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Neil Young - Greatest Hits
Music CD CoverArtist: Neil Young Brand: YOUNG,NEIL Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language) Format: Original recording remastered CD Release Date: 2004-11-16 Music Label: Reprise Records Product features: - Neil Young - Greatest Hits Brazil Import
Soundtracks: - Down By The River
- Cowgirl in the Sand
- Cinnamon Girl
- Helpless
- After the Gold Rush
- Only Love Can Break Your Heart
- Southern Man
- Ohio
- The Needle And The Damage Done
- Old Man
- Heart of Gold
- Like A Hurricane
- Comes A Time
- Hey Hey
- My My
- Rockin' in The Free World
Free Music Notes for Greatest HitsFree Music Review: A BRIDGE TOO FAR Hit: 5 Stars
In the fall of 1971, I was introduced to that social contraption called the college party. These always took place in a dorm room or two. Some lights turned off and others turned low--often emitting a soft red glow by the odd shirt or cloth laid over the lamp. Young men and women joked, talked and hooked up. Weed smoked and alcohol flowed. You had to watch out for the dozens of lit cigarettes. And the music played none stop. Stones, Traffic, Moody Blues, McCartney, James Taylor, CSNY and Chicago.
One such party, I came across a beautiful girl with long blond hair sitting down on the floor next to the wall, legs outstretched. I sat next to her and chatted for a long while. "Amy" was outfitted in customary tight blue jeans and black turtleneck. I probably wore the regulation "James Taylor" uniform of jeans and a blue cotton shirt. I offered her a beer but she turned it down for the bottle she had already cracked open. "Amy" then introduced me to the brain numbing pleasures of tequila. The first shot was enough to knock the wind out of you; but it got easier as you went along. I have no idea how much "Amy" and I shared.
Several hours later, I awoke in a dark room in bed with Amy. We were distinctly undressed and I had a vague memory inebriated carnal pairing. Amy woke up, rubbed my arm and then sat up, undisturbed by her nakedness, and lit a cigarette. I stared at her body for a few minutes thinking that I may never see anyone like her this way ever again. Then I thought "what the hell" and sat up next to her. I, too, soon found myself taking drags off a cigarette although I didn't smoke.
Then the opening chords of "Cowgirl in the Sand" passed their way through the walls of the room. Amy laughed a little bit and then went about rolling a joint. She lit it, took a few deep draws and then passed it to me. While proceeding to get stoned, Amy said: "I love Neil. You know, I was a groupie for almost six months last year. Old boyfriend was a roadie and got me on the tour. It was fun. Neil and I got real tight. When it all ended, he wrote this song about me. Me, the "cowgirl". I never rode a horse in my life. But to old Neil I was "Cowgirl".
Later, after a few promises to stay in touch, we threw our clothes on and parted. As in the way of these things, we never got together again. I would see her around. We would talk; but our night was lost the fog of cannabis, tequila and sex.
It was just as well. As we sat in bed together and she told her story of Neil and their brief life on the road I knew it wasn't true. "Cowgirl" couldn't have been written about her because it had been put out on record a full year before her "tour" with Neil. Furthermore, her entire story about the tour was seriously in doubt. Friends said that prior to her arrival at college, Amy never had an unsupervised day in her life.
Once you got past the fiction, you realized that Amy was telling you something deeper about herself. Neil Young has that kind of meaning for people. Long familiarity with his music lets you feel you know him--that he is a fellow traveler with yourself--that he can peer into your soul and understand you. That's why after all the twists and turns people still love him. This is also why many outside the "cult of Young" find him so repellent.
Some will go on to assure the reader that it is not Young they object to so much as the undeserved adulation bestowed upon him. Neil Young is seen by some critics (especially many in the U.K.) as a "failed Dylan successor". While sometimes his lyrics are razor sharp, Young's lines are more likely to meander about nothing in particular. His subject matter is can shift mid-verse and obscure any recognizable human experience. His reedy voice has a narrow range that at times is not all that pleasant and during live performances can frequently wander off pitch. Last but not least, Young's guitar style is particularly limited to what these days we call a raw grunge style that often resorts to his trademark "pterodactyl" mode.
If you are of a particular age and think the emergence of "punk" in the late 1970's was earthshaking and revolutionary--especially if you punch your fist into the air to the "London Calling" battle cry--Neil Young is all a part of that period of American music you don't understand and don't care. Nonetheless, for all assurances to the contrary, many do indeed have an intestinal hatred for Young that in turns can get ugly.
Personally, I think this has all to do with when it comes to Young what you see is what you get--but with each new record you never know what you're going to get. Young himself has never made any great claims to be mysterious and as far as he is concerned it's perfectly okay to ignore him. Just when you think you've got him nailed down, like Huck Finn, he'll "light out for the territory [separate from] the rest". While it is true he is no Bob Dylan, I fail to see why so many thought he was in that race to begin with. As far as being a "guitar slinger", it is true there are better ones in the Rock pantheon--Stephen Stills to name one--nevertheless he has cut out a poignant style you can recognize in a forest of guitar warriors.
Of much greater importance, Young drinks from the spirits and waters of the American/Canadian western prairies for a unique vision all his own. For those for whom America is summed up in New York and L.A., there is little understanding or interest in this part of the country. So there is a lyricism and imagination with deep roots foreign to too many critics.
This present collection is a fair representation of the Young omnibus. It totally neglects Young's work with the Buffalo Springfield and is heavily weighted toward his early solo work. It skips his 1980's period (hey, it wasn't that bad) except for two essential songs and does little better for the 1990's. The two glaring omissions which are essential to any Young "journey through the past" are "Cortez The Killer" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love". The goal was to put out a Young "greatest hits" on one disc; but I would argue that hope was just a bridge too far.
Thinking back to Amy, I am less inclined to think she was a liar than to think part of her soul had Neil Young as that imaginary lover she could turn to who spoke of thoughts and feelings she had no words for. Maybe she should have found her own language and imagination for those poetic realities; but most of us don't have that gift. Mr. Young certainly does.
Greatest Hits PosterHis first ever CD greatest-hits collection, Neil Young's Greatest Hits is a long-awaited retrospective from one of rock's most influential and enduring singer-songwriters. With 16 selections spanning his entire career since 1969, Greatest Hits features some of the greatest hits of rock'n'roll, period. One question would be: What took him so long? After all, a contemporary like Van Morrison has sold boatloads of his single-disc best-of set to buyers wary of diving into that deep catalog without a primer to get them started. So three and a half decades into his solo career, Neil Young finally delivers his version of that most modest of albums--the pre-holiday "hits" overview. What's surprising, coming from such a proud maverick, is its conventionality. Granted, the original master mixes are a boon for fans, but otherwise, there's not much here for loyalists who quite likely already possess the original "Like a Hurricane" on a couple of albums, as well as a handful of live interpretations scanning the years. Since Young cracked the Top 10 only once (1972's "Heart of Gold"), this set is built around concert staples as "Cinnamon Girl," "Rockin' in the Free World," and "Hey, Hey, My My" rather than chart favorites. Despite Young's honorable standing as a still-vital graybeard, the disc is skewed heavily toward his early work, shortchanging some mighty productive recent years. Peripheral fans may find this set of interest, but faithful followers are better advised to investigate the DVD version, which, at least, includes videos, photos, lyrics, and Web links. --Steven Stolder
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