Sleeps with Angels is my favorite Neil record right now. His entire 1989-1996 resurgence is a better run of music than most artists manage in their whole careers.
How was this not already a thread? "There you stood on the edge of your feather, expecting to fly" :sigh:
Hell yeah. Peak-era Neil. Acoustic. Two "new" songs (three if you don't count the Le Noise version of the title track). I'm stoked.
Neil's a top 10 all-timer for me after I started binging his mammoth discog 2-3 years ago sooooooo hyped for Hitchhiker
Do you think the songs that have already been heard like "Pocahontas" will be different versions? Or likely the same that are already out there?
Likely just different in the sense that they're guy-and-guitar takes. Which could still be pretty revelatory. I know that the acoustic take of "Powderfinger" I have (from the unreleased Chrome Dreams) is what triggered my love for that song, and I sort of take it as its own separate thing. Like different Dylan or Springsteen takes. Most of them occupy their own space for me. That's how I expect these will be.
found a really nice copy of Mirror Ball on vinyl at the record store the other day. Thought about snatching it up but couldn't justify that price tag for one of my lesser favorites of the 90s resurgence. Now if it was Ragged Glory or Sleeps with Angels that would have been a different story
been on a binge of his later/less canonized stuff lately Silver and Gold is a really strong album. Sort of a return to the Harvest/Harvest Moon sound but really just easygoing listening overall Prairie Wind tries to replicate this formula to less of a success, but has some standouts, particularly, "It's a Dream" This Note's For You is one of Neil's many strange experiments in the 80s, but in my opinion one of his more successful ones. The addition of the Bluenotes' horns isn't always a perfect blend with the traditional Neil sound, but on the more laid back, emotional tracks, like "Coupe de Ville" or "Twilight" their presence is greatly welcomed. These tracks almost remind me of Tom Waits ballads in how the horns are used
So this is pretty fucking great In this raw way, Hitchhiker is pre-history, offering tunes from Young's extensive archive in just-past-sketchbook form. In his 2014 memoir, Special Deluxe, he recalls that he viewed the songs as a unified whole and recorded them that way, in rapid succession, "pausing only for weed, beer, or coke." Then he sat on the results. Like other occasions throughout his career, he ultimately decided against releasing it. His explanation in the book: "I was pretty stony on it, and you can hear it in my performances."
Yeah it's pretty awesome. I also appreciate that the tracks aren't touched or anything at all. This is just a recording from 1976 that hasn't been released before.
absolutely love this version of "Human Highway" the Comes a Time version, while good, was always a little overcooked for me
I won't stop posting about this. Sadly, it's going to get overlooked because it's an unreleased album by an established legend. I've been half joking when I said like "hahahaha omg could a 40 year old album be in my AOTY list??"" It's not a joke anymore. This record is a masterpiece and if it was released when it was actually recorded people would be calling it Neil Youngs "Nebraska".