CSN ruined by overrated Young?

Tattoo'd Lady

Scentless Apprentice
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Posts
681
Reaction score
1
Location
Oregon
i disagree about having every Neil song from the 70's you would want, but that is one damn good comp, if i do say so myself
 

CP/M User

Ace in the Hole
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
Posts
3,649
Reaction score
344
Location
Nowhere Man
Tattoo'd Lady wrote:

you should pick up another Neil Young album than Harvest :D

Why?!? What's wrong with Harvest? To commercialised or simply overrated in a bad way?

Yeah unfortunately I brought that Neil Young album ages ago - mainly because I love "Heart of Gold" and was equally happy when I discovered "Old Man" on that album too! Those tend to be the only 2 songs I could associate with Neil Young at the time, though I've heard another song of his which is good too.

Like many things though I always find it hard what to get when I'm doing the rounds and having a name like "Young" never get time to get down in that spot when I rarely visit the music store! :wtf:
 

Tattoo'd Lady

Scentless Apprentice
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Posts
681
Reaction score
1
Location
Oregon
Harvest is good, don't get me wrong, but the production on the album doesn't represent him at all and i feel its somewhat overrated. aside from the recommendation for Decade, i would suggest getting Live at Massey Hall. Its neil right before he peaks in popularity and tries out a few of the songs that would be on Harvest. its a nice, intimate and personal setting and displays what Neil Young is all about in my opinion.
 

Dave78

Dave's not here, man
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Posts
2,143
Reaction score
427
i disagree about having every Neil song from the 70's you would want, but that is one damn good comp, if i do say so myself
Well, I did say "nearly" every song you would want by Neil from the 70's. What I should have made clear though is that I was just talking about his work up to 1978's wonderful Comes A Time album, as well as Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rust, both from 1979. As for Decade, I made my own custom two-disc "best of" out of it by dropping eleven of its songs and adding six others from three of his other albums. Here's how Decade now looks at my house:

Disc 1
-------
Old Man
Heart Of Gold
After The Gold Rush
Only Love Can Break Your Heart (added from After The Gold Rush)
Don't Let It Bring You Down (added from After The Gold Rush)
When You Dance I Can Really Love (added from After The Gold Rush)
The Loner
Mr. Soul
Cinnamon Girl
Ohio
Southern Man
Like A Hurricane
Cowgirl In The Sand
Down By The River
Cortez The Killer

Disc 2
-------
Expecting To Fly
The Old Laughing Lady
Helpless
The Needle And The Damage Done
I Believe In You
Out On The Weekend (Added from Harvest)
Sugar Mountain
I Am A Child
Long May You Run
Walk On
I've Been Waiting For You (Added from Neil Young)
Winterlong
Down To The Wire
Harvest
Alabama (Added from Harvest)

:grinthumb

The songs dropped from Decade which did not make the cut on the new and improved custom Dave78 remix are: Burned, Broken Arrow, Soldier, A Man Needs A Maid, Star Of Bethlehem, Tonight's The Night, Tired Eyes, For The Turnstiles, Deep Forbidden Lake, Love Is A Rose and Campaigner.
 

iasc

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Posts
55
Reaction score
0
Location
Ireland
nice compilation dave
As for young ruining csn, I think the opposite. I think he made them better and they knew that they needed him. Thats why he was there
 

Dave78

Dave's not here, man
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Posts
2,143
Reaction score
427
nice compilation dave
As for young ruining csn, I think the opposite. I think he made them better and they knew that they needed him. Thats why he was there
Thanks, and I agree with your assessment of Young's involvement with Crosby, Stills and Nash. I think the original poster has it backwards.

And the reason I separate Comes A Time and Rust Never Sleeps from his earlier work is because I actually bought those two albums and am used to listening to them all the way through. Everything from Decade are just songs from the radio to me, so I really don't have any loyalty to any one album such as Harvest or After The Gold Rush and I don't mind mixing and matching songs (or dropping songs) to make a cd more listenable to me.
 

Groovy Man

I'm Not Like Everybody Else
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Posts
6,298
Reaction score
12
Location
Long Island, N.Y.
I think he made them better and they knew that they needed him. Thats why he was there

With all the talent Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash had - they needed Neil Young?

I totally disagree.

Before CSN and CSN&Y, David Crosby had already made it and was famous with The Byrds.

Graham Nash had already made it and was famous with The Hollies.

And The Buffalo Springfield wouldn't of been as big and legendary without Stephen Stills.

(BTW, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds & The Hollies are all in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!)

Also, don't forget before there was a CSN&Y - it was just CS&N.

This classic 1969 masterpiece of an album proves it...

51B3AWAMavL._SS500_.jpg

One of the best albums in rock history.

This album ranks up there with the best of them.
 

Dave78

Dave's not here, man
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Posts
2,143
Reaction score
427
man you cut out some really good songs from Decade, Dave, thats blasphemy! :heheh:
Well if you believe "Burned, Broken Arrow, Soldier, A Man Needs A Maid, Star Of Bethlehem, Tonight's The Night, Tired Eyes, For The Turnstiles, Deep Forbidden Lake, Love Is A Rose and Campaigner" are all really good songs I'd be happy to burn them on a cd for you. :D
 

Craig in Indy

Your cool Uncle
Joined
Oct 3, 2009
Posts
717
Reaction score
0
Location
Circle City
I don't think anyone who listens objectively to CSN and CSN&Y can say either one "ruined" the other. They were different groups with different sounds. I think all of the first three albums are classic in their own ways, and their early solo (and paired) projects have been generally very good, too. And a note to Dave78, Hendrix did record with Stills, at least once, during the sessions for Stills' first solo album (as did Clapton).

But I also think that the dirty little secret of all of them is that since that time they've been woefully inconsistent in their songwriting, whether as a group in any incarnation, or as solo performers. Young has been the most consistent of them, but even he has had some dismal output. They play and sing great (most of the time), but the songs themselves have been weak to put it mildly. Let's take one example, even though Stills is probably my favorite of the group. But come on - "Dark Star"? The song has no melody. I don't know how they even managed to come up with harmony lines to sing.

I'm not saying that as a whole they've produced 100% crap since then - there've been plenty of gems scattered around, but nothing like the quantity of high-quality output heard on the early records.

I love these guys dearly, but for the last 30 years every time I heard a new album was coming out I cringed just a little. I think there's a good reason the rumored new CSN album (with Rick Rubin at the reigns) is supposed to be a collection of covers.
 

Find member

Forum statistics

Threads
30,656
Posts
1,064,825
Members
6,353
Latest member
edmerka

Staff online

Members online

Top