Customer Reviews

Rust Never Sleeps

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps is an archetypal rock album that is simply essential. Split into acoustic and electric sections with the excellent classic songs My My, Hey Hey (Into The Blue) and Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) serving as bookends, it incorporates all of the elements that make Neil Young great into a single, immediate, excellent album. It has been noted that this excellent effort - with its electric/acoustic format - was based upon the groundwork laid down by Bob Dylan on Bringing It All Back Home; and this is true, though the acoustic and electric sides are swapped here. Starting off the album with its absolutely memorable acoustic riff, My My, Hey Hey is a nearly perfect song that has become a Neil Young anthem. The next song is Thrasher, which is one of Neil's best songs in my opinion, and quite underrated - a very personal song about his artistic integrity, this album features one of his most beautiful vocals, and some of his best lyrics. Other acoustic winners include Pocahontas, another perennial Young classic, with its wild lyrics and imagery. Sail Away is a similary beautiful folk song. Things start to heat up with the excellent Powderfinger, a truly astonishing song packing quite a lyrical punch. It's quite an unspoken and political statement such as Neil has not often made since - as are the next two song: Welfare Mothers (with its obvious title), and Sedan Delivery (a song about the drug trade.) All three are excellent. The album closes out with a reprise of the first song, this time in electric form. A slightly lyrically-altered cousin to its acoustic guise, this raw and in-your-face version lacks the polish and precision of the acoustic version, but has a charm all its own. It closes out with one of the electric hard rock jams that make Neil's live shows so great. This is a great album - one of Neil's finest - as it enscapulates all that is great about him - gentle, rolling acoustic songs, imaginative lyrics and stern lyrical statements, hard rocking proto-punk/grunge rockers - and puts them all onto this one great canvas. Musically, it's great; and, lyrically, this is where Neil really started to blossom as one of the finest and most unique voices in rock. Simply put, an essential album all around.

When most rock music was mired in bands with no faces, with no known musician's names, and extremely little talent, like Kansas, Styx, Journey, Neil Young heard the wake-up call coming from the punk world. And although his own "Tonight's the Night" (1975) was a howling, screaming, raw, powerful tour de force, perhaps he even recognized a need for a rock and roll shot in the arm for his own music. The result was "Rust Never Sleeps".

In a weird way, this album sounds like a greatest hits sort of collection, with one side displaying his accoustic talents, and the other his gritty electric prowess. Of the accoustic tracks, "Pochahontas" (sp?) is the most unique because of its strange combination of haunting despair for the plight of Native Americans which turns into a love song for Pochahontas and all things Americana (the Astrodome, Hollywood, Marlon Brando, etc.). It's the most inventive song on this side, although all the accoustic tunes are engaging and mellow without being sleep-inducing like most 1970s accoustic work.

The second side has one of Neil Young's best electric ballads he's ever written, "Powderfinger". By saying it's his best electric ballad, I realize that this includes a body of work which features "Like a Hurricane", "Down by the River", "Cinnamon Girl", etc. But really, in terms of lyrics and musical brashness, nothing beats this song.

Finally, the album is framed by the songs "My, My, Hey, Hey" and "Hey, Hey, My, My". These book-ends, one accoustic and one electric, are by far the most revealing insights into the rock industry ever written. Better than Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" or "Have a Cigar, these two songs signal the end of one era of rock and roll--"The King is gone but he's not forgotten" and the heralding of a new age "Rock and Roll can never die". With rock and roll in Neil Young's hands, we can be assured of that.

"Thrasher," track 2 on this CD, may be the greatest song I've ever heard. I don't say things like that all the time; I might say it in regard to "A Day In The Life" or "Don't Worry Baby" or "I Want You" (Elvis Costello's) ... and for me "Thrasher" belongs in the same league. It's not a slick performance; it was actually recorded live in concert with the applause mixed out (like much of the rest of this album) with only Neil on vocal, harmonica, and acoustic 12-string guitar. But it's very sophisticated, in conception, language, musicality, and execution, and more important it drips with drop-dead beauty, not to mention meaning. Alone it's worth the price of this disc, but other major works abound (the amazing "Pocahontas," "Ride My Llama," "Powderfinger," the pair of "My My, Hey Hey" classics). The punkish Crazy Horse stompers "Welfare Mothers" and "Sedan Delivery&qu! ot; don't really do it for me, but who cares? Along with "On The Beach" and "Tonight's The Night," I'd say it's the pinnacle of Neil Young's achievement as an artist.

Disco had the charts, punk rock and new wave had the critics. What could possibly come from dinosaur Neil Young in 1979? Well those who were fortunate enough to see his "Rust Never Sleeps" tour in late 1978 already knew. This album was recorded at various stops on that tour and remains one of rock's finest efforts.

Sometimes reffered to as Neil's "answer" to punk rock, I think of this album more as a tribute. Neil saw punk as the lifeline for rock, which had grown increasingly stagnant over the decade. Accordingly, Neil is more furious and inspired than ever before.

The album is divided into acoustic and electric halfs with neither besting the other. The acoustic songs are gorgeous, lyrically baffling, and quite torrid. "Hey Hey My My" is a stirring song about rock and the music business. "Thrasher" remains Neil's ultimate statement of individuality, while "Pocohontas" revisits his destruction of the Native-Americans motif.

For the flip side Neil adds Crazy Horse and turns out four of his most brutal jams. "Sedan Delivery" is perhaps the closest to actual punk rock, but is the reprise of "Hey Hey My My", now electric. Full of glorious distortion and feedback, the song is an untoppable close to a near perfect album.

Because of its dualistic nature that shows off both Neil's acoustic and electric leanings, I think this is the best record to get acquianted with Neil's legacy.

I always thought Neil Young was just some cheesy folky with a funny singing voice who sang about searching for a Heart of Gold and being a child. Around the time of Freedom I went off to college and met a whole group of people who thought Neil was the greatest. When I heard Like A Hurricane (from American Stars'n'Bars) I flipped over the intensity of the performance. Then I began dating a girl who would play After the Gold Rush and sing along while massaging my back and I immediately fell in love with the album (who wouldn't?).

Then I somehow got Rust Never Sleeps. What drew me to it I'm not sure. BUt I consdier myself lucky - this is definitely among the best Neil albums, and may be - aside from the (early) greatest hits Decade - the place to start.

The opening track has all the lyrical style that kept me away from Neil, but Trasher is lovely with Neil accompanying himself with a 12-string guitar and harmonica. Ride My Llama is a throwaway, but because I never realized Neil wrote cheap throwaway tunes for laughs I really appreciated it. Sail Away is charming and should definitely be considered for anyones' wedding song.

But the song that won me over is Pocahontas. Absolutely mesmerixzing - a yearning lyric about the slaughter of the Native Americans, the song manages to jump some 300 years in one single line in the second verse ("They massacred the buffalo/Kitty corner from the bank") and jumps from being a documentary to a personal rumination that is both rueful and erotic. The rest of the album could've been Neil and Crazy Horse belching, and it would still be worth ten times the price.

Fortunately, the rest of the album ROCKS. Powderfinger is another story of death and change, and features a posthumous final verse from the narrator - wonderful, and a great guitar solo to boot.

And after that it's Garage Rock as only Crazy Horse could play it - if you know Neil primarily for his Harvest material, this will blow you away. "Welfare Mothers" is a great bumper sticker, and "Sedan Delivery" has some of the funniest, most corrosive riffs and lyrics in rock. (Nirvana arguably based their entire career on this song).

And the closing track reprise of Hey Hey My My? Absolutely jawdropping. It's among the HEAVIEST riffs in rock. And it's not like the band sat there and said, "Hey, wouldn't it be a groove to rock that tune up?" It's more like they all realized, "Waitaminnit, that tune NEEDS to have BALLS!"

And, good lord, it does. Along with Gold Rush, On the Beach, Tonight's the Night, and Decade this is absolutely essential Neil. Buy it. Buy several. It makes a great gift.

do not listen to anything this person says. he really thinks Def Leppard coined the phrase, "it is better to burn up, than to fade away." Da peace dogg is a joker and unfortunately has too much time on his hands putting out lame azz comments on excellent albums.

I've been a huge Neil Young fan for over 30 years in all of his configurations -- Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, Crazy Horse, Solo etc. -- and have always been confused over the dichotomy of this album and the superior Live Rust. Released only months apart and with the identical band, the two albums seem to mirror one another. However, Live Rust is much more comprehensive and captures Neil Young at the absolute height of his powers. With the brilliant acoustic set (including Comes a Time and After the Gold Rush)and the incendiary electric set (including the definitive Like a Hurricane), Live Rust is simply a better and more complete album then Rust Never Sleeps Live. If you want Neil Young and Crazy Horse live and at their pinnacle singing Neil's greatest songs - get Live Rust.

Often called Neil Young's best record, "Rust Never Sleeps" was recorded live with the audience track subsequently removed (which is why it doesn't sound like a live album - no cheering or clapping or singing along).

The acoustic set, which made up the first side of the original LP, opens with the classic "My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)", probably the most concise and knowing description of the entertainment industry ever written.
And that song is reprised later on as a tough electric rocker, "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)" with slightly altered lyrics and raw, crunchy electric guitars courtesy of Crazy Horse, Young's legendary backing band.

In between you have the folkish acoustic "Pocahontas", a country-tinged lament about the mistreatment of the Native Americans, but also a love song, and a powerful tale of travelling through time.
And there is the superbly melodious country ballad "Sail Away", wonderfully arranged and with subtle harmony vocals by the late Nicolette Larson, and the thoughful, meditative and very personal "Thrasher".

The electric half is highlighted by the magnificent "Powderfinger", Neil Young's best electric rock song, capturing Crazy Horse in full electric stride, and featuring two superb, grinding solos from Young and a simple, yet memorable two-string riff which serves as a "chorus" of sorts after each verse.

If everything else on "Rust" was trash, it would still be a must-have for any Neil Young fan just for this one song, which captures all of Young's strenghts as a composer, a writer and a musician.

4 1/2 stars. Highly recommended.

This is just one of those albums that will never grow old for me. While the album contains several standout tracks, namely, the acoustic and electric versions of Hey Hey My My, and the absolutely beautiful Thrasher, its real strength lies in its folw as an album. Just as you begin to grow tired of the softer, acoustic songs that fill the first half of the album, you are greeted by the loud electric guitars of Powderfinger, another Young classic. From this song on, it is nothing but Neil and Crazy Horse jamming on loud, electric numbers. No album better demonstrates Young's talents in acoustic and electric rock. All in all, the album is a great starting point for any new fan, as well as a great addition to any long time fan's collection, although I can't see anybody getting this album just to finish off their Neil Young catalog.

Rust Never Sleeps is Neil Youngs Best Album To Date, which is saying alot. This album has a much more raw sound than the clean, but almost equally brilliant After The Gold Rush. Rust cintains some of his best acoustic songs like Thrasher and Sail Away and Some of his hardest rocking songs like Welfare Mothers and The Amazing Sedan Delivery. If you like this album, than Live Rust is an absolute must have also