Most UNDER rated Neil Young record?

One of my favorites.

 

I just got Zuma last week (from yourmusic) and heard it for the first time, I'm not a big Neil Young fan, but side 2 is pretty good, the rockin' songs like Cortez and Drive Back, although the CSNY track toatlly sucks...I really don't get his whole appeal, he's OK, IMO..most of it is downer Cali stoner country and kinda dull compared to the Dead...he once helped me sneak into one of his shows, one of the best I ever saw, with his mother in attendance: International Harvesters tour, Gainesville, FL....I like his music ok, but his ouvre is kinda dull all told....

 

Well said. Great songs and a very unique production. Timeless stuff. I do think Last Trip To Tulsa knocks it down a peg though. I'm really looking forward to hearing any other material that was recorded during the first album sessions. I really love the guitar sound on this album.

 

The first album is a good choice, but a really underrated one which I love is Mirror Ball.

 

Agreed. I've never understood the criticism of "This Note's For You." The songs and performances are amazing. The CD has always sounded too shiny and a bit cold...the complete opposite of what these songs deserve. Hopefully, a future reissue will set that straight.

 

My vote goes to "Comes a Time" ... a truly great album even if I'm sure sure that it's underrated. Other ones are "Old Ways" which has great moments, "Trans" which is different than any other album Young has recorded.

 

I never really stopped to rank the albums but if I had to pick, I guess I think "Zuma" is probably the best. I mean come on..."Barstool Blues?"

Hence my surprise that it would be considered underrated. I'd give a half a dozen of his albums five stars so it's a close call but it's a masterpiece.

 

Not underrated, but you all here w/ DVD-A capability owe it to yourself to hear the properly mastered stereo version of 'Harvest'. It is bar none the best sounding digital disc in my collection (of more than 4000 cd's, dvd-a, sacd, etc.).

As for underrated Neil, my vote goes to the 24-minute 'Everybody's Rockin' '

 

Zuma is one great record. It does seem to have been a bit shunted aside but it's one of Neil's best IMO.

I'll weight in for Reactor. I love that record! I could never understand why this one has been dissed so much. OK. The song T-Bone gets a bit ...ummm...repetitive but other than that. Very underrated record!

 

I agree.

 

This one has the great Southern Pacific on it. One of my favorite all time Neil songs!

 

It's hard to see how any of Neil's classic 70s albums could be "under-rated'-I mean how can Zuma or Comes A Time be under-rated? Anyway, my vote goes to Silver & Gold, a nice little acoustic gem in the Neil catalog-and the last cut "Without Rings" is probably the darkest song he's recorded since the 70s.

 

I agree, Zuma and Comes a Time are bonafide classics.

Underated would be:

Old Ways
Freedom

 

REACTOR!!!! I friggin' love this album!

 

Trans is under-rated.

As much heat that album takes, it's really a great rock&roll album, mostly because the sampled stuff doesn't feel digital at all. The guitar crunching sound on that album is amazing!

 

Neil Young, original mix. Underrated by Neil himself. Just crying out for a special edition CD with both mixes and the alternate Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere B-side.

 

If a compilation can't be conisdered, my vote goes for "Prairie Wind" 96kHz/24-Bit DVD-V. If a compilation is acceptable as most under rated, then the Greatest Hits 96kHz/24-Bit DVD-V gets my vote. I have a large collection of Neil Young recordings and nothing is played as often as that simple single disc compilation, the sound quality and song collection is really nice.

Chris

 

Mirrorball (w/ Pearl Jam)

I love this album!

 

Ragged Glory was very highly praised when it came out in 1990 (following the amazing return-to-form "Freedom")

What a roll Neil got on from 1989 onward...!

 

I agree. Neil Young is really good. It's status as a "false start" to Neil's solo career has kind of made it a little secret. In my view, he took what he was doing toward the end of Buffalo Springfield and realized his potential within that type of music. He never made another album like it again, which further isolates it from the pack.

Aside from Neil Young, I think Hawks And Doves is underrated. Landing On Water is an argument starter. I like it, but I don't think it's what anyone expects from Neil. Hawks And Doves, while short, has A LOT of what people like from Neil. It has two songs from Homegrown ("Little Wing" and "The Old Homestead"), one song from his August 76 solo acoustic sessions ("Captain Kennedy") and one from the Comes A Time sessions ("Lost In Space"). The new material is generally slight, but not too different than his country material in the seventies. Plus, his electric guitar work is exceptionally good.

 

SLEEPS WITH ANGELS from 1994, with Crazy Horse. One of my favorite Neil Young albums over the past 20 years.

 

Another vote for Trans .... there are some great songs on there.

 

Stars and Bars

 

Me too

 

That may be, but they are buried underneath layers of layers of layers...

No idea why people like Mirror Ball. It is 10 minutes shorter than Sleeps With Angels and still it feels long and tiresome, whereas SWA does not. The songwriting is really bad (except for Ocean) and it has this overwrought big production that really makes it unpleasant. Neil Young never sounded older.