Be A Goddess in the Planet Wars: Results of Poll for Favorite Neil Young Studio Album of 21st Century

Some fascinating voting results rolling in from Poll: Favorite Neil Young Studio Album of 21st Century.

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%.



Harm said...

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.

Donal Murphy said...:

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.

Matthew Lintzenich said...

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.

SONY said...

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.

Jim said...:

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

And what do we think?

Here's what we said on our Fork in the Road Reviews: Got A Potbelly

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?

Maybe. Yes. And definitely.

Wait. Is that toast we smell burning...

Polls are still open. Go and vote on Some fascinating voting results rolling in from Poll: Favorite Neil Young Studio Album of 21st Century.

On the wayback machine, as a point of reference, here are the results of a 1994 Neil Young Album Poll on rust@death.

---

The Essential Neil Young

Sometimes folks ask us about where to start with Neil Young and his music?

Of course, that's a tough one. A logical place to start is the 1977 triple LP album Decade. The 34-song set traces Neil Young's growth from Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to Crazy Horse to his Harvest band, the Stray Gators. The definitive retrospective of Young's career. Unreleased tracks and hits--Springfield's "Mr. Soul," CSNY's "Ohio," and Young's "Cinnamon Girl," "Heart of Gold," and the plaintively beautiful "Campaigner".

But here's our five essential Neil Young albums:

#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 On The Beach (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips

#5 After The Goldrush (reviews) - Listen to MP3 clips



Again, we'd recommend Decade over Neil Young's Greatest Hits but this can be an easier access point for some with 16 selections spanning his entire career since 1969.



Then there is Neil Young's best selling album Harvest (reviews). This has the #1 hit single Heart of Gold which was a defining moment in Young's career.




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).


For books, the essential read the biography Shakey by Jimmy McDonough. Read excerpts of "Shakey" Biography.

For films, the essential viewing is Neil Young's Heart of Gold Film (reviews). Academy-award winning director Jonathan Demme beautifully captures Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legend, Neil Young as he prepares and presents the performance of a lifetime with the help of his wife Pegi and friends country star Emmylou Harris, steel guitarist Ben Keith and more at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.



Another essential Neil Young film, is -- of course -- Rust Never Sleeps (reviews). Neil Young's 1978 concert tour, documented in this acclaimed two-hour film that was directed by Young himself (using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey), is a treat for the singer-songwriter's fans. The concept of the show is high (for Young, anyway), if rather odd: roadies (here called "Road Eyes") decked out like the Tusken Raiders from Star Wars, stage announcements from the original Woodstock during set changes, and giant amps, microphones, and so on for an "Incredible Shrinking Man" effect. Of course, it's the music that counts, and there's plenty of that, what with nearly 20 songs (including two versions of "Hey Hey, My My," his nod to the punk movement), acoustic and electric (with longtime companions Crazy Horse), dating back to his Buffalo Springfield days ("I Am a Child") and continuing through popular solo numbers like "Cinnamon Girl" and the extended "Like a Hurricane." DVD bonus material includes photos and song lyrics. --Sam Graham



Read excerpts of books on Neil Young's guitar style and sound:

The Guitar Styles of Neil Young

Neil Young Guitar Anthology

Neil Young Complete Music (Vol.1 , 1966-1969)

Neil Young Complete Music 1969-1973

Neil Young Complete 1974-1979 (Neil Young Complete, 1974-1979)

Neil Young: Anthology Easy Guitar

Also see tabs and chords for songs in the book Neil Young Guitar Anthology and The Guitar Styles of Neil Young

Then of course there is the elusively mythical Neil Young Archives. Essential? Only time will tell.


Neil Young Archives Cover Art
Zoom & Pan Art

Authors pick favorite Young albums
By Tim Shellberg - Times Correspondent | Posted: Sunday, May 23, 2010 12:00 am

Readers of "Neil Young: Long May You Run" have plenty of musical selections from the book's subject matter to choose from when selecting companion listening material to go along with the new book.

Young has released 46 albums in his own right over the course of his four decades-plus solo career, plus another dozen as part of Buffalo Springfield and as one quarter of Crosby, Stills Nash and Young.

When pressed, "Run" authors Gary Graff and Dan Durchholz offered their selections of "desert island" Young discs.

Gary Graff:

"Decade" (two disc compilation, 1977: "I will take one cheap out. That's more fair than the (multi-disc) ‘Archive' set (released in 2009)."

"Ragged Glory" (1990): "You can say a lot of great things about (1975's) ‘Tonight's the Night,' but 'Ragged Glory' is the fullest realized Crazy Horse album of all of them."

"Unplugged" (1993): " 'Ragged Glory' gives you the (rock) side, ‘Unplugged' would give me the (acoustic) side, and ‘Decade' would give me my capability to have the greatest hits."

Dan Durchholz

"Rust Never Sleeps" (1979): "This was the album that showed me that Neil Young was not merely going to fade away with the rest of his peers that came up in that second wave of rock stars. He was acknowledging growing older and, at the same time, he was name-checking Johnny Rotten."

"Tonight's The Night": "When it came out, nobody had any idea what the heck he was up to. And I like that aspect of his career. He's willing to vex his entire listenership no matter the cost, if that's what feels right to him."

"Ragged Glory": "That record showed he wasn't going to go quietly into the night. He rocked as hard as he ever did on that record and, again, it's a Neil Young that's growing older, but still proving that he has what it takes."

More in Thrasher's Neil Young Store.

Your purchase will help to support Thrasher's Wheat. Thanks!

---

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.

---