Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE original Grunge Artist Returns -- with a vengance, February 15, 2000
Neil Young stands as one of the great "anti-heroes" of rock. For over 3 decades, he's played pretty much what he wanted, with very little regard for whether or not it was "commerical". Despite their attitude, Neil Young and Crazy Horse managed to rack up a huge string of hits, and a large fan following anyhow. While Neil and his band are grateful for the support (and the 'counrty homes' and all that comes with success in rock and roll), they still refuse to "sell out" and do comfortable pop tunes. Instead, from time to time, they unleash a thunderbolt. This CD is one such thunderbolt.This one captures Neil Young and Crazy Horse at what they do best-- grunge. Released almost a year before Nirvana's (equally stellar) major label debut CD, this CD makes the recent material from so called heavy rock bands like Aerosmith and Van Halen sound almost wimpy by comparison.* Perhaps the reason Neil Young and Crazy horse don't do "battles of the bands" is that their firepower is so overwhelming, it would simply destroy most of the competition after they played the first few bars. Suffice to say, this is an awesome piece of hard rock, done by one of that genre's true masters of the art. While Neil & Crazy Horse have done grungy metal for decades (on Everyone Knows This is Nowhere, Rust Never Sleeps, and several other CD's), they've never quite captured their live energy and intensity as well as they did here. After you hear the new grunge guys (Alice in Chains, The Cult, and possibly Soundgarden), listen to the old man, and he'll teach you how this music should really be played. Except for Nirvana (who are tragically, gone) none of the newer grunge artists have equalled this CD for sheer songwriting, musicianship, intensity, and edginess. * Just for the record, I like a lot of Aerosmith & Van Halen's works.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amps are hot, recording is warm, February 23, 2005
The songs on this album are outstanding, the writing is direct, the themes are the same ones Neil has always sung about, making relationships last over time, country living, the road. But the way this album was recorded is probably the main reason I keep coming back. Obviously the guitars are all melting and the amps are overdriven and the songs are free-form, but the vocals are right where I want them, and the guitars are so warm that the album never agitates me (and believe me, I've listened to some agitating music - Teengenerate anyone?). I guess the fifth star is gained by the fact that the songs and the band are still more important than the medium, this album isn't noteworthy for its use of feedback and hot guitars, but because everything fits, in a smooth and soulful way. Never gimmick. Always authentic. Neil transcends the genre again.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Full Circle With Crazy Horse, April 16, 2005
With Neil Young's 1989 solo effort Freedom, I like many others was warming up to his music again, after the numerous and sometimes alienating stylistic changes he was making in the 1980's. On Freedom, I tended to favor the harder cuts on the album such as "Don't Cry" "Rocking In The Free World" his driving cover of "On Broadway". At the same time I was heavily listening to some of his work with Crazy Horse; Live Rust and Rust Never Sleeps. All though this I was thinking, "Why doesn't he just make another kick-a**, all electric album from beginning to end?" "And at the same time why not just get back together With Crazy Horse?"
Well less than a year later in 1990, both prayers were answered. Neil Young finally reunited With Crazy horse for Ragged Glory. And the music matched my expectations and anticipation. I was totally blown away with their resulting effort. Raw, honest, intense and most importantly, excellent songs. Truckloads of guitars and solos. Short, terse rockers are mixed with their trademark eight to ten minute jams and loads of feedback in the right places. Most importantly this album matches all of his 70's work, with and without Crazy Horse.
Ragged Glory is also the essential album to listen to on a long country drive, disturbing the cattle and the small towns on the way! The leadoff track on the CD "Country Home" is obviously well-suited for the aforementioned type of drive. "White Line" has an excellent driving riff and is a very concise song, almost ending prematurely, kind of like Stone Temple Pilots "Interstate Love Song" four years later.
"F*!#in' UP" is my favorite track on Ragged Glory. It is the most aggressive song on the album lyrically and musically. It's an understatement, but this song kicks serious a**. The title itself prevented it from major airplay, but changing or editing that would be a grave injustice. "Over And Over" has a killer melody, a great chorus and the guitars keep on rocking.
"Love to Burn" is a ten-minute long opus that seriously rocks. It will hold your attention the entire duration and at the same time may cause to you look deep inside yourself on what you want and need out of love and out of life.
The bouncy "Farmer John" snaps you out of that, I think of a comely, natural, well built county girl almost every time I listen to it. "Mansion on the Hill" is the track that garnered the most radio airplay at the time. The second ten-minute opus is "Love And Only Love".
The only downer is "Mother Earth" I respect the message Neil is trying to make with this track, but it is completely subpar and totally out of place on the CD, unfortunately, it practically rescues the CD from near perfection. It is a totally expendible track.
This album may have prepared me somewhat for 1991-92 grunge explosion. I was beginning to gravitate towards rawer, grungier rock at the time, not to replace the more polished hard rock or progressive rock that I was listening to but to compliment it. While Neil Young's "Godfather Of Grunge" title is obvious and a little overused now, Ragged Glory helped me welcome the sounds of Nirvana, Soundgarden & Pearl Jam with open arms.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
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Cryptic, misanthropic, ascetic, solipsistic, deliver of bad news, indirectly romantic, slightly stoned and resilient as all hell, Neil Young, middle-aged hippiepunk,...
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Published on June 25, 2007 by Calliope
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by Neil Young 
