926 Neil Young - Neil Young (1969)

 926 Neil Young - Neil Young (1969)

Studio Album - Folk Rock





About the Act:

Neil Young is a Canadian singer-songwriter-musician, who has been musically active since 1963. After high school bands and other non-successful bands, he moved to the US and formed the band Buffalo Springfield in 1966. He was with the band until 1968, when he launched his solo career. After his first solo album he formed the backing band "Crazy Horse" so some albums are credited to "Neil Young and Crazy Horse". Crazy Horse also created albums without Neil. He also, in 1969, joined Crosby, Stills and Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. That seemed to last a year until 1970.

He has had several backing bands since then of several names. He has had reunions with Crosby Stills, Nash and Young. He has had 3 studio albums with Buffalo Springfield, 3 with CSN&Y, and 42 studio albums, some with Crazy Horse, and some with other backing bands (including one with Pearl Jam). He has sold a phenomenal number of albums, gained many awards, and is widely regarded well.


About the Album:

This was Neil's first solo album after leaving Buffalo Springfield. It never charted, and had a mixed reception.


My History with this Album:

None


Review:

The last track, "The Last Trip to Tulsa" is an enigmatic epic in the style of American Pie and Hotel California, with lyrics that could be heavily coded, or could just be random. It is just Neil singing and an Acoustic Guitar. This is the best track on the album. The rest - there are a couple of instrumentals, and some rockier songs about love and relationships. The first track (one of the instrumentals) sounds like country music, which belies the rest of the album significantly.

Generally the music is folky-rock such as you might expect from Joni Mitchell or James Taylor, but somewhat heavier at times. Neil is blessed with a distinctive voice which isn't the sort of accurate, technically good voice that seems to be needed these days, but has a quality of genuineness to it, such that you wouldn't take his singing to be snide, and you tend to buy into what he is singing about.  As an album, it kind of meanders, and doesn't hang together as well as it could, but some of the songs are pretty good.


7/10



Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2dw9jX2uocV1da5WsnJ2Pl

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7zZILkGVDhj2Yw0fYzVs5qsb2sAolmhp

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young_(album)



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