Reviews (page 5 of 8)
Ikke Neils beste, men en god plate
Det er bittelitt seigt
Ikke den sterkeste, men bra jamming. Bra lyd på gittarn!
Accurately named album!
I’m more of an early Neil Young solo fan rather than his Crazy Horse stuff. Although I do believe Rust Never Sleeps is on this list and that is ace. But this is not a bad album. Where it scores best is Young’s guitar work. Really like his extended solo’s but must admit his singing does tend to grate after a while. Whilst he has an instantly recognisable voice it is advisable not to prolong your listening session when he’s singing. 3/5 2/6/25
A good Sunday morning listen.
Neil Young's voice is so annoying. Otherwise solid rock and roll
It's great sloppy rock jams
Can't really be arsed with this today. Nowhere near as good as other Neil Young outputs, or Young + Crazy Horse outputs at that.
It feels like bread and butter at this point, but I’m still into bread and butter and you can eat my farts if you’re not.
¿Que Neil Young no sabe cantar? Pues no. ¿Que Crazy Horse son técnicamente mediocres? Pues sí. ¿Que todas las canciones suenan igual? Pues también. ¿Que es un álbum súper divertido? Vaya que sí. No es el álbum más maravilloso del mundo, pero cumple lo que promete. Es el álbum que confirma el regreso de Neil Young a sus orígenes después de casi una década de música infumable. Un álbum que suena a pura década de los 70, entretenido, enérgico y sin muchas pretensiones, en el que cada músico lo da todo sin meterse en el estilo de los demás. Uno de esos álbumes perfectos para poner mientras conduces. Tres estrellitas, aunque, si nos ponemos estrictos, no sea merecedor de formar parte de esta lista.
I have tremendous respect for Young as an artist, but this album honestly feels so dated that it’s almost naive. No issue is actually examined in depth (love will overcome hate; respect the earth; etc.) and neither the lyrics or instrumentals are interesting enough to salvage it. The hippies failed, liberalism capitulated to tech oligarchs, and hatred won the arms race years ago. Gimme some Daft Punk to listen to.
3.3
Really not their finest work. Young's vocals are so strained and tuneless here as to make the album painful at times to listen to.
Decent newish stuff from NY & CH. But still a lot of it sounds the same.
Not Neil’s finest.
This is a very good album. The songs are well crafted with big chords and guitar solos that work for the songs. The band is tight and work well with Neil Young. I’d give it five stars but for one thing: Young’s vocals. He’s just awful.
Viertes Album, das Neil Young enthält, zweites am Stück. Nein, das ist zu viel. War jetzt nichts Besonderes.
More Neil Young. Good album.
4.5/5. They ain’t been calling him the godfather of grunge for no reason. Fuck Joe Rogan :)
I like Neil Young, but I did not like this album. Music seemed repetitive and not interesting.
solid, if a bit long
i feel like a bad canadian cause i've never really gotten into neil young and this album is certainly not a good point to start because it's just him doing good but boring alt rock
A scorching reunion album. They sound refreshed and vital again. Like Neil had come back from the wilderness.
If half stars were available, would do 3 1/2. Just didn't enjoy enough to give it a 4.
4/5
I didn't really enjoy this album, too much guitar and too much Neil Young. Sorry, but his voice gets to me sometimes.
Neil Young is such a treasure. Folksy, rockin, young, old, he just seems like a true blue dude. I really like White Line. There's a timeless indie melancholy to it. A drama. Feels heavy but hopeful. Really simple and solid chord progression and melodies. I think this might be my favorite Neil. Some moments on here feel 90s, like down the hall from Dinosaur Jr, but of course for the most part its got Neil's sound, so it ebs and flows where it wants and can't be tied down. It feels both core and fringe at the same time. Somehow Neil's guitar solos aren't obnoxious, haha. Legendary.
Album No.8 I believe this is my first impression of Neil Young. Overall I'd describe the album as mediocre or a bit worse. There's no particularly horrid part of it, the vocals could be better but they're sort of tolerable I guess (not as much in certain songs like verses in Over and Over). I didn't like the longer songs as much particularly, like the instrumental section in Country Home. The album wasn't the most engaging. I'd give it a 1.5/5 Favourites: - White Line - Mansion on the Hill - Days that Used to Be
Can't wait to see this old hero at Glastonbury this summer!! Love love love this album.
3 but could go up on relisten
this garage rock vibe is weird
Found all songs on the album fairly similar, but all pretty good. Being Canadian I'm not sure if I'm allowed to dislike Neil Young
Pretty good sound. Live and raw. But pretty inessential if you ask me.
Okay for background music. The guitar parts were definitely the highlight of the album.
What is with his wavering voice all the time, he sounds scared
Not as good as his older stuff but it was fine
Sometimes I like him but this was noisy and tedious.
Not a fan. Please no more. Very boring and Neil Young has a bad voice
Probably my least favorite Neil Young album. I don't know, maybe it's because this is album 20 for him, but I think he kinda lost the magic.
3.4
He's a great lyricist and storyteller, but instrumentally, he's a bit stale. It's my problem with a lot of folk. I have a feeling that a lot of them are poets who figured out that putting it to music would give them a bigger reach, like Leonard Cohen, who was pretty honest about that. And, yeah, I'm assuming I'll get a Leonard Cohen record at some point, and I suspect I'll be saying the same thing. The lyricism is still great, and the consistency of the music makes it feel like a larger story, even when it isn't, and it's always good as a listen, even if it's not great.
I REALLY enjoyed this. Favourite track was Mansion on the Hill. Bit sad I won’t be going to Glasto to see him now!
It’s whatever. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. It’s fine.
Can't say I'm looking forward to another Neil Young album so soon after the last one. He's my favourite artist on this list, but some of his stuff is pretty decent. Luckily this is a completely different era of Neil Young, so it will at least be interesting to hear how his sound has evolved since the mid 1970's. Curious to hear what Crazy Horse brings to the table. Country Home Great audio quality! The lyrics paint some pretty imagery. Evokes a peaceful, content feeling. A few times throughout the track the guitar comes in with some really nice distortion. The instrumental isn't interesting enough to warrant so much individual time. Drags a bit, doesn't justify being seven minutes long. Decent. 3.5/5 White Line Very Western coded guitar riff, sounds straight out of a 1960's cowboy movie. Definitely a driving song, both lyrically and tempo wise. The harmonies add a lot to the nostalgic Americana feel of the track. Good. 4/5 Fuckin' Up Crunchy distortion. There's not exactly anything wrong with the track other than it sounds kinda generic, even if it's a bit of a cop out as a descriptor. Pleasant and competent, just not particularly exciting. Neil Young's unique voice, along with the quality production is probably the difference maker between this and any other rock track. Fine. 3/5 Over and Over Nice guitar opening, feels very emotive and evocative of the overall sonic imagery of the album so far. The chorus is pretty sweet. Takes its time, genuinely beautiful at times. Has several great guitar riffs in a similar vein to the intro. Could've been condensed into a 6-7 minute track, feels like it doesn't know when to stop adding material leaving it sounding a bit unfocused. Decent. 3.5/5 Love to Burn Feels like a bit of an echo of the previous track. Has a very similar opening structure. Don't really like the chorus that much. Has a clunky composition, and the vocal melody is a bit strange. The band sounds really locked in, giving really solid performances and building well on top of each other. Sounds like they enjoy playing together. Has a noodly guitar section which while impressive feels completely unecessary. There's really nothing else going on while it's happening, and it goes on for too long. Has great energy. A bit monotonous. Mixed. 3/5 Farmer John Some interesting distortion with the guitars in a bit of a disjointed. Has a slight punk feel to it. Strange concept. Really like how offputting the character presented in the lyrics is. Seems a bit of a sleaze. Has a drunk energy to it, which sets it apart from the rest of the album. Decent. 3.5/5 Mansion on the Hill Electric energy. Has that attitude which feels very intrinsic to the country rock genre. The feeling of looking back, and that reflectiveness you need to pull it off convincingly. Like how they finally show some restraint. Warm and colourful. Good. 4/5 Days That Used to Be Feels pretty sad. Has a lot or that reflective emotion several of the previous tracks also have, though this one seems a lot more on the nose. Really like the simple guitar riff in the background. Decent. 3.5 Love and Only Love The harmonies are very pleasant. While not earthshattering I find the chorus to be quite charming. Has some really nice buildup to it. Suffers a bit from that aimlessness a lot of the longer tracks on this albums seem to have. Settles on some very generic guitar noodling and stays there far too long. That bassline becomes a bit annoying after a while. A bit of a chore to get through. Way too long, could be cut to 4 minutes without losing anything of value. Average. 2.5/5 Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) I Like the sentiment, but the hymn like composition and the electric guitar in the background makes me feel like I'm about to be indoctrinated into some weird American cult society. The environment is very important, but I don't like this presentation at all. Sounds awful to me. The cheering does not help. Strongly dislike. 1.5/5 First of all this sounds very good. Clean and crisp production which presents the pristine musicianship on this record very flatteringly. The band is tight, and Neil Young's vocals are very clear and pronounced. His very distinct voice and delivery lends itself well to this sound. Each track is a self contained piece of Americana, lending from roots, western motifs, country music and much more to create some lovely imagery and great audatory landscapes. There's a lot of harkoning back to the good ol' days with a nostalgic reflective attitude which rubs off on the listener. Very early on you can feel how resonant this album can be, much thanks to Neil Young's long praised songwriting ability. "Ragged Glory" really shines where it shines, and where it doesn't you're met with what feels like a lack of restraint. Many of the tracks simply don't have the variation or enough interesting moments to justify their runtimes. There seems to be a pattern of just throwing in an overly long, meandering piece of guitar playing that just never seems to end. It gets to a point where it feels like a formula, where they just pan out the runtime to create a sense of grandiosity to the track, which simply doesn't always work leaving me finished with the song way before the track actually ends. Add in a few tracks that simply don't feel that unique and the album's rating quickly starts to drop. The album isn't entirely boring, as my previous factors of praise make up for some of its flaws, but it's never enough to completely save it. The final product comes across as a bit unfocused and bloated, too large for it's own good. It ends up being a flawed experience with still plenty to love scattered throughout its runtime. 3/5 Fave track. Mansion on the Hill Least fave track. Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
Good and raw. No complaints.
Mid af
I have Neil Young fatigue so I wasn't looking forward to this one but it was better than expected. Still nothing amazing though. Best song was probably Over and Over which has a video on Spotify so I'm assuming that's probably the lead single. It's nothing special but it stands out from the rest. I still can't give it more than a 3 though as it was over an hour and felt like a slog to get through the entire thing.
Meh
I really liked this album. It's not grunge like the Wikipedia page said it was. But rather fits into the hard rock subgenre. Most songs are worth replaying. "Farmer John" is an incredible cover. 4 stars for "Ragged Glory".
I liked Neils voice when both he and I were younger, but I am not feeling it anymore. None of the songs resonated with me.
One of Neil’s best back half albums, and a fantastic showcase for crazy horse. I love Neil.
I enjoyed the first few tracks a lot more than I expected but the (inexplicably) much-lauded 'Farmer John' is awful & it goes into steep decline after that. Better to stick with the 50% of a good album they had than fill the rest of an hour with turgid dirges.
3.6
Unfussy, muscular garage rock. Long, I guess. I like Neil Young so I like this, you know? I'd throw it on at a party or on a sunny day at the cabin, but I don't know if I'd do a close listen again.
Not a Neil Young fan, but Fuckin Up is such a relatable song, and the guitars on here are really solid. Maybe after 20 Neil Young albums I've finally found the gateway?
Ок
An ok 70s album from 1990.
I dont know how this is supposedly grunge, but I like country rock so...
Another middle of the road album. Nothing terrible, nothing great. A few more good moments than bad but much prefer Neil's younger work. I'm not sure this genre best suits his talents. 5.5/10 (2.75/5)
Neil Young AND CRAZY HORSE WHOA THAT HORSE IS CRAAAAAAAAAZY HE'S BRUSHING HIS BOTTOM TEETH BEFORE HIS TOP TEETH
I consider myself a Neil Young fan, but this is an album I had no experience with. God DAMN is it a banger. Classic Neil with Crazy Horse sound.
At one point in my student years I listened to Harvest way too many times and now I can never hear Neil Young’s voice without cringing a little inside despite knowing the songs are good and the music is good.
It's an alright, pretty pleasant album
This doesn't sound like an artist making art. This sounds like a performer in his comfort zone, playing music because he enjoys playing. That's kind of infectious in its own right. "I enjoyed making this music," this album says to me. "I hope you enjoy listening along." It feels like I'm being treated to a living room concert, and that's fine with me: I like living room concerts – casual affairs from skilled performers. This is definitely growing on me. I'm not sure if it's really good, actually great, or I'm just enjoying the novelty of the intimate performance.
Neil Young can do no wrong
Neil Young definitely lost a step by the time he made this album. You can tell he's starting to lose it vocally. I also find it a bit "hello fellow kids" for him to try to take on the 90s grunge aesthetic. I don't really have a problem with him making this album per se, but there are grunge native bands that probably deserved the spot here over Neil Young for an album like this.
My favorites going into this were ‘Farmer John’ and ‘Mansion On The Hill’. I don’t come back to the rest of the songs very often and was surprised to see it on the 1001 list today, but they’re all solid, the sort of music I enjoy. Never really thought of it as a masterpiece. Just Neil Young doing what he does best.
This was a lot more rocking and listenable than I expected! Perfectly fine, lively rock.
I looked at the track list before listening and saw that there were four songs over seven minutes, two of which reach ten minutes long, and was feeling a little doubtful. I was right. That length was not justified. Not in a single one of those long songs. “Farmer John” sucks. At least they had the decency not to drag that out. That song and the finale. What a strange piece. Guitar is to similar to Jimi playing the American National Anthem and the lyrics were way too preachy. In fact, all the lyrics on this album are sub par compared to the rest of Neil’s entries on this list. This album is a strange inclusion. The production, songwriting, vocals, instrumentation, etc. It’s all worse than the others. Noticeably. However, I enjoyed it and had fun listening. It’s a fine record, but not for a list like this. 3/5
Boomer rock. At least it's not the usual whiny stuff we hear from Neil young. I read that these songs are the best takes from a series of jam sessions.... If this is the pick of the bunch god knows what the rest were like
Guardians of the galaxy känsla
Not bad
If you like Neil Young rocking then you’ll like this. Long jams. Comfortable chord progressions. I sang along with half the songs even though I never heard them before.
I actually prefer the Crazy Horse stuff.
This album just seems a bit flat and uninspired. I generally like Neil's 70's stuff, but this just didn't quite scratch the same itch. I think it's worse knowing the live version of Fuckin Up from the Weld album. After a few listens it's grown on me a bit, but I still wouldn't call it one of his best albums.
It's aight stuff, nothing crazy but good. Will I listen to again: 10%
I liked the 10 minute song (“Love to Burn”) but this was my least favorite of the manyyyyy Neil Young albums I’ve gotten so far.
A fuzzy sonic blanket of a record from the Godfather of Grunge. If you like glorious understated guitar riffs over CSNY-effacing country slop rock this is probably the one. Is Ragged Glory a great album? Nah, not especially. But it is a cool listen.
Solid jams, but his voice take a minute to get used to. Kinda whiney. But good
I don’t really see the necessity to continuously recycle Neil Young on this listing. There is no variance in the music.
Great album. Enjoyable from start to finish.
orcarina of time crazyy taxi
Not the biggest fan of Young but this is a good album. Not great but solid.
There are greater albums featuring Neil Young, and there are ones that I listen to more often, but none of them combine his most volcanic guitar-blast with such a consistent set of driving, glorious rock songs. Regardless of what some of the twerps here blather, many of the bands I see them lionising elsewhere recognised “Ragged Glory” as majesty at the time. Sonic Youth toured with the band, Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr idolised them, Albini approvingly called the record out as an example of age not dimming an artist, “this is his most fucked-up album yet” or somesuch. The performance of “Fuckin’ Up” on “Weld” climaxes with one of the most ferocious, thematically bang-on guitar solos in existence. Also, the B-side to “Mansion on the Hill”, “Don’t Spook The Horse” may be better than anything on here, but this album is still a masterpiece. This is arguably the best album to come out in Grunge’s environs and it was made by Boomers. Still, my generation has Elon Musk, so I guess we win! I saw Neil Young and Crazy Horse play the O2 Dome a decade ago; the acoustics were terrible, the band were shambolic, the set full of moments when I thought things like “I think they ended that chorus too early” and “Molina sounds like he’s wandered into the wrong pitch-black hotel room”; Young at the end cheerfully apologised for their being a little crappy, “but that’s who we are”. They were transcendent!
It's a decent sounding Neil Young album but nothing too spectacular. One song sounds a lot like "My Back Pages".
No, sorry, this is not good. I’m not hearing grunge in here, it kind of just lumbers along rather boringly. There’s no sense of dynamics, loud and soft, anything like that, and his voice is horribly exposed here. I don’t get it
Quite enjoyed this musically, but it felt a bit flat lyrically. Enjoyed the second half of the album more than the first
Why the hell is this album on this list? This is not good. It's dull and uninspired, the songs are clumsy and ponderous, there's no energy or excitement and it's a pretentious attempt to appear relevant. And the singing...it's more like caterwauling. Lord, it was hard to listen to this garbage.
This is one I hadn't listened to. Pretty solid album! Definitely a 3/5.
FUCKIN UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHP
ok, not super good. Kinda boring stuff and some of these tracks are wayyy longer than necessary
Cool
Cool, next.
Neil Young is always hit and miss in his records for me. This one is a hit for me. Great rock record.
Not a huge fan. I think it could grow on me with some more listens.
A 1-hour album feels like a 2.5-hour movie
4/5
It’s ok, it’s Neil Young, and all Neil Young sounds a bit samey. It’s over-long, and a lot of that length could be cut out by slimming down the bland instrumental breaks in the middle of songs, and by getting rid of the stupid almost-feedback-but-not-quite open mic / pickups that comprises the last couple of minutes of a surprising number of these songs.
Not a big fan 2.5
First off, I must say love to burn is a great song, 10 minutes of class, mother earth is quite good also. Different to yesterday's 35 minutes, this was an hour, but, I expected it to be worse, it took me by a nice surprise, on my scale I'll put it at 4.35
Has not aged that well.
This being the fourth or fifth Neil Young album on the list, I’m not sure there’s much more I can say about the guy. I do enjoy his music with Crazy Horse - rocks a little harder. Good album.
I think the core of this album is best reflected in the most listened to track “F*!#in' Up”. Supposedly dirty and ragged, but restrained as to censor the actual swearword. Wannabe rock for country fans.
"It's okay, everyone has a bad day." https://youtu.be/AgPhyCq-y8E?si=tauooFBJqlLuvs5I There's nothing I can say about this album, so I'll let Kim Gordon tell you about Neil Young for me. Click the link above, you won't regret it.
“Ragged Glory” features a heavy twanginess in the electric guitars that echoes in a lot of late 90s and 2000s alt-Americana. Unfortunately, there are too many overlong epics on “Ragged Glory.” “Over and Over” is quite an on-the-nose to call an 8 minute song with a really repetitive chorus. And then to immediately follow it with the 10 minute “Love to Burn?” I think by the sixth minute my love was all burned out. “Farmer John” got shorter, but jeez I hope Farmer John gave Neil his blessing so the moaning would stop. It’s that run in the middle that really hampers this album. Though the overlong problem opens and caps the album, “White Line” and “F*!#in' Up” are decent efforts in the first half, and “Mansion on the Hill” and “Days That Used to Be” are strong after the dragging middle. (Even the too-long “Country Home” and “Love and Only Love” are good until they don’t know when to quit.) Young was a major influence on Pearl Jam, and among the other Young covers they play “F*!#in' Up” is one of my favorites. And while the original is fine, PJ takes it to a new level and injects fitting passion, agony, and anger that’s not quite there in the original. Check it out at the end of “Live on Two Legs.”
I don't think I will ever like NY's voice. But I do really like the music. Maybe I need an album of NY covers?
I’m really digging this album the second time through. The extended, fuzzy guitar passages are refreshing. At 60+ minutes, it does lose its way a couple times, Farmer John being the most extended. Considering the popular music of the time, this album is great.
Really cool. Has a nice mix of old 70s Neil and Ceazy Horse mixed with some grungy 90s sounds. I’m surprised this album isn’t more well known. A good addition to this list!
didn’t care for it but Crazy Horse is an excellent name
Overall: 8/10 I love the raw, jamming atmosphere of this album! Sometimes you just want to rock out and that's exactly what this crew provides with this album. I've seen this described as Grunge, but I think calling it an inspiration is more fitting. Since there was such an emphasis on jamming during rhe recordings, that obviously leads to some lengthier tracks and a longer album overall, but I think it's fine for this one. Great album and I look forward to even more Neil! Go Canada! Fav Song: F*!#in' Up Least Fav Song: Love to Burn
Who knew Neil Young was the father of grunge? He definitely has the 'father' right and struggles to escape the dad-rock tag in this album. In his interview with Rolling Stone Neil Young calls it 'a MIDI'. Country Home as the name suggest opens with a pretty generic twangy guitar thing with Young singing about yearning for his country home. This is described by Rolling Stone as the 36th greatest grunge album of all time forever demonstrating the lack of relevance that magazine has had for music in the last half century. White Line is more half-arsed country nonsense. Fucking Up finally gets a bit grunge-y but also struggles to elevate itself to any proper intensity, instead sounding like a tired ZZ Top. Six minute long songs are not grunge. Over and Over sinks back into dad rock. Love to Burn is better and does again approach grunge, but its let down by its length and the croony bits (seriously how can anyone call this a garage rock album with a straight face when its got two 10 minute songs on it?) Farmer John gets the balance between country and grunge right (and is a reasonable length). Mansion on the Hill is a bit shit, if you told me the Eagles wrote it I wouldn't have been surprised. Days that Used to Be is the kind of classic Young ballad that inspires people to reminisce about their dead friends in Youtube comments. The next ten minute track Love and Only Love doesn't really pretend anymore and just goes balls to the wall classic rock with prog vocals. Mother Earth is an interesting experiment but is again at odds with the garage rock thing. Young had this weird period in the late 80s and early 90s where he was fostering all this great talent so he gets a point for that. Maybe his guidance is what led to the immense beauty of Daydream Nation? Maybe if Kurt had just had a beer with the old man he would have stopped hanging out with bad influences like Albini and Nirvana would have stayed credible? Maybe if they'd just hung out a bit more Devo would have stopped using their MIDI and been normal for a gosh darned second?
This is DULLLLL. Guy can't sing. Every now and again I get an album that really makes me question why I'm even bothering with this list and this is one of them.
Another schmid album
I don't like Neil Young's voice and I think his music is boring. This is the exception. The band overcame his vocal limitations and his lack of metaphor was sidestepped by fun for once.
still not much of a fan.. didn't really vibe with any of it
Really good grit and energy
I'm a well-documented Neil Young hater, but I can't lie…this kinda slapped. His voice still sounds like a dying animal, but the band (especially guitar) helped me tolerate it on this album. Damn you, Neil Young, for making me give you a 4. Highlights: Country Home Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
Jesus Christ this is my sixth album with Neil Young on it in less than a year. Nearly 2 percent of my year has been Neil Young. He’s just fine! I like him fine but my god could we get a crumb of representation from ANYONE else. Is there a single Japanese artist on this list? Is there any classic Mexican music? Anyway here’s Neil Young again. Did you know there are NINE Neil Young albums on here. That’s the same as Lennon and McCartney and David Bowie. Three of the most influential and groundbreaking artists. It’s more than Brian Eno a dude who has done unbelievable stuff and innovated whole genres. Frank Zappa? Fuck that guy this is NEIL YOUNG MOTHERFUCKER. What you think John Cale and Lou Reed should be on here more? You stupid fucking bitch, here’s NEIL MOTHERFUCKING YOUNG. Marvel at his ability to perform the same songs with different people harmonizing! Sometimes it’s acoustic, other times it’s ELECTRIC!!! I’m sorry I’m just so fucking bored. And like this time it’s more of the same, GARAGE EDITION!!!!!!! Marvel as Neil does his same schtick but this time it’s on CD so we can make it an hour long and have it sound like shit. Fucking AHHH. It’s not even that bad In just sick of this dude. And I have to hear him THREE MORE TIMES
Mixed bag here. Neil's voice seems worse, but the guitar work is better. No real standout songs, this isn't an album that deserves a spot on the 1001
Ok, good solid album
I'm a big lover of Neil Young, but I don't think this is his best work by a long shot.
neil young doing grunge music? news to me, never in my years would i have imagined him doing that. i dunno, maybe he just saw the rising trends in rock during that time and figured he could probably do that. while it's a grunge album in terms of how it sounds, how it's composed is still how neil normally writes, faithful and humble country/folk rock. it's an interesting mix of sound, and while the album is great, unfortunately for me the blend isn't a perfect match. neil young is a talented talented man but grunge isn't really his genre. as usual though, overall it's still nice.
Quite like this on the whole, great guitar tones but a bit too country for me.
It's another super solid Neil Young entry. Really liked the songs where they give it space to jam out a little, dude knows how to play a guitar if nothing else.
I don’t want to have to come down on this album hard. I have a high tolerance for country-rock, I was raised in a home where a lot of it was played. Even if I don’t like it, I can see the appeal in its best offerings. But this is not the genre’s best offering. In fact, the genre isn’t even the big problem here. The problem, unfortunately, is Neil Young’s voice. Neil is HURTING to hit those higher notes. It’s not lovably aged like the later Johnny Cash recordings. It’s not charmingly personable like Leonard Cohen or Yung Lean. It’s just screechy and rough. Neil Young is an incredible musician, but nothing here warrants him attempting to sing his way out of things. From “Over and Over” up through “Love and Only Love”, it is a slog to sift through the singing, only to find some very safe, typical country-rock guitars and drums. It’s not all horrible though! The conviction on “White Line” is fairly compelling and memorable. “Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)” is almost like this cruel teaser at the end of the album, showing that Neil and the band are capable of unique song arrangements and quality performances. But the rest of this album, from tracks 3-9…a slog. I’d go listen to earlier, more iconic Neil Young, if that’s what you’re searching for. And if you want good country rock from the 90’s, just do Garth Brooks. Nothing to see or hear on Ragged Glory here.
This was super rocking. Why had I not heard this before!?
Boring and sterile
Nice blend of American music styles
quite good
Extremely fun, great jammy backbone with enough country sensibilities to give it some flavor. The hits hit hard but the misses miss hard.
Kinda rockin.
Album 683 of 1001 Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory (1990) Rating : 4 / 5 Great album. A blend of grunge and rock. it features extended guitar jams, gritty vocals, and a sense of spontaneity that "captures the essence of Young's collaboration with Crazy Horse." Great energy. Neil really showcases his guitar abilities.
Love and only love will endure. Hate is everything you think it is.
I usually like Neil Young, I don't think I like this Neil Young idk.
4.5
Solid guitar riffs and old school rock feeling to the album. It doesn't connect with me though. It feels to slow and I'm not a huge fan of the singers voice in most of the songs.
"Country Home" : I'm sorry but that's my own tastes but I hate country and this one song in particular is awful and way too long stop that nooooow. "Fuckin' Up" was actually good I liked it as much as "Over And Over" thankfully this album starts to be clean and well I'm starting to be tired of rock albums but this one is not that bad. "Love to Burn" For once the WAY TOO LONG song was good the guitar solo at the end was actually pretty sick I loved it. "Farmer John" the "OoOoh Ooooh" part killed me, that's terrible I mean like it could have been something funny but this sounds so damn ridiculous sorry guys. Sooooo the album wasn't the best but wasn't the worse as well, some songs were nice with some good instrumental parts but the voice is kinda terrible, sorry Neil but your voice sucks a bit.
Really interesting sounds Those minutes-long guitar riffs are quite iconic Loved "Country Home" and "Over and Over" Mother earth is pretty cool, it really has that national anthem vibe. Is it the scale used along with the slower bpm? Interesting 3.5
I'm not as big of a fan of Neil Youngs grungey era, but it was clearly influential on the development of the genre. Solid listen.
Old man look at you now.... still the Grunge Father!
Okay listening. Not overproduced, that's for sure. Simple and cool.
I didn't get into it. Father John was a truly unhinged song and the most awful guitar tone known to man ruined what was otherwise a gorgeous last track lol. Artistic choices, I guess?
Bloody amazing, as all Neil Young & Crazy Horse is.
rough to head point
Ragged Glory is Neil Young's twentieth studio album, and the sixth he recorded with his band Crazy Horse. To record the album, the band played the songs, over and over again, at Young's ranch, over the course of weeks. They chose the best versions, and complied them for the album. The result is an album with the feel of a live performance - the variances and imperfections that bring the spark to live music. The album is often called garage rock, and was influential with the bands that made 90s grunge.
Ragged Glory is back to basics collaboration with Crazy Horse.
The first thing I thought when I saw this in the morning was “no way, another Neil Young record? It must have been six of rive already”. It didn’t help that it starts kind of lazily. I was ready to hate it. But, once again, Neil Young won me over. He has unmatched songwriting skills. The middle of the album towards the end is just banger after banger. Absolutely loved this, it’s now my second favorite album by Neil! 4/5
Great guitar playing throughout. Fewer great 'songs' than his best, but still a pleasure to listen to.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse decided to fuck around AND find out. They played a set or two a day and just took the best takes, they included jams and longer song length, and it turned out to be a grunge album!?! Only one Neil Young
Not much better than the last one.
I like his solo.stuff better
More intense than ur average young album and I don’t think I was ready for it yesterday. But good nonetheless.
Day 84 - Jan 21st, 2025 I STILL FUCKING HATE NEIL YOUNG!!!!!!!!! 3/5
Neil Young album #6. I quite liked this one though. 3.5/5
near wall to wall songwriting monolith...some licks and melodies and chords that i swear ive heard before but i know i havent, theyve just been plucked from something so earthy that its like an inheritance of being alive. the stages set for soloing are almost as amazing as the soloing itself...always this meaty sturdy foundation upon which everything just Makes Sense. super rich and inviting music, every time i encounter neil young these days i feel like my mind is just blown. more indepth examination and appreciation should be On The Way
A fun romp with old buddies and a strategically valuable album if you worked in a record store in 1990 and you needed a psychic cleanse after your boss who inherited the store by accident and didn't even like music played the new Celine Dion. However, it's not even in the top 1001 Neil Young albums, let alone worthy of serious consideration for this list. But I do love Why Do I Keep Fucking Up - who among us hasn't asked themselves that?
Ugh--finishing this somewhat overly long album marks the halfway point in my Neil Young journey in this collection (counting his CSNY album too). Great for the Young fans out there, not so great for the tourists among us. But kudos to him for (a) wanting to revisit the concept of long, instrument-heavy rock in the 90s, and (b) recording a zillion single takes of the songs on the album and then just picking the one that spoke to them (rather than edits and dubs and so on). Both of these approaches come through loud and strong, and give a studio album an impressive live feel (as well as a strange bedfellow to grunge rock). I wish I enjoyed his voice and lyrics more than I do, as it's an interesting concept for an album.
An ex used to play this album nonstop, so it's hard for me to judge. Not my favorite Neal Young album and I don't think the songwriting is his best but he and his band wrestle a powerful sound that mostly disguises some of the weaker lyrics.
Always love listening to Neil Young and his music
Nope sorry, I just don't see the attraction.
Ffs, this guy again?
2.5
Fine. Middle of the road stuff.
There are a few solid tracks on this one. Pearl Jam does a F—kin up cover. Definitely too many Neil Young albums on this list though.
01) Country Home - 6,0 02) White Line - 5,5 03) Fuckin' Up - 6,0 04) Over and Over - 6,5 05) Love to Burn - 5,5 06) Farmer John - 5,5 07) Mansion on the Hill - 6,5 08) Days That Used to Be - 6,5 09) Love and Only Love - 6,0 10) Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) - 6,0 TOTAL: 6,00 (60/100) Current ranking: 342/426
Oh yet another album by this dreary man.
I thought I liked Neil young more, but vocals and music were just meh
Songs were too long and sounded similar.
Wow Crazy Horse really elevates Neil Young here. I went from "oh great another Neil Young album..." to "oh wow I can actually jam out to this Neil Young album" That being said, Young's annoying Kermit the frog voice still kills the vibes.
A fun background listen as I built a desk.
mid
Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. I'm pretty sure there's better work by Neil Young that I intend to listen to.
Wolałbym spędzić resztę życia na bezludnej wyspie mając tylko "Dirt" Alice in Chains, niż jeszcze kiedykolwiek słuchać Neila Younga. Ta płyta konkuruje z The Libertines o status najgorszego doświadczenia muzycznego na całej liście. Ale wygrywa dzięki recency bias. Już przy pierwszej piosence wiedziałem, że to będzie jeden, a od trzeciej już tylko błagałem, żeby to się skończyło. Przesłuchałem do końca tylko po to, żeby nie było, że wypowiadam się nie znając całości. Ale ta płyta napełniła mnie też nadzieją. Można zostać wielką gwiazdą mając absolutnie zero talentu. Bogowie, to było naprawdę straszne...
Neil Young is a grumpy old sort isn't he? Capable of both the most brilliant gorgeous rock and then, at the same time, like he's listened to Jagger's solo career and thought "YES, the world needs more of this" 2 stars, plus 1 because I felt bad only giving Neil 2 stars and he'd probably get the arse with me.
I kind of lost track of Neil Young in the 80's when he veered off a bit, so I never listened to this album until now. Wow! Its great - I'll be listening to this one again and again.
нормалек. одну песню добавил. больше написать нечего...
It’s a grower
Yup. Sounds like Neil Young.
Loved it.
unknown. not bad
Not my favorite, he has some interesting ranges on this album, but to me personally nothing that stands out as saying this is Neil young
Country.
It's not bad per se, and I can hear things that could possibly influence grunge and garage rock on this album. However, for some reason it felt uninspired to me. Was it because in retrospection, after hearing all of those albums already it's kinda average? And it's just second album of him I'm listening to, and I'm hearing clapping again. Do we really need that? I don't know, I'm not feeling it.
Ome Nelis de Jong, deze keer met een soort Normaal-achtige boeren-rockband. En die band heeft, zo klinkt het, best zin om even lekker een stukje niet al te gecompliceerde maar toch lekkere muziek te maken. Lekker vlotjes allemaal. Elk nummer bestaat uit ongeveer dezelfde 2 à 3 akkoorden en daardoor lijkt elk nummer op het voorgaande nummer, maar dat mag de ongecompliceerde pret niet drukken. Het is daarbij gewoon eigenlijk weer jammer dat het ome Nelis is die de eerste zangpartij voor zijn rekening neemt. Want ook hier klinkt 'ie weer als een totale amateur. Hij kan gewoon echt niet zo goed zingen. Maar die band maakt wel veel goed. Heerlijk fuzzy gitaargeluid. Ik ga een 3 geven en daar zit geen enkele ster bij die aan Neil Young zelf te danken is. Als je de zang wegdenkt was het misschien zelfs een 4.
"On this weeks episode, we join Neil Young as he teams up with the local grunge band! Will they put their differences aside, or will they fail to work things out and produce some awkward music?" I kinda get what they were trying to do here, it was the 90's and to be fair, they get a couple good songs out of this, but Neil Young is the anchor for them, but realistically they're holding him back. It was a fun experiment and I'm glad they tried it, but this is a one and done for me.
What is this? Half the time everyone is off tempo. The songs are loooooong and not in an interesting way. Neil Young is better than this
Apart from the first and last song, this was as interesting as untoasted white bread. Stand-out: Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
1. country - 1.5 2. uuhite - 1.5 3. up - 0 4. over - 1 5. love - 1 6. john - 0 7. manzion - 1 8. dayz - 1 9. only - 1 10. earth - 1
I don’t like Neil Young as a person. I find him whiny, self important, and incredibly annoying. I like a lot of Neil Young’s music, but this album is not a part of that. Neil Young doing acoustic folk music is very very enjoyable, but Neil Young doing this weird rock offshoot is not something I can bring myself to care for. His half singing half yelling schtick on this record is not good. It’s certainly not the worst album on this list, but it ain’t great. 1*
Listen. I can concede that although Neil Young is a sanctimonious prick, he is also a talented songwriter. Sure. There are at least two Neil Young albums that are reasonable inclusions on this list, one of which we’ve already reviewed. This album is not the other. I got the impression throughout listening of a live band that’s unexpectedly playing very loudly at a restaurant that you showed up to just to eat and spend the entire meal hoping they end their set soon, or at least turn it down. Neil’s trademark sorta-off-key vocal affect does not work on this album. 2/10
Grungy
I can appreciate the conceptual ambition that went into this simple one-take garage-rock record; but Neil Young can deliver so much more memorable music than this. The last track is the best of the bunch, but maybe that's just because it dares to be different. I'm disappointed.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory It's just an average country album that tried to be different, but failed. And while I do appreciate that they were doing this for fun, this album isn't something I'll really listen too often. The songs are long and boring with repetitive riffs, even though there are some highlights that happen all throughout. At least, because it does have actual rock elements for a country album, this is decent. 1.- Country Home = 6/10 2.- White Line = 5/10 3.- Fuckin' Up = 7/10 4.- Over and Over = 6/10 5.- Love to Burn = 5/10 6.- Farmer John = 4/10 7.- Mansion on the Hill = 8/10 8.- Days That Used to Be = 7/10 9.- Love and Only Love = 5/10 10.- Mother Earth (Natural Anthem) = 8/10 FINAL SCORE: 6.1/10
Day352 - neil young has at least four albums that i think are amazing and this isn’t one of them. not that it’s bad but it’s a sign of apparently way more neil young to come
This really feels like you’re just hanging out in Neil’s garage listening to him play with his friends. A little rambly, but full of heart.
pleasantly surprised by this album! the wikipedia said it was grunge so i was dreading this. and while there are some grunge elements (the worst parts) i feel like it was more than that. the melodies, vocal and guitar, were what stood out most to me
Crap
You know that guy. The middle aged dad who used to be in a pretty cool band when he was younger, then gave it up for a while. Now he’s got the dusty old guitar down from the loft and is determined to show these darn kids with their modern music what real rock ‘n’ roll is, with proper guitar solos that last 10 minutes and edgy swearing and everything. Oh yes, and he’s also somehow turned into a republican and is startlingly homophobic. Yeah. Fuck that guy.
I tend to find Neil Young a bit boring when he's playing acoustic, but I generally like what he does when saturated. This is no exception, and compared to many of his albums where there is a mix of both, here I'm more than happy. He is not revolutionizing rock music, but it's an honest, down to earth album with solid tunes and good riffs.
I liked this a lot. It helps that I already like Neil Young - I love "Harvest" and quite like "After the Gold Rush" but don't know much more than that. It also might have helped that I read the Wikipedia entry beforehand and understood that this was deliberately messy and raw sounding. It was even categorised as a "grunge" album! Anyway, I totally got into the raw emotional unrehearsed nature of it all. I don't know that particular songs stick out to me on my first listen but as an overall vibe it sounds like being at a live gig and I dig it!
So many Neil Young albums…. It’s ok….
Not his best work
Decent to have on in the background, liked Days the Used to be at the end
Das perfekte Rockalbum. Neil Young begleitet mich seit dem Teenageralter. Unzählige Male wurde die einzige für mich erreichbare Originalkassette von „Harvest“ gehört. Unmittelbar nach dem Fall der Mauer konnte ich Neil dann besser kennenlernen. „Ragged Glory“ War dann mein erstes selbst gekauftes Album. Es ragt unter den vielen Platten immer noch heraus und wird oft aufgelegt. Volle Punktzahl!
I honestly don't hate Neil Young's voice as much as a lot of the people on here seem to hate it, but it doesn't really make up for the fact that most of these songs really do just sound the same. Some of the songs are really long, yes, but I found myself wondering a couple times how long the song *really* was and finding that I was in a new one entirely. 1.) Mansion on the Hill 2.) White Line thats it, sorry
Neil is sometimes off key. Instrumentals are nice but I feel they are dated for 1990. 3/5
Love Neil, a big influence on a lot of people
Like it a lot quintessence of Neil Young
It was okay.
How does this man hear recordings of himself, and think, "yes, singing is clearly something I'm good at and should continue doing"?
I appreciate the proto-grunge production more than the actual songs they're playing.
wow, what an absolute slog. i certainly felt ragged after listening to it.
rough stuff. though i'm only nearing the halfway point of my 1001 albums journey, i AM reaching my breaking point of these neil young albums. they all sound the same and i'm baffled that people truly love this music. he has a handful of tracks i enjoy, but naturally none of them are on this album. the best part was him singing about fuckin' up. otherwise, pretty dull and annoying. even the cover of farmer john was annoying. neil, why do you vex me so favorites: fuckin' up, mansion on the hill
Im not this country
this was a slog to get through. neil young at his worst
i dont think some of these warrant 10 minute songs.
I’ve tried but I just can’t
Neil young just doesn’t do it for me. I don’t hate it by any means and he has some good lines but its just not really something I would ever play for people or tell anyone to go looking for it.
It’s Neil Young. It’s good. Not sure why it’s on the list.
Was NOT expecting to love this as much as I did. Super grungy, psychedelic, LONG songs with often some cool harmonies. This type of music often has like 4 minute songs so it was an awesome surprise to seem go past 8 minutes, even to 10 at one point. Fav Songs: Over and Over, Love and Only Love
Dadcore
The great thing about Neil Young is his combination of good lyrics and raw garage punk sounding backing music. Ragged Glory doesn't have the 'hits' that most are familiar with and while Young has a lot of albums on this list, this one could be one to sacrifice should they need a limit. Still a great album and a perfect example of the quality music he puts out throughout the spectrum of his career. 3.5/5
so my first neil young experience i had heard of him but didn't really know anything about him i think i got unlucky with getting this project first because it was simply not good
Fantastic album. Folk meets grunge, Nirvana were big fans and no wonder!
Neil is one of my favourite dudes but this one is far from essential. Who's going to make a version of of this list with any creativity at all?
Neil Young doing Neil Young things! Nice easy rock and roll, but nothing to write home about!
Much like the other Neil Young projects here, I just don't get much out of it. I'll never listen again, but wasn't anything horrendous, just totally fine.
He needs voice lessons. But the tunes are nice.
• 2/5 • The album represents a garage-y turn for NY, so points for creative range, but that doesn’t make it especially good • NY’s best tunes are master judo moves that turn his god-awful voice to his advantage. This is a judo-free album. • Love the fuzzy 90s guitar work, though. The album is epitomized by Over and Over Again, where I started to groove on the guitar opener only to have the mood ruined when the vocals came in. • This album might best be listened to in Karaoke mode
this had some bangers, quite liked it, didn’t expect it to be so long
Yeah I can see why they called him the godfather of grunge
Bland and boring, and really highlights Young’s painful singing voice. 2
Geinig dat een genre (grunge) voor een groot deel muzikale inspiratie haalde uit early electric Neil Young, en dat diezelfde muzikant er in de jaren 90 weer zijn eigen draai aangeeft. Things coming full circle, zeg maar. Dit album voelt op vele fronten als een extensive listening van zijn plaat die vaak wordt gelabeled als 'post-grunge', ''Rust Never Sleeps''. Het schuurt, het is 'ragged' zoals de titel al aangeeft, en de opnames zijn - ik denk bewust - een beetje lo-fi. De lange gitaarsolo's zijn terug die we nog kennen van 70s Neil & Crazy Horse. En alhoewel ik het cool vindt dat hij die retrostijl weet te mengen met een typische lo-fi alternative rock sound van de 90s, is het wel een beetje te veel van het goede met die ruige jams. Dit is typisch zo'n album dat echt die grens van een uur niet hoefde te overschrijden om in zijn kracht te komen, wat mij betreft. Die twee songs van 10 minuten zijn symptomatisch wat dat betreft, want die vallen op zich zelf al gigantisch in herhaling. En in de songs waar het verhaal iets meer ruimte krijgt in plaats van de grungy gitaren, voelt de stem van Neil Young soms een beetje 'off'. Maar dat kennen we van hem natuurlijk, het is een fragiele zangstem. Positieve punten zijn vooral 'Over and Over' en 'Mansion on the Hill'. De tweede had ik al even op mijn radar, en mixt old school Neil Young fantastisch met de nieuwe rock sound van de 90s. De eerste kende ik niet en is met recht een fijne ontdekking. Ook hier is de stem van Neil niet echt prettig, maar dat catchy refrein en m'n favoriete riff van het album maken een hoop goed. Al met al vond ik het een beetje een 'drag' om naar deze plaat te luisteren, vooral vanwege die paar onnodig lange gitaarjams. Maar ik vind het wel weer een sterk album voor iemand die dicht bij z'n roots wil blijven, maar toch mee wil evolueren met de tijd. Dat gaat zo vaak zo veel minder goed dan in dit voorbeeld. 6,5/10 Highlights: Over and Over Mansion on the Hill
Ragged Glory van Neil Young & Crazy Horse heeft mij niet onwijs weten te overtuigen. Neil's vindingrijkheid en het vermogen om zichzelf opnieuw uit te vinden zijn bewonderenswaardig. Hij maakt in 1990 zijn 20ste plaat en vuurt een startschot voor het grunge-tijdperk, wat ik toch zeer kan waarderen. Met name de muziek van Crazy Horse rommelt zich grungy door de plaat. Je hoort de invloed op het vroege Pearl Jam maar ook bands als Wunderhorse hoor ik terug, zeker in F*!#in' Up. Twee zaken storen me echter een beetje. De stem van Neil is onwijs fragiel en 'valt af en toe van de muziek af'. Wanneer er even in harmonie wordt gezongen is het vaak prachtig, maar solo klinkt hij heel kwetsbaar. Ik vind dat lastig te rijmen met het overstuurde gitaargeluid van de Grunge. De onwijze stemmen van Vedder en Cornell, maar ook die van Cobain, passen (althans voor mij) veel beter bij. Neil Young komt qua stem dan weer beter tot zijn recht in de wat meer rechttoe-rechtaan nummers (bijvoorbeeld Mansion on the Hill). En dan natuurlijk de lengte. Lange uitgespannen solo's overtuigen mij eigenlijk zelden. En zeker niet; hoe langer hoe beter. Conclusie: het basisniveau van deze plaat is hoog en kan worden gezien als een echte voorloper (met voorgaande platen) van de grunge. Dat is tof. Maar Neil heeft betere Young-platen gemaakt. 7/10 Highlights Over and Over Love to Burn Mansion on the Hill
Very decent, Love to Burn was an absolute banger.
Neil Dung
Totally biased as this is my fav Neil album. After some weird stuff in the 80s, Freedom and Ragged Glory brought him back to life. Released about a year before the grunge albums took off...Grandpa grunge delivers epic feedback and raunchy sloppy guitar sounds like only Crazy Horse can deliver.
It’s an ok album. Lyrically it’s not profound like a lot of Neil’s work. I enjoy his music either way.
This album was fine. Nothing for me to hate, but can't say I loved it. Never really listened to Neil Young by choice, as he’s never been my style. Some of this album was a bit too on the country side for me. The rock stuff was enjoyable for what it was. Again, not my cup of tea.
This is definitely not grunge. You can tell it was recorded live. It's interesting. I was promised this would rock harder than it does, but Neil Young is a folk singer at heart.
He's not young and they're not crazy.
tatterdemallions
hrá rokkplata. frekar góð en kveikti ekkert sérstaklega. fær aðra vegna fyrri kynna. 3,5.
I did quite like it. Over and Over, Mansion on the Hill were great. A few duds (Farmers daughter). Production is a bit garage band and vocals aren't everyone's cup of tea but that's the essence of Neil Young.
Just regular Neil young sounds. Nothing interesting here.
This is a bit naff
Yay we've moved on from that weird shit 80s N Young and found the garage grungy stuff. Fuck yeah! Lovely stuff
I can't stand Neil Young's voice
Understood this may have been a bit of a comeback for him after his intentional 80’s druthers outputting things to upset his label at the time. Parts of this I like, probably needs to be shorter to listen to the entire album in one sitting.
A good album. Not my favorite, but I could listen all day. His electric guitar work, while unique, has never been particularly good, yet manages to rock hard with the best of the bunch. His strength is his writing, which has carried the rest of his modest skills for decades. I’ve got no problem with that. God Bless Neil Young!
2.5
I have really tried with Neil Young's voice but I just can't get into it. Also not a fan of the 10 minute songs with guitar solos that just seem to go on and on. Not for me.
Not my favorite Neil Young work. I think his earlier albums are much better. Not sure if I would want to listen to this again, just not much for me to like about it.
Once again one or two of these songs are great but....
Campy, dated, boomer as hell but very fun. Somehow 4/5? 3.5 but let’s round up
Thrashy and grungy, nothing polished here, long sprawling solos and a pure live garage rock feel. An album I've listened to lots before, one of the reasons Neil is called the Godfather of Grunge
Wow, I really enjoyed this album. I never thought Neil Young could make an album that I’d enjoy as much as this one. The best way to describe it is folk rock with heavier, distorted guitars. That might sound like a strange combination, but he balanced all the elements perfectly, making it come together cohesively. Even though it’s raw and gritty, it still carries his trademark sound, so longtime fans can connect with it, while the heavier edge gives it the potential to reach a new audience.
Shaggy garage rock from an arena filler, loud and heavy and thick as sludge - NY is at his best in hard rock mode with guitar blazing and this is a giant dose of that. Not quite at the level of his 70s albums, but full of verge and reinventing himself for the 90s as the godfather of grunge - you can really hear what Pearl Jam in particular took from him here. The songs aren't especially remarkable, but work perfectly as mid tempo blues grooves for him to stretch out. And his guitar playing on this is great: controlled chaos on the precipice, the tone and phrasing and squall are so distinctive. Favorites: white line, fkng up, love to burn, mansion on the hill, love and only love
ahh neil young, my long-term musical nemesis. its been a while since ive heard an album of his and id be happy for the next while to be even longer NNN
Not his best
If this exact record had been made by anybody else, it wouldn't have been on the list. Not even if it was Elvis Costello. Favorite song: Mansion on the hill
Ronseal album: sounds like it says on the cover. And that's no bad thing.
I like Neil Young but this is a bit of a rough rag bag of an album. Not one of his high points.
I'm a huge Neil Young fan, yet even I feel like there are maybe one too many albums by him in Robert Dimery's list. And *this* might be the album to take out. Good rock guitar playing after a decade in which Neil spent time doing other things, for better ("Trans", "Freedom") or for worse (most of the other LPs he recorded during the eighties). The thing is, the songs in "Ragged Glory" are a little flat, and the tracklisting is not dynamic at all. When Neil Young released *Broken Arrow* five or six years later, the critics panned it. How ironic since it's very much the same sort of album, only with a couple of better highlights than the ones on *Ragged Glory*. Context can't justify everything. And there were quite a few better album released in 1990 anyway.... So now that I took out a Neil Young album from my own list, I have room for other great records. The only problem is that I'm now *very* tempted to include *Le Noise*, a criminally underrated, sepulchral-sounding later gem by the Loner himself. Unless I pick *Psychedelic Pill*, where Young finally succeeded in writing and recording the sort of project he partly failed to pull off for *Ragged Glory*. You're never out of the woods with good ole Neil Just when you think you can dismiss him, or even get rid of him, he's back for one reason or another. Just ask Stephen Stills about it. 3 for the purposes of this list. 8 for more general purposes (5+3) Number of albums left to review: 30 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 419 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 244 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 311 (including this one)
I have to say I really enjoyed this grunge/blues/rock mashup. Top tracks: Country Home Love to burn Mansion on the Hill Worst tracks: Farmer John (this song alone nearly dragged this album down a star)
I like Neil Young. This has the songs, the guitar workouts, the grungy sound. Super.
The best modern Neil Young album and a personal fave! Best track - Fuckin Up
The grungefather arrived with the album and I love it, Neil's voice can be grating sometimes and you either love it or hate it, I personally love it. I enjoy every song on this album but my favourite is Fuckin Up which I first heard through Pearl Jam.
Enjoyed the guitar, bello
could i write poetry to this? n
I'm still not a fan of Neil Young's screechy voice, but the presence of Crazy Horse as his backing band makes this much more bearable. Neil was really leaning into his "Godfather of Grunge" title here.
2.5. Just an average Neil Young album
I'm tempted to take a point off just because this is Young's 7th appearance so far. But it's still not bad.
never been the biggest Neil Young fan. Enjoy him with Crosby, Stills & Nash. And earlier with Buffalo Springfield. But could do without his "later solo" stuff. wasn't the biggest fan of this album.
Not a huge Neil Young fan and this album did nothing for me.
A good Neil Young album, but certainly not his best. Some songs really don't click with me, but they are compensated with some great rockers such as Country Home and mansion on the Hill. Peak grunge phase Neil Young and Crazy Horse. 3⭐️
One thing I didn't expect from a Neil Young album was for it to sound bland and uninspiring, but here we are. One or two songs actually commanded some attention, but the rest faded into a background of noise and 'meh'.
Old school 70’s rock
Slower Neil Young album
You can tell he thinks he sounds amazing.
The straightforwardness of approach here, which may have seemed refreshing at the time, now seems dull and unimaginative. One feels the band is having fun and enjoying the direct approach – the singalongs are telling, and there's a easy-going yet anthemic quality that is generally likable – but one isn't exactly challenged or asked to do much more than bounce along and so the overall effect is bordering on the anodyne. The vocals – never a Neil stroingpoint (except when they were perfect) – are especially trying. Fine, but not great and there are plenty of other better candidates in the Neil canon. Like a garage band removed to a big spread in the country ... which is what it is. Songwriting ranges from pedestrian (see the car lyric on "Days That Used to Be") to slightly better than (see line about walking as escape on "Country Home"). "Mansion On the Hill" seems a rather poorly chosen metaphor for '60s nostalgia. Some kind of proud Boomer affirmation of Boomer rock and it sounds just about that tired and banal today. It's down the middle, resolutely so and quite clearly by design so no wonder it's jsut about replacement level for this list. And in the sense that it's a conscious effort to do something specific, it's actually more similar to Trans and the Shocking Pinks than it seems. One admires artists for exploring and/or returning home which seems to be the consensus of what this record is all about ... but sometimes the results are not exacly breakthrough or mind-blow which is very much the case here. "Natural Anthem" is by far the most interesting cut (if a bit pedantic), but comes as too little, too late to redeem the overall record to much more than average. If editors were looking for late Neil Renaissance records, they had many better options, starting with Harvest Moon, the most obvious, which perhaps they wanted to avoid, which led to a major self-double-crossing down to overthinking.
It's a little country for me but I like the guitar parts lyrics are a little bit country
There are few things that seem to be eternally true. The Sky is blue, 1 + 1 = 2 and such - well it also seems to be true that Neil Young will be Neil Young. He’s kinda good but also really bad - he gets a 3/5
3.5/10 This one did its job competently: grungey alt rock with influences of country/folk, but it really didn’t work for me Sludgy music, long indulgent instrumental sections with wanky guitar, trite lyrics, an air of macho posturing. More self-serious North America rock that just doesn’t push my buttons Only reason I didn’t hate this was some of the excellent harmonised vocals Best: Mansion on the Hill
Mainio levy kerrassaan! Rouhea 4/5
Neil young kyllä osaa! 4/5
Neil Young fans probably feel the same way about hiphop as I feel about Neil Young.
Fun riffing.
I can not.
Nah
Mediocre garage band music from start to finish. A mediocre band would get three stars, but Mr. Young knows better than this.
dobrá kytara, pár světlejších bodů, jinak nic moc
Not sure if 90’s Neil is my thing. 3/5
Typically, I like Neil Young. His falsetto voice can be annoying sometimes, but his songs are good. This album, on the other hand, seems old and bloated. It sounds like a group of older men drinking beer and experiencing a sort of collective mid-life crisis.
Amazing that he managed to create grunge, when he's mostly a country folky, and just built on those. Rocks harder than I realized he still could in the 90s, and while he is neither a virtuosic singer nor guitarist he is effective and he is a virtuosic songwriter, even if he love and theft's the occasional melody - IE my back pages is pretty straightforwardly lifted on this one, who knows where bob lifted it. Other interesting neil take - ambulance blues was apparently off some british folkies numbetr.
Dinosaur Sr.
Hard Rock Neil Young! And it mostly works! Never would have guessed it. Farmer John keeps this from 5 stars
Not bad.
I don't know if it's because he's a bit older on this record or going for more of a country vibe, but Neil Young's voice on this isn't my favourite thing in the world, it sounds strained at times. I now understand the hate for it. 'Over and Over' is particularly bad. He doesn't sound in tune in places, like he's just wailing over the music. It features a lot of anthemic singalong choruses, which is definitely one way to get songs to stick in your head. The guitar throughout is really great and is easily the best thing about this album. It's gritty and raw. I'm surprised it sounds as grunge as it does, definitely not something I was expecting. It's actually really heavy sounding in places! I kind of want to be the guy who hates Neil Young, but fuck this was an enjoyable listen. Would have been a 5 if it wasn't for his voice which honestly isn't amazing, and also by the end of the album it does start to merge into one ever so slightly.