P. 80 - 3 of Neil Young's Albums
Neil Young has 7* albums on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
- #72 - Harvest - 1972 (#82 in 2003)
- #90 - After The Gold Rush - 1970 (#74)
- #220 - Deja Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 1970 (#147)
- #296 - Rust Never Sleeps - 1979 (#351)
- #302 - Tonight's The Night - 1975 (#330)
- #311 - On The Beach - 1974 (-)
- #407 - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - 1969 (#210)
On the original 2003 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums List (2012), 'Buffalo Springfield Again' was included at #188. So no real net change for Neil over the years, but numbers add up to nothin', as everybody knows.
While Neil Young has had many, many decades, clearly, the 1970's were his "Golden Decade".
Neil Young's Golden Decade
Trouser Press - April 1980, #49
So, a pretty good showing by Neil Young which ranks him right up there with Bob Dylan, John Lennon & Paul McCartney.
Speaking of Bob, John and Paul, see 50 Reasons Why Neil Young's Music Matters.
Bob, Neil & Eric
50 Reasons Why Neil Young's Music Matters
More on Neil Young's albums, reviews and commentary.
Also, see Neil Young on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Times.
Also, see Neil Young: Rolling Stone | 100 Greatest Guitarists.
No love for “Ragged Glory”. 30 year on, it is still an awesome homage to the keys of Em and G
ReplyDeleteRNS is way too low in my opinion. I consider it be his magnum opus, the culmination of his writing talents and styles.
ReplyDeleteStriking absence of latter year albums.
I do agree that ragged Glory should be in. So energetic, so lively...
ReplyDeleteYet there are so many good albums, so my preferences are different each day
I agree with adding both album suggestions. Missing: "Freedom" and "Time Fades Away." "Zuma"? "Living with War"? "Comes A Time"? (I prefer the "In the Beginning" version w/o choir.) "Americana"?
ReplyDeletexgau gives them the following grades:
TFA: A; Freedom: A; Zuma A-; LWW B+; Americana: A; CAT A
https://robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=989
Deja Vu doesn't hold up very well IMHO.
Did the critics not listen to any music after 1980?
Pretty cool but I would have put "Time Fades Away" on there too as well as his best album, "Sleeps with Angels". Maybe next time!
ReplyDeleteWhere is Arc?!
ReplyDeleteamazingly stupid exercise in my opinion- the 500 greatest albums of all time. similar, I think, to 100 best novels of the 20th century. Given that Rolling Stone has really stopped reviewing albums, this is even more ridiculous (read their "reviews"? they are not nearly detailed enough, generally lack any guiding criteria for standards of excellence). But then Neil has so many to choose from it might have split his votes. If I had to, if I was forced to be involved in such nonsense, On The Beach goes in the top ten. I could give my reasons but not now. I'm going to get a COVID test (I feel fine but was exposed). This will be one of my top ten moments during Trump administration. Who said Ragged Glory? Good idea! How about Freedom, Sleeps with Angels, Old ways (ha ha). Enjoy the day and remember that all any man has is time.
ReplyDelete"Everyone" Knows this is Nowhere?? Great journalisming. Maybe go back and read the album name again.
ReplyDeleteRolling Stone magazine lost all its credibility decades ago. They are the People Magazine of music. This whole concept is pointless.
ReplyDeleteJust my two cents
Peace 🙏
Yes, sure, as everybody knows, numbers add up to nothin' -- as noted above in blog post.
ReplyDeleteLists are a dime a dozen and more geared to generating discussion more than being some sort of definitive historical index.
In fact, here @ TW we did ignore the 2003 and 2012 RS listings. Maybe we were more cynical back then -- if that is even possible to believe.
FWIW, the RS list is tabulated, as noted, from the Top 50 Albums lists from more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures (from radio programmers to label heads.
More importantly, it's all an affirmation of the album format. A musical concept in an age of the stream, the song clip, the short attention span generation.
For us here, the fact that someone like Neil still commands some respect is almost remarkably surprising. The number of singer-songwriters who have been de-ranked in favor of "artists" who don't even play an instrument and are using various digital tools is well - quite sad.
So here's to the musicians. the true artists. the creative ones. long live the talented originalists.
bgw: here's a very partial listing of RS contributors:
Jonathan Bernstein, Pat Blashill, Jon Blistein, Nathan Brackett, David Browne, Anthony DeCurtis, Matt Diehl, Jon Dolan, Chuck Eddy, Ben Edmonds, Gavin Edwards, Jenny Eliscu, Brenna Ehrlrich, Suzy Exposito, David Fricke, Elisa Gardner, Holly George-Warren, Andy Greene, Kory Grow, Will Hermes, Brian Hiatt, Christian Hoard, Charles Holmes, Mark Kemp, Greg Kot, Elias Leight, Joe Levy, Angie Martoccio, David McGee, Chris Molanphy, Tom Moon, Jason Newman, Rob O’Connor, Park Puterbaugh, Jody Rosen, Austin Scaggs, Karen Schoemer, Bud Scoppa, Claire Shaffer, Rob Sheffield, Hank Shteamer, Brittany Spanos, Rob Tannenbaum, David Thigpen, Simon Vozick-Levinson, Barry Walters, Jonah Weiner
Nothing wrong with digital tools. All music is is different combinations of frequencies and amplitudes. Guitar, though great, is limited to the types of sounds it can produce. Electronics can give you any sound you want, if you are creative enough. Try and be more open minded. Digital tools ARE instruments!
DeleteRust never sleeps way too low!
ReplyDeleteNice to see On The Beach make the list, such as it is constructed to provide some sort of credibility to RS 2020) At the current rate of statistical inflation, OTB should hit #1 about 2056.
ReplyDeleteThrasher, I wonder what real artists have been displaced of fake ones? I do have to say that two Outkast albums in the top 100, along with Lauryn Hill in the top 10 is a bit of a headscratcher, and the list seems a bit woke in general, but there still are some absolute classics in there.
ReplyDeleteMuch like RS Top 500 Songs didn't include Green Grass & High Tides this list has no Outlaws albums & I didn't see Little Feat's Waiting for Columbus either. Maybe live albums don't count.
ReplyDelete@ Harm - quite a bit of commentary out there on the RS 500 albums.
ReplyDeleteAs we mentioned, the lists tend to generate a lot of discussion. Witness a rather large # here @ TW.
We found this list analysis interesting by OGC @ https://oldgreycat.blog/2020/09/27/todays-top-5-albums-awol-from-rolling-stones-top-500-albums/
"The lists received just criticism, however, due to the artists being predominately white, male and rock-oriented. Artists of color, for example, made up a little more than a fifth of the featured acts, while women were less than 10 percent.
The main headline, I suppose, is that the list is indeed more diverse. Artists of color account for 33 percent of the 500, while women account for almost a fourth. (Note: my estimates are rough.) Also, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is now No. 1, supplanting the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which trips all the way out of the Top 20 to No. 24; it’s now deemed the third best Beatles album, behind Abbey Road (No. 5) and Revolver (No. 11). To my ears, What’s Going On is a vinyl paradox, forever timeless and timely; it’s never not relevant. I consider it one of the greatest albums of all time, so have no issues with its placement.
I also have no major issues with the overall order. These lists are not of “all time,” but of their time; they reflect the zeitgeist of the moment, and that moment is generally set by those younger than me. That said, the list is an ethnocentric enterprise, with its selections limited to albums that impacted U.S. music fans. For example, unless I missed one or both, the Jam and Paul Weller are MIA despite their success and influence in the U.K.; and the Stone Roses’ stellar debut, which routinely places at or near the top of U.K. best-album lists, ranks No. 319 here. The results also skew heavily towards Baby Boomer favorites, with 46 percent of the 500 hailing from the 1960s and ‘70s (less than in 2003, but still a lot), but that shouldn’t be a surprise – that’s when the album as an art form was at its zenith (now, too often, it’s little more than Spotify fodder). Also, I’d wager many of those polled first heard them (or songs from them) while driving with their parents, so there’s a nostalgia factor involved, too."
More @ OGC @ https://oldgreycat.blog/2020/09/27/todays-top-5-albums-awol-from-rolling-stones-top-500-albums/