I can't get over how good this album is.

I don't usually get into Neil Young - in fact, I've always really hated his voice - but I kept hearing music from this album at the movies as they showed the trailer for the movie of the same name, and the clips of his songs kept sticking in my head...so I checked out the CD...and it's truly amazing, particularly the last song, "Be the Sun".

I'm a sucker for a good concept album, and this is one about a fictionalized city described by a 10 year old narrator/studio musician (as best as I can tell, anyway).

The whole thing has the spirit of protest music - I really wish I would have been listening to this during the darkest days of our current presidential administration - there's something to the tone of this album that says "things are messed up now, but it'll get better because good people are strong." There's not a simple good vs. bad mentality to the album, though - people do horrible things in the songs, and there's sympathy toward both them and their victims. It's not an "easy" album to take in, but musically, it's gorgeous.

I've always wanted to appreciate Neil Young - at least for me, this album has really opened the door. By all means, give it a listen.

This is a great album. You know Warner is re-releasing this with a new DVD (not the live DVD it already comes with)...this new DVD is a documentary on the making of GREENDALE.

Thanx, Anxiety. I've been kind of curious about that album for a little while. I can handle Neil Young's voice, especially after listening to Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips sing live .

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

I hate when they do this shit!!! I have the version with the live DVD (which I haven't watched yet), but I guess I'll have to wait and see if I like the movie before I shell out another fifteen bucks for a making-of DVD (which doesn't sound too exciting to me, but ya never know).

Anxiety said:

The album you REALLY need is "Trans".

YAY! Love for Greendale. It's a remarkable record, especially the track "Bandit" which I think is just phenomenal.

Neil's music is really fun to get into. There's so much diversity and neat stuff to discover.

A couple recommendations for further Neil listening:


"Rust Never Sleeps" from 1979. Possibly his most famous album, and it's easy to see why. Classic tracks like Powderfinger, Pocahontas and Hey Hey, My My

"Sleeps with Angels" from 1994. Very moody, dark album, with some great powerful material, especially Drivby, Trans Am, and Prime of Life.

"Silver and Gold" from 2000. Acoustic Neil. Touching, gorgeously produced tracks. Some of his best work.

And of course, his essential 3 early-era albums: "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere" from 1969, "After the Gold Rush" from 1970 and "Harvest" from 1972.

Neil is one of those artists that takes some getting used to, but once he "clicks" it's amazing to discover his back catelogue. The ones I mentioned above are just the tip of the ice berg.

I would *LOVE* to hear Trans...has it been reissued yet?

Anxiety said:

it has not yet been reissued, but it is widely available as an import CD. They have a copy of it at the Borders where I live for under $15.00.

I don't have Harvest, but I got a compilation of acoustic stuff from a friend that included "Old Man". Beautiful song. Thanx for the suggestions, JonSnow

JonSnow said:

Dang, I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I've wanted to hear this album ever since I heard about it. I'm a big fan of "contractual obligation" albums like Trans, Here My Dear, Metal Machine Music, etc.

Anxiety said:

It's a common misconception that Trans was a "contractual obligation" album. Actually at the time of Trans, Neil was still with Reprise, and had not yet joined with Geffen (in fact, none of his much-maligned Geffen albums were contractual filler, either).

Trans is actually an album inspired his son Ben, who was born with severe cerebal palsy, and Neil's intense desire to help Ben communicate. It's an amazing album in many ways, and also a difficult one... But it's deeply felt and Neil was really into it - he wasn't being willfully obtuse when he made Trans. It's definitely worth checking out!!

JonSnow said:

"Trans" was Neil's first album for Geffen.

The best Geffen album overall is the compilation, "Lucky 13". Neil compiled it himself.

Shapeshifter said:

You're right, DUH!! Reactor was his last Reprise album. But yeah, Lucky 13 is an interesting compilation... but my personal favorite Geffen album is Life... I think it has some great material on it. Landing on Water isn't bad, either.

Wow, I didn't know that about Trans...I knew that about his son, and it's so cool that he made an album from/for his perspective. Now I *REALLY* want to check it out.