O.k., just why is Neil Young so mindbogglingly great?

[candid_x]

As Joseph Campbell said, man's world is one of straight lines and rectangles, while nature knows nothing of these.

Neil is pre-man, pre-thought-and-reason and pre-technique. His creativity springs from a primitive and essential place. It just is.

[reno88]

+1 soldano16

i saw crazy horse in '91, and they blew me away. neil didn't say a word the entire show - no hello, thank you, good bye - anything. they killed. most incredible tone, drive, and power i've ever heard live.

remember that ad for maxell with that guy sitting low in the chair, lamp shade askew, getting blown away in front of the speaker? that's how i think of neil and crazy horse. incredible.

[Z_Zoquis]

sweet merciful crap that satriana thing is an abortion! The very definition of not getting it...everything about that cover is annoying from the horns to the singing to the guitar playing.

But yeah, NY is amazing...one of my heros.

[PedalFreak]

One of my favorite songs! Neil is awesome, some things just are what they are.

[A-Bone]

Neil is one of the all time greats. He is tapped into that collective musical space in a way that few artists have maintained for as long a fertile period. Great songwriter, great player (in his own way), and a wonderfully distinctive singing style.

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by JPF

He's a different sort of bard. I can understand how people will either love or hate what he does.

Bard is exactly the word I use to describe Neil!

[Dumo]

I have always thought Neil was at his most powerful with Crazy Horse. I saw the Ragged Glory tour too in the early 90s during the whole Seattle Grunge scene. I was blown away by the raw energy of Neil who is a couple decades older. Absolutely inspiring. Neil has a punk edge to him. I can understand why people are put off on his voice and abrasive guitar tone at times. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is a lot like Neil in that way. RIP Danny Whitten.

[RustyAxe]

A better question ... why do so many think Neil Young is mindboggingly great? I like what he's written, melodically. Can't say I care for lyrics, though. On guitar he's mediocre at best. And vocally ... well ...

Just one man's opinion.

[aidan7737]

Big Day Out 2009 will be a beautiful thing...

[Wagster]

That was perfect in every way.Neil knows how to tell a story and take you places with his music.Never self indulgent and a true master of his craft.

[Jon Silberman]

Originally Posted by candid_x

As Joseph Campbell said, man's world is one of straight lines and rectangles, while nature knows nothing of these.

Neil is pre-man, pre-thought-and-reason and pre-technique. His creativity springs from a primitive and essential place. It just is.

Among the finest posts to grace this board. Very well said, candid.

[Shiny McShine]

I loved some of the quotes in Shakey regarding this:

"So who are the three posers and the heavy?"
"He's a genius without talent."

[TieDyedDevil]

Originally Posted by hogy

What is it about this? It haunts me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnc4-yqB520

Listen to all the covers, some by musicians that are fantastic in their own right. None capture the essence of what Neil's got going on. It's from another planet altogether.

Oh yeah.

So much of Young's material is raw and emotional, but this one always gets me.

Why? I dunno. I can't discount the fact that I'm of the age to have heard him in heavy rotation on pop radio. Or that my friends and I developed an intimate relationship with Young's material through playing it in garage bands and coffee houses.

Maybe it's because of his approach to making music. Did you ever read his biography, "Shakey"? I recall having read something about how he'd give the band a quick outline of the song's changes before commiting to tape. Forget the endless rehearsals, forget the perfection and polish - just go for it. The result comes out raw and honest, the way I always thought rock 'n roll was *supposed* to be; the way it was before the producers and recording technicians took over the asylum.

Or maybe I'm just old...

[bc-cosmo]

I first thought about playing music in a band in about 1968. A friend lent me his 1959 LP Junior and we worked up Down by the River and some other tunes from the same album. And that was kind of "it" for me back then--Neil Young and the simple, almost majestic songs, the oddly crooning vocals.

I drifted away from listening to him over the years, and just got reacquainted through someone else's recent post of just this video, and it all came rushing back to me.

I don't really know what it is that makes him so great--others have already said it better than I, methinks--but his stuff still just blows me away. And yes, I'm trying to work out how to cover Cortez the Killer in a way that does the vibe justice.

Viva NY!

[Zilmo]

Neil sucks ass. IMHO. YMMV.