I was always a casual fan of Neil Young. Not enough to buy his full albums but I had my favourites. So, when I came across this LP in Auckland in 1985 I thought it was a good deal. 11 tracks and I knew 7 of them well. The songs were pulled from 8 albums and covered 1969 - 1981. Seemed like good value to me. I decided to include it on the Vinyl Vault (smell-of-vinyl) because after posting CSNY's Déjà Vu album recently I thought it would be a good way to cover some of Neil's other work.
I was checking on details for this review and discovered something I hadn't known about the album.
It's rare !
It's not money in the bank rare.
It's not a lost Rembrandt rare ...
but it's rare enough to be interesting.
I suppose to be fair, it's rare-ish.
It was only ever released in Australasia, but Neil Young didn't approve of the record so it was soon taken off the market. I got in touch with Rames El Desouki who not only runs an amazing website, http://www.cvinyl.com/ but is also a Neil Young fan. He was able to tell me in no uncertain terms that the album was pulled because "He (Neil) certainly is not the type of artist who would condone some purely commercial random compilation of "hit singles"..."
It's been sitting in my collection for all this time and I had no idea of the backstory. Seems I was lucky to get one ! Just to add to the 'rarity?' - 'oddness?' - 'curiosity?' there's another feature on the label - either a misprint or a lack of basic grammar. The title says "Neil Young Greatest Hit's" .. with a redundent apostrophe on Hits.
Though I've never been a massive fan of Neil Young, there are songs I've always known and quite a few I've classed amongst my favourites at various times in my life.
I can start with the late 1966 Buffalo Springfield anthem 'For What It's Worth', a song that has been covered by everyone from Miriam Makeba, Ozzy Osbourne, Cher and The Muppets! Written by Stephen Stills (yes, CSN .. or later CSNY) it sounds as topical today as it did over 50 years ago.
After Buffalo Springfield, Neil went solo for his eponymous 1968 album, but for his second album he brought in three guys from a band called The Rockets. They were Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina who took the name Crazy Horse. The 1969 album 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' was then officially credited to Neil Young with Crazy Horse and spawned 2 epic tracks coming in at around 10 minutes each, 'Down By the River' and 'Cowgirl in the Sand' but also another of my Neil favourites 'Cinnamon Girl'.
1970 saw 2 albums featuring Neil. The first was the previously reviewed CSNY Déjà Vu in March and the other was his own 'After the Gold Rush' in September. The recording times overlap - and his mate from Buffalo Springfield and CSNY, Stephen Stills, also appeared on his solo album.
My pick is the title track 'After the Gold Rush' but I'm sure hard core fans will dispute that.
Possibly his best known album of this era is his 1972 release 'Harvest'.
Certainly in terms of the who's-who of talent surrounding him it was a heavily populated album. Although the album was credited as a Neil Young release, Crosby, Stills and Nash all feature as backing singers, along with James Taylor and Linda Ronstandt. A foursome of session musicians were gathered and they were quickly given the collective name 'The Stray Gators'. There were even a couple of tracks featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. The LP did add to my list of favourite songs though, with 'Heart of Gold', 'Old Man' and 'The Needle and the Damage Done'.
Fast forward to 1976 when Neil got together with the ever present Stephen Stills and put out an album and title track 'Long May You Run'. It was the only studio release by the Stills - Young Band, but the single is another candidate for my favourites list.
As most people may know or have guessed, I am a dyed in the wool, fanatical Dylan disciple. As such, I know and own all the official albums ever released as well as having many many 'unofficial' recordings. I know the same can be said for Neil Young fans, but my coverage of him and his music is very sparse after 'Harvest'. The next song to come across my radar was many years later when he released 'Harvest Moon' in 1992, which sounded very mellow for the 'Godfather of Grunge'.
Apart from his 'regular' studio albums, Neil also releases material under the 'Neil Young Archives' project. I suppose the nearest I can equate is the Bob Dylan 'Bootleg' series, where previously unreleased studio and live performances are compiled and made available.
The latest in this series was released in June 2020. 'Homegrown' is material that was recorded 45 years ago.
It may be a bit unfair of me to review this Greatest Hits album if it's not available, but better Neil Young approved compilations exist.
Treat yourself to some vintage Neil - or do as I'm doing, listen to the 2020/1975 'Homegrown' and look behind the curtain.
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