things I have heard.
To my ears Fish and Mike (drums ans bass) kept this thing cranking along.
It obvious Neil and Trey got off, it's tangible and real.
I was proud of the way the NY fans got off on this and on the Rust list at the time, were comparing this to the Rockin In the Free World from 89 SNL.
Trey continued to stay in contact and was a guest of Neils (he didn't perform) at the spring 99 Neil solo show.
Lastly Phish also played Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown in 99 or 00 in Irvine California. I was there.
As far as Phish, they started taking too many hard drugs and completely pooped the bed musically after 98 with just a handful of exceptions.
They are back and sober now, but not the same band they were at the peak of their powers.
Certainly they can't and never tap into the soul the way Neil Young has with their songwriting/studio performances, but at their peak 93/94/95/97 they were as good as any live band ever.
1998 is a pretty solid year, and this Farm Aid performance is one of the best.
Enjoy
Cassius
So is this jam "wankery"? Or is that just what Phish does anyway?
Earlier in the new year, we rolled out a new design layout using a 3rd column. So far, so good technically speaking. But we would like to get reader's feedback on the usability of the new layout.
Admittedly, we have a lot going on on this page. The idea with the third column is to push up some widgets and links for greater visibility like the NYAS/BA badge. Also, the original single sidebar had become quite unwieldy and needed some objects removed. So we've been playing around and making some adjustments.
As this point, we would like to know what you think works and doesn't. What seems extraneous or essential? What should be higher or lower? What should in the right or far right sidebar?
Any feedback would be appreciated. Drop a comment below or email us: thrasher ATSIGN thrasherswheat DOT org
Since February 2005, over 100,000 visits have been logged to the TFA page and the petition has gathered nearly 15,000 verified signatures. (The actual count is closer to 20,000 but the petition site has had several backup failures where thousands of signatures were lost.) Over 13,000 votes have been cast for favorite song on album.
Here's the vote breakdown:
Don't Be Denied - 25.9% Last Dance - 22.8% Journey Through the Past - 11.5%
So why does any of this really matter?
Well, for one thing, recent news indicates that there is a possibility that the original TFA may NEVER be re-released at all. From an interview in Guitar World, Young discusses The Archives Vol.#2 which will include Time Fades Away II. TFA#2 is an alternate version from the tour's second half.
"YOUNG: One thing I'll tell you about the next volume of Archives is that Time Fades Away II is in there. And it's interesting because the whole thing has a different drummer than what was on that album. I switched drummers halfway through the tour- Kenny Buttrey was in there for the first half, and Johnny Barbata came in for the second. It's a completely different thing, with completely different songs. So that's interesting. There's lots of stuff like that that I'm working on right now for the second volume."
Neil Young's 1973 Time Fades Away is one of the most remarkable live albums ever recorded. Certainly at the time of release, it was almost unprecedented for an artist to release a live concert recording of previously unreleased material. Long out of print on vinyl, still unavailable on CD in the early 21st century and widely bootlegged, the album is considered to be the "Holy Grail" of all Neil Young albums.
In an effort to gain wider distribution of this essential Neil Young recording, fans have started a petition requesting that the album be officially released. Those interested in obtaining a legal copy of Time Fades Away are urged to sign the petition today.
Phish has performed with Neil Young at the Farm Aid Benefit and the Bridge School Benefit Concert.
On October 3, 1998, Phish performed at the Farm Aid Benefit, near Chicago, IL, with Young. Setlist notes from Andy's Phish Page indicate that Young joined Phish onstage for "Runaway Jim". Next came an electric instrumental that is best described as "Arc"-like. This was followed by a monster 26 minute jam on "Down By the River".
Judge for your self, but this version of "Down By the River" is considered to be of the top 10 performances of the song. Unfortunately, the YouTube version is *only* 19 minutes long.
On the second day of the concert October 18, Phish and Neil Young performed the Ian Tyson song "Four Strong Winds" with Sarah McLaughlin on vocals. They also played Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" together and Young jammed with Phish on "Harry Hood".
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