A Perfect Summer Soundtrack: Ragged Glory

So what makes for a perfect soundtrack for a hot Summer?

Well, apparently Neil Young's 1990 release Ragged Glory defines the sound of summer according to a Crawdaddy! article by Andres Jauregui:

For me, there are a few qualifications that an album has to meet in order to be considered a viable summer rock album. Its most definitive characteristic should be a predominance of guitar, preferably electric. Add to that a steadiness that’s predisposed to the open road, rolled down windows or peeled back ragtops, in my imagination, if not in fortunate reality. Picture me and a dog with a bandanna around its neck cruising down a traffic-free PCH or LIE, and you’re halfway there.

Based on its steady beat and Neil’s undeniable guitar work, this album’s potential as a summer soundtrack rode high on the first listen. But there were a few things beyond that foundation that truly established it for me. One was its sense of freedom: Good ‘ol ‘Merican open-aired, big-sky freedom. The other was its scope. Unlike beach read albums that only come out for fun in the sun, Ragged Glory had weight behind it. Its liberation comes with a little baggage, and sage reflection tempers its golden reminiscences. The former made Ragged Glory my stand-up stand-in of last summer; the latter led me to consider it a classic.

We've listened to "Over & Over", over and over ever since Greil Marcus raved on the song's uniqueness.

A comment by Old Black:

"I love 'Over and Over' but I'm not getting at all what he says about the song 'turning over'. I don't agree. The solos (and I love 'em) are not particularly exploratory as in, say, 'Love and Only Love' or 'No Hidden Path'. Neil is playing his 'new' goldtop, outfitted with the B-7 Bigsby and the Firebird pickup. What he does on 'Over and Over' is combined switching between the P-90 (neck pickup) and the firebird (bridge pickup), combined with changing tone by switching through the whizzer settings to adjust the volume(s) and tone pots on the 5E3. So, what you get are phrases that are pretty much the same but sound tonally different. Neil is also moving to different positions, so that the solo phrases are played at one moment in an open G position and at the next up on the neck but on the E-A-D strings (such as the riff that opens the song at the 10th and 12 frets on the E and A strings.

It's a great song (G-C-D repeated, with some slight variation in the measures in the chorus)and it really drives - an excellent example of simplicity as the framework for rocking out and a great format for the Horse. But the guy in the interview is making it out to be something its not. And you know Neil would call all that bullshit. But its not exploratory as a solo (as he is trying to make the point) like some of the other songs on the Ragged Glory - especially 'Love and Only Love' and 'Love to Burn'.

The thing about Ragged Glory is that it is all one song. Country Home is in G, White Line is in Em, Over and Over is in G, Love to Burn is in Em, Mansion on a Hill is in G, Natural Anthem is in G. G and Em are basically the same scale. Love to Burn and Love and Only Love are basically the same chord progressions. (F*&king Up is in D or Dm.) My point is that the approach to the leads are going to be very similar in all of these songs. Neil is poking around throughout the album on the same song. That's what I think is so cool. He is exploring his leads by changing tones using only volume and tone (which is just selectively dumping frequencies to ground).

I would love to see someone who really gets into the structure of the music and tone to evaluate Neil's playing. Larry Cragg is probably the most informed.

Old Black

Neil Young - F!#*in Up (Video)

More on Ragged Glory - Neil Young Albums In Order Reviews by e2f.

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The Outtakes from CSNY on Music Scene TV - 1969

Neil Young
CSNY - Music Scene TV - 1969
Photo by Jeff Allen
(Click photo to enlarge)

The story behind Jeff Allen's great NYFAQ cover shot -- and the outtakes you didn't see -- have now been posted to the new Neil Young FAQ Website.

Check it out.

Thanks Glen!

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Randy Bachman On Neil Young: ‘He’s Writing His Memoirs From My Brain!’

Video -

From Q105, Randy Bachman discusses Neil Young’s upcoming book Waging Heavy Peace.

In the interview Bachman says that Neil hit him with a barrage of questions and says "He’s Writing His Memoirs From My Brain!".

More on Randy Bachman & Neil Young.

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Neil Young's MagnaTone

Neil Young's Ol' Black & The MagnaTone

UPDATE: Based on comments, the MagnaTone is not an amp, but a speaker cabinet.

We can attest from an up close Neil Young concert experience that the sound off the stage would knock you off rail if the crowd wasn't pressing against you. The thing literally generates that much air pressure -- in addition to a sonic pummeling.

Neil Young's MagnaTone

Just how does Neil Young achieve his unique sound that has been described as like "a jet plane in a thunderstorm"?



If you're into how Neil Young gets his sound, check these links:

Neil Young Interview on Guitar Equipment - Guitar Player Magazine, 3/1992

Interview with Neil Young - Guitar Magazine (France), 4/1992

Neil Young's Amps & Whizzer - Interview with Neil's Guitar Tech Larry Cragg in Guitar Player Magazine, 3/1992

Larry Cragg Interview - Jimmy McDonough's "Shakey" Biography excerpt

Larry Cragg: The Welder - Interview in ToneQuest Report Magazine

Giant MagnaTone dwarfs Larry Cragg, Guitar Tech
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Paul D.

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Your Interesting Neil Young Fact of the Day

Scott Young
(Neil Young's Dad)

From the Everything Shakey blog, here's your interesting Neil Young Fact of the Day...

Neil’s dad was the Canadian sports-writer and novelist, Scott Young, who wrote 45 books over his life including one about his relationship with his son called Neil And Me. But did you know that his first novel, The Flood, published in 1956, has a character, a young boy named Mac, who was inspired by the then 10-year-old Neil?

Why no, we did not know that. Did you? (Thanks Everything Shakey blog!)

More on Neil Young's Father Remembered - Scott Young, 1918 - 2005.

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Neil Young's Ragged Glory Sound - Guitar World, October 2009

Neil Young's Rig
(Click to enlarge)

Amongst musicians, many often wonder how Neil Young achieves his unique sound that has been described as like "a jet plane in a thunderstorm".

From Neil Young: Ragged Glory - Guitar World (Guitar World, October 2009) by Richard Bienstock:

At the center of it all is the volatile 1953 Gibson Les Paul goldtop Young calls Old Black. A brutal and battered beast, the guitar is responsible for the legendary gritty tones heard on countless Young classics, including “Cinnamon Girl,” “Down By the River” and “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).”

The Les Paul, which features a Bigsby tremolo and a P90 pickup in the neck position, received the black paint job that inspired its nickname prior to being acquired by Young. Since then, it’s undergone several further modifications, including the addition of a “chrome-on-brass” pickguard and back plates, a bridge-position Firebird pickup and a toggle switch, installed between the two volume and two tone knobs, that acts as a bypass. “You flip that,” says Cragg, “and the Firebird goes straight to the amp.”

Cragg installed the Firebird pickup back in 1973. “Originally there was a P90 in there,” he explains. “But in the early Seventies the guitar was lost, and when Neil recovered it a few years later the bridge pickup was gone. He put a Gretsch DeArmond in there for a while, but when I came onboard I replaced that with the Firebird, which has been there ever since. Everyone calls it a mini humbucker, but it’s not. It’s a humbucker, and it’s very microphonic—you can speak into it. It’s really piercing and high and a big part of his sound.”

More on Neil Young's Sound.

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