Customer Reviews

Greendale (Bonus Dvd)

5 star:		(165)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As 57 year old "child of the 60's" and former 70's and early 80's FM Radio Rock DJ, and guitarist, I've been a fan and close follower of Neil's music, and politics (the two are often inseperable) from the beginning, and own a fairly complete library of his works. I haven't always liked everything Neil has done and I can be critical of his music (and politics). I've also never felt compelled to write a review before, so believe me when I say that Greendale really grabbed me. This is Neil Young from the very bottom of his soul and at his very best! Neil has gone back to the classic Concept (album) format to tell an ingeniously entertaining tale and deliver his message of peace, love and respect for planet Earth. Characters that captivate the imagination, tongue in cheek humor, some directed at Neil himself, tragedy, death and serious message intertwine throughout. The electric music on the CD is simply great basic from the gut blues based Rock-n-Roll, including great guitar chops, Neil, not trying to be dazzling or fancy, just delivering solid riffs and solos that have me listening time and again. To top it all off the Bonus DVD solo acoustic performance recorded in a small club in Ireland is more than worth the price alone. Thousands of words will be written about Greendale but in my estimation one word says it all, BRILLIANT! Unfortunately, in today's sad narrow minded rock and roll radio market the general public isn't likely to hear much, if any, of Greendale. As previously mentioned I've never felt compelled to write an online review before but listen to Greendale and you too will likely be driven to spread the word. Collectively, we owe that to Neil for coming up with such a great work absoultely worthy of multi-Platinum sales status. Thanks, Neil Young, for more great music I will enjoy for the rest of my life.

The more I listen, the more I've come to believe "Greendale" is one of Neil's true masterpieces. At first, it seems like just another Crazy Horse album with the volume, distortion and anger turned way down. But, like a Steinbeck novel, its brilliance grows on you. For a Crazy Horse collaboration, there is an intimacy to these songs that I find thrilling. Without question their best work since "Ragged Glory". The feeling is one of sitting on a beat-up couch in a garage some lazy summer evening while Neil and the boys jam and tell you the story of small town dreams, both dashed and realized. "Carmichael" and "Grandpa's Interview" are nearly perfect both musically and lyrically; the beauty lies in a masterful balance of Ralph and Billy's propulsive rhythms and Neil's barely-restrained fuzzed guitar and seemingly stream-of-consciousness singing. The rest of the album is just as satisfying, especially the way-too-cool-for-words rockabilly anthem "Double EE" and the opening track "Falling from Above," which so wonderfully sets the stage for the hour+ journey. A definite candidate as a desert island disc.

I can understand why some of the other reviewers haven't liked this album much; it's a dynamic narrative story that's almost cryptic without the proper context. I was lucky enough to see Neil and Crazy Horse this summer on the pre-Greendale tour -- for those who haven't heard about it, I'll briefly describe. Neil and the band put together a rather post-mod stage show replete with actors, sets, background slide displays and (naturally) the band ripping out some fantastic live versions of the songs in sequence. It wasn't too dissimilar to the total impact of the Rust tour, without the greatest-hits package, of course. With all of the multi-media supporting Neil's musical narration of the Green family, the story was comprehensible, and to me, very moving.

Without that previous experience, this album might have sounded like so much grungy sludge when I bought it.

Luckily for the new exposee, Neil has thoughtfully provided a live DVD (accoustic, so it's not too much Horse overkill) that fleshes out the storyline. Buy this CD, but watch the DVD first. With that concert under your belt, the true power of these songs rise to the surface.

Regarding the story and music... some comparisons to Our Town are apt -- put that great play through a blender with Neil's earlier multi-generational and drug-related works (think Harvest & Tonight's the Night) and you get a good idea of what he's trying to do. The tunes are vintage Horse -- more Zuma and Broken Arrow than Ragged Glory. The melancholy that permeates the middle half of this record seems indicative of Neil's view on society as a whole: he doesn't get it, he doesn't particularly like it, and it makes him sad.

Lucky for us: a sad, cranky Neil Young makes some beautiful and thought-provoking music.

A very cohesive solid album, but rather than extol it, I'd rather address the reviewer who asks "If this is the Worst Neil album ever?" Obviously, he/she feels differently.

1. Complaint: the lyrics are banal.
Answer: Neil is speaking through plain spoken small town folks. His voice is true to his characters.

There is nothing new under the sun. Therefore, we look for inspired delivery. I absolutely love the delivery when Neil's Granpa says, "It ain't an honor to be on TV. And it ain't a duty either."

Since I work in electric policy, I do love when Sun Green takes on the semi-fictitious "Power-Corp." I'm not sure it is my speakers, but my one production complaint is that the megaphone lyrics should ring out more clearly.

Compaint 2. That the music never goes anywhere.
Answer 2: Except for Sun Green, these lives generally don't go anywhere! From the start, the best Neil (ALL NEIL!) matches the music to the content. Do you want "Grandpa's Interview" to sound like Southern Man? I don't think so. If you need that, play that. Furthermore, Neil is giving detached omniscient narrative. There is enough melodramatic impassioned first person in the arts. This is not that. He already wrote "Down by the River." Neil is not going to write the exact same song twice. Even professional reviewers seem to make this type of mistake. Neil knows just how far or little the travels or "goes!" It is exactly how he wants it, or it is not released. With a novice artist, you can ask this question. If it is Neil, you can't ask that question -- you must ask WHY the music doesn't seem to go anywhere.

This reviewer reminds me of two fans that I saw commenting on "Going Home" of "Are You Passionate." They had no idea why a song that opens with an image of Custer's Last Stand would end abruptly and unexpectedly! And there's another reason to study history! And generally not one of the reason's that you're fed.

I find the music to be a different flavor of smoldering and the melodies quite sweet. I'm headed for another play.

I have read and enjoyed the reviews on this site many times but this is the first time I have felt moved to add my three cents in response to such gross misunderstanding of a great work. First of all, I am not one of those all-Neil-does-is-great sycophants. I thought Are You Passionate? was the most disappointing record of last year. I also have low regard for Silver And Gold,Harvest Moon,Landing On Water,This Note's For You and Old Ways.But let's call a spade a spade.Greendale is the best record of the year,probably the last few years and a solid addition to the top 5 or so by one of the most acclaimed and beloved artists in rock history.
The point is reflection.Neil has always been known for the self-reflective statement.To a fault,if to judge by the legion of lame,self-pitying,whiny legions of imitators he has inspired in his wake.On this record,he has chosen to reflect himself through the stories of others.
1st Criticism of this record by "reviewers": songs are boring,meander too long,all sound the same etc. Well,the point to this work is that everyone's life is a song. Everyone,not just flashy self-possessed rock stars of which Neil is very self-admittedly one of himself. And if the life is a song,should not the song reflect the form and feeling of the life itself?? The people whose stories are here told lead the slow,meandering, repetitive lives that we who live in big cities wish to stay as far away from as possible.Those who are bored by the songs may not wish to be reminded of the slowness and seeming meaninglessness of life itself.Can't really blame them,but every life dosen't have a chorus,dosen't resolve into the formulaic,dosen't burn out and not fade away in the accepted fashion. Because make no mistake,the "Granpa" who other "reviewers" have so ridiculed is just as "punk-rock" as Young's fabled song-heroes Johnny Rotten,Powderfinger and Bruce Berry.The fact that he happpens to be an 80 year old on a farm in the middle of a typical small town shouldn't cloud the issue.The surface of the record does seem boring and monotonous. But once you look past the surface INTO the characters, all the drama rises to the surface.The battles these people wage on a daily basis are just as dramatic, tragic and heroic in their "small" way as any household name you might care to mention.The songs reflect the time and place and the lives lived.The music is perfectly appropriate to that purpose.
2nd Criticism: The music dosen't "rock" like the other Crazy Horse records e.g."it's no Rust or Ragged Glory or Tonight's The Night". Duhhhh. Those albums were reflective of the time and place they were created in.For Neil to even try to replicate those brilliant works would be to tarnish them. It would be a facetious and wholly dishonest lie.Now I don't know about you but that don't sound like Neil to me. Even people who don't care for his work give him the respect he deserves for being the most uncompromised non-underground artist of his (or,for that matter,any)generation,commercially speaking.So what's the surprise?? In the 70's,when The Beach Boys and Joni Mitchell among others were liltingly lamenting the loss of ecosystems aplenty,Neil was unrelentingly inside his own head,offering debauched and decadent meisterwerks such as "On The Beach" and "Tonight's The Night".When everyone was throwing out concept LP's like confetti,Neil's were dangerously fragmented,mixing styles and viewpoints,sewing recording sessions staged years apart together into rough patchworks of ragged,groovy glory.So it's 2003,everyone's tired of Bono-Sting state-of-the-world mothers-of-the-brazilian-diappeared let's all weep and send in our five bucks to Amnesty International sob-moan.Concept albums are so far out of favor that many reading this might not know what the hell the concept means. So Neil in 2003 makes an ecologically-concerned concept album about people living in a boring little town on the edge of nowhere.Not only that,but it's an unrelentingly unpolished slab of folk-blues sludge that sounds like nothing more than a rehearsal tape of Neil and Crazy Horse with a couple mikes aimed in the general vicinity.Again,what's the problem with that? Are the self-proclaimed Neil-freaks who have panned the album so out of touch with the aims of this artist who has moved them so much in the past by sticking to his goals and visions so fiercely? And do the people who hear the album as simply unfinished and boring really wish to listen instead to the peers of Neil, who endlessly flog their 30-year-old albums and endlessly preen and prance on HBO specials in a vain attempt to approximate their long-gone crdibility and talent? Or how about the artists who valiantly attempt to copy old styles and directions left by others long ago,principally trailblazers like Neil from the distant past? Do people wish to endlessly stroked,never confronted by their heroes?? Would they really shell out their $80 for the 30-year anniversary Neil-plays-"Harvest"-in-it's-entirety tour rather than hear him play new inspiring unfamiliar material??? I fear so.But then again,that's why Neil means so much to us.He don't do the things THEY do.So let's at least value it while he's here. He's trying to tell us something about us and them and himself.Is there any more telling or moving moment in Neil's work as when Gran'pa at the moment of his expiration cries out that a voice is filling his head,"Telll that guy to shut up! I don't know where the hell he comes up with this stuff!". This moment expresses the pain of the creation at the realisation that his fate is sealed,and the pain of the creator himself at having to fulfill his own mysterious plan.On and on,level upon level.There are many such moments sprinkled throughout the monolithic,daunting whole of "Greendale".But they are sprinkled,not shoved in your face.They must be looked for,searched out.They drift through your head,leaving a hazy residue not unlike the "Devil Dust" Satan himself drops into the drink of one of the characters in the story. I think it's worth it,if one has the time,to seek these mysteries out,not to solve them,not to find the perfect answers,but the perfect question.I, for one,wish to be confronted and challenged by those I admire and I thank God for the dust sprinkled in my soul by the "Disappointed Angel" himself,Neil Young.

I'm reading all these reviews which bash the album and yet give it four stars. What's that all about?
Neil Young has never been the best lyricist in the world, and the lyrics to the songs on this album are just who he is. I guess it's kind of lame nowadays to be ecologically aware and talk about "mother earth". Oh gee, that's rather passe, isn't it? Neil is just who he is, and as honest as it gets. Meanwhile, the music sounds like Neil Young and Crazy Horse. It's got that sound that grabs you whether you like it or not. May not be very sophisticated, but neither is a good hamburger. It's just good, in a very visceral way. How else can you explain people bashing this album yet giving it four stars?

The story of a town and its inhabitants, told with the charm, wit, and musical genius of neil young. Probably the best neil young album to come out since the 60's as far as I can tell. I picked this up the day it came out and have played the cd or dvd every day since. I personally prefer the dvd to the cd as the live acoustic songs with the stories inbetween are beautiful and have a bit more depth to them lyrically. One cannot deny that the music of crazy horse on the cd adds its own twist to the stories. This is is my favorite neil young cd to date. Great concept, great story, great music, buy it now while it still has the dvd.

I'm a huge NY fan, but man it's been a long time since I was excited about one of his new releases. In fact, I avoided buying or even listening to Greendale because I was afraid of being disappointed. So I was a little skeptical when I saw the movie offered for free on digital cable. But I tried it anyway, and as soon as the first song was underway, I knew that it was a winner. I couldn't stop smiling, or listening. My boyfriend exclaimed "what a stupid movie!" but he can't relate anyway. I at first wished the movie had real, trained actors in it and better film quality, but after repeated watchings it really has grown on me. It's old school Neil through and through, and if anything you gotta love it for that. Enough of the movie, the album alone is one of his best, hands down, bar none. It's about a lot of things: the allure of the darkness, the callousness of modern life, the perspective shifts between the generations, the challenges facing the environment, the corruption in our corporations and political machines, long lasting relationships and there's still some left to name I'm sure. I think history will prove that this is one of his most defining albums to date, like Nebraska was for Bruce. Best of all, finally, this one ROCKS!!

Don't let anyone fool you, this album is fantastic! It is one of Neil's best in years. I bought the 1st edition with the acoustic concert as the bonus DVD, I bought the 2nd edition with the studio footage as the bonus DVD, I even bought the Greendale movie. Never once have I had second thoughts. Although the CDs in edition 1 and 2 are the same, it is the DVD that are really worth the purchase price and it is the CDs that are the bonus. I have been listening to and playing Neil Young and Crazy Horse for twenty years and I would say that the last track on the CD "Be The Rain" is unbelieveable. So buy both CDs, buy the movie, you won't regret it.

This may be work for us alone. Who 'em us anyway? Well, if you recognize those words, you know. Not unlike the concept albums of early Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Grace Slick's "Manhole", and others; this is a story set to music...to be told. The long extended sets in the middle and towards the end are reason enough to lay down, relax and listen to Neil. The music is more fun than it has to be, and the story, well...it is topical, relevent and now. That this contains a DVD of his presentation across the pond makes it even more worthwhile and explains the minds end, visual. So, you won't hear it on the radio, so be it. It ain't for them. It's for us. I give it five stars, it may deserve only four,
some may display three, others only two, however even my cats curl up with me to listen to the story of Granddad, Carmichael,
and the F.B.I and their damn Helecopters.