Zuma

Neil Young, Crazy Horse | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise Records
• ASIN: B000002KCI
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,623 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #74 in Music > Rock > Singer-Songwriters

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Ragged Glory are the two finest studio albums Neil Young recorded with Crazy Horse, Zuma certainly qualifies as a close third. Recorded in 1975, Zuma exudes both a sense of focus and a tentative optimism, two qualities that were completely MIA from the bleak Time Fades Away/Tonight's the Night/On the Beach trilogy that preceded it. "Barstool Blues," "Don't Cry No Tears," and "Drive Back" are terse, punchy rockers, while "Danger Bird" and "Cortez the Killer" are extended guitar workouts in the grand Crazy Horse tradition. And the two acoustic entries--"Pardon My Heart" and "Through My Sails" (the latter was recorded with Crosby, Stills & Nash)--are absolutely gorgeous. Ignore the crappy cover art, and treat yourself to one of Young's most underrated records. --Dan Epstein

Product Description

Seven of the nine songs on this album were recorded with a reunited Crazy Horse, and nearly all of them deal with the subject of romantic conflict and lost love: Don't Cry No Tears; Barstool Blues; Pardon My Heart; Lookin' for a Love; Through My Sails ; the seven-and-a-half minute epic Cortez the Killer , and more!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily one of Neil's greatest albums September 16, 2004

By Robert Moore HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Without any possible question, this is one of Neil Young's greatest albums, and given the extraordinary length of his career and the amazing number of albums that he has made, that is saying something. This is also one of his most influential albums, producing a pattern for a host of guitar oriented garage and alternative bands in the 1980s and 1990s. It is impossible to listen to a band like Thin White Rope or Eleventh Dream Day or Nirvana and escape the conclusion that the members of the bands all grew up listening to the cuts on this disc.

Although this is widely known as one of the seminal guitar albums in the history of rock, there are two paradoxes in that claim. First, a couple of the songs are entirely acoustic and feature none of the grungy guitar found throughout the rest of the disc. "Pardon My Heart" is not merely acoustic, but soft and gentle as well. "Through My Sails" is a Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young song. For me, it is the weakest cut on the album, and a potent reminder to me of why I prefer Neil Young on his own. The second paradox is that in many ways Neil Young really isn't a very good guitarist. Technically, there are probably a host of high school guitarists that surpass him. His solos are some of the most elementary in the history of rock. Nonetheless, Young seems to get more musical mileage out of relatively meager chops of any guitarist in history. He might not be a virtuoso, but in this album he virtually reinvents grunge guitar, and paved the way for a host of imitators.

Guitar aside, what drives this amazing album is the great, great songs that line up one after another. "Don't Cry No Tears" gives way for the even more stunning "Danger Bird." A couple of songs later we get one of my favorite Young songs, "Barstool Blues." "Stupid Girl" is not a work of misogyny like the Stones' "Under My Thumb," but yet another excellent guitar driven song. "Drive Back" is another great song that then gives away to the song that seems to define the entire album, the epic, majestic "Cortez the Killer," in which Neil gets to sing about his recurring subject of the European exploitation of the New World.

Neil Young has other albums nearly as good as this, and possibly a couple of others that are even better, like AFTER THE GOLD RUSH and TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT, but there isn't a single one of his discs that I have listened to as often or with as much pleasure. This truly is a disc that ought to be in the library of every serious rock fan.

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Zuma's A Killer May 3, 2001

By Thomas Magnum HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Zuma was the first studio album that was credited to Neil Young & Crazy Horse since his second release, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. While various members of the band appeared on albums in between the releases, Zuma contains the power rocking sound that only the complete band could produce. "Barstool Blues" is an underrated gem that has bluesy guitar riff that pops throughout the song. "Drive Back" and "Don't Cry No Tears" have a grungy sound. "Stupid Girl" is great song with a great vocal. "Pardon My Heart" is an acoustic based number as is the closer "Through My Sails" which features Crosby, Stills & Nash and was a leftover from the aborted sessions in 1974 that was supposed to yield the band's followup to Deja Vu. The standout track on the album is "Cortez The Killer" with its droning guitar solo and vivid lyrics, the song is tremendous.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A somewhat overlooked gem April 22, 2000

By Brian D. Rubendall HALL OF FAME

Format:Audio CD

Young and Crazy Horse have done so many fine albums that this one sometimes gets overlooked. Most fans know "Cortez the Killer," but check out "Barstool Blues" (wonderfully redone on the live "Year of the Horse"), "Don't Cry No Tears" and "Pardon My Heart." The sound alternates between soft and hard. A strong effort that is among the better Young albums.