Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps
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Free Music Notes for Rust Never Sleeps
Free Music Review: Young at his zenith
Hit: 5 Stars
This is Young at his best - if you like Neil Young, you'll love this album. 'Nuff said.A note about "Powderfinger" - The story of "Powderfinger" is set in modern times, and is about a family of cocaine (i.e., "powder") smugglers who use a boat to bootleg their product into the country. "Red means run, son" refers to the bold red stripe on the bow of any US Coast Guard ship.
I suppose "Powderfinger" is Neil Young's poignant way of portraying the futility of the War on Drugs, as well as just telling the story of a young drug runner who had no choice in the matter when he became involved in this "war."
Free Music Review: Melding
Hit: 5 Stars
When first released on vinyl, Young treated fans to an acoustic/electric melding of haunting music, and some of his finest live work!Taken as a whole, this is a daunting work that remains fresh and riveting!
Free Music Review: One of Neil Young's best
Hit: 4 Stars
Often called Neil Young's best record, "Rust Never Sleeps" was recorded live with the audience track subsequently removed (which is why it doesn't sound like a live album - no cheering or clapping or singing along).The acoustic set, which made up the first side of the original LP, opens with the classic "My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)", probably the most concise and knowing description of the entertainment industry ever written.
And that song is reprised later on as a tough electric rocker, "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)" with slightly altered lyrics and raw, crunchy electric guitars courtesy of Crazy Horse, Young's legendary backing band.
In between you have the folkish acoustic "Pocahontas", a country-tinged lament about the mistreatment of the Native Americans, but also a love song, and a powerful tale of travelling through time.
And there is the superbly melodious country ballad "Sail Away", wonderfully arranged and with subtle harmony vocals by the late Nicolette Larson, and the thoughful, meditative and very personal "Thrasher".
The electric half is highlighted by the magnificent "Powderfinger", Neil Young's best electric rock song, capturing Crazy Horse in full electric stride, and featuring two superb, grinding solos from Young and a simple, yet memorable two-string riff which serves as a "chorus" of sorts after each verse.
If everything else on "Rust" was trash, it would still be a must-have for any Neil Young fan just for this one song, which captures all of Young's strenghts as a composer, a writer and a musician.
4 1/2 stars. Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: One of Neil's essential masterpieces
Hit: 5 Stars
I consider this album an essential Neil Young masterpiece. Someone here suggested "Live Rust" as a better choice, which is also a great album to listen to, but in the perspective of Neil's entire oeuvre, this has the edge over it as a solid collection of original-release material. "Live Rust" is certainly an excellent single-purchase starting point for new fans, and both albums are vital documents of Neil's talent. However, I am curious as to the setting of "Powderfinger". Someone here claims it's about a Native American defending his home, but it isn't clear to me from the lyrics that the protagonist is Native American. "Big John" and "Emmy Lou" don't sound like typical Native American names to me, though anything's possible. The song certainly suggests 19th century America, but it's not clear why the young man's home is being attacked. It could as easily be about an obscure Civil War incident, or even a backwoods moonshiner bust. There is a detailed discussion over this song on the HyperRust fan website, and apparently Neil himself has little to contribute regarding the exact meaning of the lyrics, admitting it just "came to him". Ah well, that's the nature of true artistic inspiration!
Free Music Review: The album that saved rock and roll
Hit: 5 Stars
By 1979, rock was in serious trouble. Punk was dominating the scene, classic bands such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin were releasing extremely subpar competition, and it looked to be eaten up for good by punk and disco (although the latter was swiftly falling out). Neil Young proved to be the one classic rocker who wasn't afraid to take punk head-on, and saved rock and roll in the process.The formula of the album is half-acoustic, half electric, and both contain some of Young's best songs. The album opens and closes with essentially the same song, but the first is acoustic--"My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)"--and the second electric--"Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)." (By the way, this concept is not uncommon for Neil; he does the same thing on 1975's "Tonight's the Night," there with the title track, and also on 1989's "Freedom," where he included acoustic and electric versions of "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World.)
The second song, "Thrashers," describes Young's breaking off with groups in the past, which he used to further his own solo career. It is an extremely harsh song but is all the better for it. On the electric side, "Powderfinger" stands as the best song, one of Neil's best narrative efforts, and "Sedan Delivery" is one of his fastest, most kick[tail]songs. The closing track, the aforementioned reprise of the opening, is, simply put, incredible rock and roll.
Young's ever-loyal backing band, Crazy Horse, perfectly backs Young in this endeavor, as they do in every other album they work with him on (in fact, probably most of the best of Young's catalogue are the albums he does with Crazy Horse).
If you do buy this album, which you should, I recommend two other items: the album "Live Rust," which is arguably the best live album ever released by Young or anyone else, and also the film of "Rust Never Sleeps," which is a film of the namesake tour that "Live Rust" comes from. Both are incredible and represent Young's last big hit until 1989's "Freedom" (which is also worth having). So, without further ado, here is my final advice: buy this album now.