NEIL YOUNG Discography
Looking back at the blockbuster success of "Heart of Gold," the mellow country-rock tune that became his first number one single and only Billboard Top 40 hit in 1971, Neil Young remarked that the song "put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." Young wrote this passage for the liner notes of Decade, a double-disc compilation that documented the first part of his career, ten years that took him from the pioneering Los Angeles rock & roll band Buffalo Springfield, through emergence as a lone folk-rock troubadour and his alliance with Crosby, Stills & Nash, to his noisy, rambling wanderings with Crazy Horse. Over the years, Young would tap back into these different sounds and personas, but his avoidance of the middle of the road pushed him into eccentric territory his singer/songwriter peers would generally avoid. His willfulness could be as much a hindrance as an attribute -- famously, Geffen Records sued him for delivering albums that were "uncharacteristic" -- but his muse also led to a series of distinctive, indelible albums whose legacy sometimes only revealed itself over time; eventually, the electro experiments of 1982's Trans were acknowledged as an artistic achievement, not a commercial disaster. Many of Young's most enduring work arrived in the '70s, when he alternated between such bruised, beautiful introspection as 1970's After the Gold Rush and noisy guitar jams like 1969's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, taking detours for such after-hours decadence as 1975's Tonight's the Night, but he remained a vital, unpredictable presence for decades, challenging himself and his audience.
Born in Toronto, Canada, Neil Young moved to Winnipeg with his mother following her divorce from his sports journalist father. He began playing music in high school. Not only did he play in garage rock outfits like the Squires, but he also played in local folk clubs and coffeehouses, where he eventually met Joni Mitchell and Stephen Stills. During the mid-'60s, he returned to Toronto, where he played as a solo folk act. By 1966, he'd joined the Mynah Birds, which also featured bassist Bruce Palmer and Rick James. The group recorded an album's worth of material for Motown, none of which was released at the time. Frustrated by his lack of success, Young moved to Los Angeles in his Pontiac hearse, taking Palmer along as support. Shortly after they arrived in L.A., they happened to meet Stills, and they formed Buffalo Springfield, who quickly became one of the leaders of the California folk-rock scene.
9 comments:
OG.. Big Thanks for posting this prodigious talent from Canada. I just wanted you to know I am most appreciative of the time and attention spent in posting all this. Whew!! You have an admirable collection. I will say again that having the year of release documented is huge. Thank You OG!!
More impressive than all the albums you posted is the quantity (and quality) of Neil Young's works. I live in Toronto and I am very proud of this fantastic artist. Thanks a lot, Ozzieguy
Hello Charlie,
Thank you for your nice message and yes I also enjoy listening to Neil Young's music.
I have done so for many years.
I wish I could go to Toronto again as I did in 2013, I loved it.
Best Wishes
Ozzieguy
Thanks, Ozzieguy. If you come to TO, please contact me. Definitely, we will have a lot to talk about music. Thanks again for your wonderful work and big heart to share all this music to the world.
Ozzieguy,
Many thanks for the Neil Young posts
Many thanks g8rrick for your lovely message.
Regards
Ozzieguy
Supposedly out there somewhere is an even more expanded version.
Do you know of such a thing?
Muchas gracias por esta impresionante y excepcional de este grande de los 70s.
Thank you ElCeci for your nice message.
Please enjoy the lovely music.
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