When I started my 12 favorite albums project in June of 2024, I didn’t think it would take my this long to get to album 12. I did make other entries, so that broke things up, but really the issue with this is that I kept going back and forth as to which Neil Young album I should include.
I’ve been a Neil Young fan since I was a young lad, with Decade being a favorite Christmas present
from Santa Claus in 1977, and Rust Never Sleeps/Live Rust never being far from my turntable even in the throes of my Punk Rock phase through high school and college. The primal, simplistic playing and the singing always slightly off key, with the hazy harmonies of Crazy Horse, it seemed as Punk Rock as anything else I listened to. I always felt like if I practiced hard enough, I’d be able to play the acoustic songs, which now I discovered is kind of true. I remember reading Robert Hilburn’s review of Neil’s Forum show in ’78, and I thought, damn, I wanted to be there. I gotta see
this guy. The Rust Never Sleeps film gave me an idea of what I missed, and I really looked forward to seeing him at some point in the future.
Rust Never Sleeps has risen in notoriety, first with the mention of Johnny Rotten when it first came out, a rock dinosaur name checking a notorious punk rocker, and then being quoted in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note. But other songs really stuck out to me, too. Ride My Llama just floated around my head, and I wanted to find out what Marlon Brando would say by the fire with Pocahontas (the version of Songs for Judy adds Muhammad Ali, the First Family and John Ehrlichman by the fire as well). Powderfinger is a near perfect song, both here and in a version by the Beat Farmers. And the eternal question-do Welfare Mothers Make Better Lovers? The title would make a great bumper sticker.
As Neil releases his archival tapes, other versions of the Rust era songs have come out, adding more depth. If you’re as big a fan of Rust Never Sleeps as I am, be sure to check out the aforementioned Songs for Judy, Hitchhiker, and Oceanside/Countryside.
I bought the records after Live Rust, Hawks and Doves (Union Man) and Reactor (Opera Star) but could not relate to Trans.
I often feel that I’m the only person who liked Everybody’s Rockin’, and I absolutely loved the video
for Wonderin’, easily one of my favorite Neil Young songs.
I saw Neil with the International Harvesters, touring for the Old Ways album, and I was very disappointed. I wanted to rock, and this was Country, and not even the kind of Country that I liked. Neil was unaware, but I drifted away at that time, though I did pick up This Note’s for You and Freedom.
But then Ragged Glory dropped, and I was back in. Ragged Glory is just raw, with Crazy Horse locking into their groove and banging away. It’s the kind of playing that’s just four guys with their amps cranked, Neil shouting over the top and Crazy Horse shouting back. F!#*in’ Up is a tremendous song with a sentiment that really appealed to me at the time, and Days That Used to Be has the nostalgia that I now live.
There are several Neil Young/Crazy Horse collaborations over the years, but these two are the albums that personify their music together, and are a great 1-2 punch. Ragged Glory is the album I put here, but it could have easily been Rust Never Sleeps. Generally, I like songs that are short, which would give Rust Never Sleeps the edge, but as I play Ragged Glory, I don’t feel like any of the songs drag-my complaint about many of Neil Young/Crazy Horse collaborations. Both are solid, but the groove of Ragged Glory gives it the edge.
