Neil Young went into the studio and recorded this album soon after bandmate Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry had both OD'd. Stories vary on the reasons, but it was shelved for a year before being released. It comes in currently at number 88 on the Best of the 1970's list. I've talked about albums that were influential and I've talked about albums that have great music. This album makes the list for a simple reason. Critics praise this album for it's raw emotions. Neil Young isn't one to hide his emotions anyhow, but on this album he really lets it all hang out there.
It's a tough listen if you aren't in the mood for it, but if you are struggling with grief or you find yourself in a dark place for whatever reason, this album will fill the bill.
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.
The other day when GoHeath was sending around the Neil Young clips, I also watched a bit of a Neil Young interview on David Letterman's show where he was talking about converting some 1950s car to be more fuel efficient. It was pretty interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I want to say about Neil Young ... I tend to like musicians who cite Neil Young as a key influence more than I tend to like actual Neil Young songs. For most ears, Neil Young's voice is not the most pleasant in the world. But it's hard to deny that this guy is pretty darned good at tuning out the world and converting his honest feelings into coherent lyrics, and, man, what a gift that is. Anyway, I think there are really good singers who wish they were better at what Neil Young is really good at; whereas, I'll bet Neil Young loves listening to Ella Fitzgerald. All of the NBA players want to be rappers; all the rappers want to be NBA players.
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