Also on Dylan: Biograph is a tremendous compilation.

And Billy: I'll point out that it was YOU who went to the Stones first, not me.

Yeah...I was figuring i could get you to bite on having to own all the studio albums rather than a comp for the stones at least.

Has anyone around here ever heard this? Obviously it's got a real legendary status because of Neil's refusal to release it and he considers it "the worst record ever made", but the reviews are typically gushing with praise for its brilliance.

you're high.

Everyone's observations/suggstions are good...

After the Goldrush is the inevitable first step

Zuma and On the Beach are my favorites...

And what I think is a great, underappreciated 90's work is Sleeps with Angels.. truly, if you love Neil, you can't resist this. Polished, stongly constructed, but the Neil-hunger-fire up front...

I own a bootleg copy of this that features 10 bonus tracks. While it's not his best work, it's far from "the worst record ever made" and probably better than at least 20 of his other albums.

Yeah, I have it on mp3 but not with great sound quality. You can hear some vinyl cracks and pops in it, but I've listened to it a few times just to kinda become acquainted with the songs. It's very good but not quite on par with his classics. I guess I'd say it's almost as good as Rust Never Sleeps.

I would be extremely interested in hearing this album. I still search ebay for those bootleg copies that were supposed to be released with American Stars 'n Bars, On The Beach and Hawks & Doves.

YSI coming soon, peeps (including the occasionally delicious bonus tracks).

I agree, I also really love this album. It's due for a spin.

You will be my new god.

Other random crap:

There haven't been enough votes for Rust Never Sleeps.

Another reason to grab Sleeps With Angels, apart from how good it is, is that it's in every used bin in America.

Even though I own every Neil Young record, I still wouldn't want to get rid of Decade because there are 6 or 7 otherwise unavailable tracks on it, several of them great (esp. "Sugar Mountain").

I'm thinking that what Young called "the worst record ever made" wasn't Time Fades Away but the other un-CD'ed album from that time period, Journey Through the Past. From what I remember, Young said that Time Fades Away didn't make the cut on CD a few years back because he thought the tapes (it was recorded live) sounded like crap on CD.

In a 1999 interview from Q magazine (Broken Arrow Magazine - November 2004 #96, p. 38 )

Question: What's the worst record you ever made?

Neil: "Probably "Time Fades Away" but only because it makes me so nervous. The whole tour was a nervous experience. It wasn't really a lot of fun. I kind of got into documenting that vibe. It's not something I want to listen to a lot and when I listen to it I'm not that impressed."

-----

In a British Radio Interview with Dave Ferrin (Radio-2 FM, 6/5/1987) transcribed in the Shakey biography Neil comments:

YOUNG: "My least favorite record is Time Fades Away. I think it's the worst record I ever made - but as a documentary of what was happening to me, it was a great record. I was onstage and I was playing all these songs that nobody had heard before, recording them, and I didn't have the right band. It was just an uncomfortable tour. It was supposed to be this big deal - I just had Harvest out, and they booked me into ninety cities. I felt like a product, and I had this band of all-star musicians that couldn't even look at each other. It was a total joke."

Damn - I started uploading the album just before I prepared a salad and had a lengthy phone conversation with a friend. It's still uploading.

I stand corrected.

It's now uploaded - PM DumpJack YSI unless you want to wait until tomorrow (I'm going to bed soon)

Edit: The bonus tracks aren't that great. I was thinking of the "On the Beach" bootleg (from the pre-reissue days)...borrowed by my last roommate who moved to Seattle with it.

My top three are After the Gold Rush, Zuma, and On The Beach. I would, and did, start with those three as well.

Thanks again, Mike! I've been waiting for years to hear this. Like the man said, if anyone wants the link, just drop me a pm.

Or send one to me, after I get home from work at 6 PM CST.

Thanks Mike and Dump (unsolicited, I might add). Y'all got the silver.

ayah wins - out of "on the beach," "zuma," and "everyone knows...," i'm definitively digging the latter most.

That's got some of his signature tunes on it, so you can't lose with that one. It's immediate.

cool. It's a great place to start.

You might warm up to Zuma later on, but I'd bet the one you'll want to hear next (assuming you keep going) would be After the Goldrush.

A lot of people never really get into On the Beach.