Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young is easily the most overrated artist on this whole list. He's an awful singer, a boring musician, and a mediocre songwriter at best. This is some of the most vanilla, cardboard cutout, middle-of-the-road music I've ever heard. It was on track to get a bland 3 stars from me but somewhere around the middle of the album, someone started committing warcrimes with what I think was a fiddle. Hard to tell. All I know is that the atonal screeching most certainly violated the Geneva convention and should have landed Mr. young in jail for crimes against humanity. Two stars is generous.

DAOWN BY DA RIVURRRRRR AH SHAT MAH BAYBEEEEEEE

Neil Young's second solo album, released only four months after his first, was nearly a total rejection of that polished effort. Though a couple of songs, "Round Round (It Won't Be Long)" and "The Losing End (When You're On)," shared that album's country-folk style, they were altogether livelier and more assured. The difference was that, while Neil Young was a solo effort, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere marked the beginning of Young's recording association with Crazy Horse, the trio of Danny Whitten (guitar), Ralph Molina (drums), and Billy Talbot (bass) that Young had drawn from the struggling local Los Angeles group the Rockets. With them, Young quickly cut a set of loose, guitar-heavy rock songs -- "Cinnamon Girl," "Down by the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand" -- that redefined him as a rock & roll artist. The songs were deliberately underwritten and sketchy as compositions, their lyrics more suggestive than complete, but that made them useful as frames on which to hang the extended improvisations ("River" and "Cowgirl" were each in the nine-to-ten-minute range) Young played with Crazy Horse and to reflect the ominous tone of his singing. Young lowered his voice from the near-falsetto employed on his debut to a more expressive range, and he sang with greater confidence, accompanied by Whitten and, on "Round Round," by Robin Lane. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere was breathtakingly different when it appeared in May 1969, both for Young and for rock in general, and it reversed his commercial fortunes, becoming a moderate hit. (Young's joining Crosby, Stills & Nash the month after its release didn't hurt his profile, of course.) A year and a half after its release, it became a gold album, and it has since gone platinum. And it set a musical pattern Young and his many musical descendants have followed ever since; almost 30 years later, he was still playing this sort of music with Crazy Horse, and a lot of contemporary bands were playing music clearly influenced by it.

Daily Neil Young Fun Fact #837: While the "Neil" part of his name might be true, he's actually quite old (not visible on the cover) Daily Crazy Horse Fun Fact #489: While the "Crazy" part of his name might be true, he's actually a dog (blatantly visible on the cover) Daily Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere #035: Contrary to the title of the album, it was actually recorded "somewhere", as recording an album "nowhere" proved to be too difficult, especially after Neil Young's guitar pick got stolen by the Interdimensional Terror Lord X'nthp'thurgh. Also the music sucks. Put it back on Spotify, Neil. The jig is up. 2/5

Gave me a boner the entire time

Classic. Neil knocked it out of the park with his new, grungy rock sound, and managed to balance it out with a good selection of his well established country folk sound as well. With not a single point feeling waisted here, this made for an exceptional start to what would be exceptional run of albums. Favorites: Cinnamon Girl, Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand

Though it’s only a few songs, this album takes its time to properly build each song without overstaying its welcome. One of my favorite things is Neil Young’s strange lead guitar lines and solos. He uses interesting rhythms and accidentals in his playing that give his solos a frantic yet earnest feeling that really suits this music.

I stand on principle: I hear Neal Young -> instant 1 star. I loved albums from bad singers. At least they had something to say with creative lyrics. I loved stripped down/raw/(fill in next cliche here) albums because they had still some creative energy and some surprising songwriting. I think I loved some albums with a violin thrown in the middle of a track because it added something meaningful to a song. But this one takes the cake. Checks all the boxes without any redeeming feature. Bland, boring, average everything. And that god awful voice saying the most uninteresting words. And theres a violin screeching the same fucking high pitched note on Running Dry. Props to the sound engineer to had to endure that. Oddly enough, I've heard worse Neil Young albums. An extra 0.5 points for the parts where he shuts up and the band just jams. 1.5 total which I will round DOWN to 1 out of spite.

Saved Prior: None Not Saved: 7. Round & Round Cutting Edge: 6. Running Dry 5. Cinnamon Girl Saved: 4. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere 3. The Losing End 2. Cowgirl in the Sand 1. Down by the River Overall Notes: Don't usually listen to much of this country/rock stuff, so didn't expect to like this at all. A 4.5 that I rounded up for because of how much it blew my expectations out of the water. Good vibes and fun instrumentals. I'm excited to hear more from this up and comer 'Neil Young'.

The songs here are generally simple and pleasant. Mostly basic stuff though. I found youngs voice to be a bit ‘take it or leave it’. Some of the songs don’t really seem to ‘go anywhere’. Nevertheless this album was enjoyable and exceeded my initial expectations. Generally the longer tracks were nice and crazy horse provides some enjoyable, but not outstanding, instrumentation. Overall I think the last track ‘cowgirl in the sand’ was the best of both young and crazy horse on this album. Overall I feel three stars is appropriate. This is a good album, but I could live without it (as I might have to thanks to that fuss with Spotify!)

“Everybody seems to wonder What it's like down here I gotta get away from this day-to-day running around, Everybody knows this is nowhere.” -me, telling people what it’s like to work IT in a basement office at a Fortune 500 company.

Fckn can't stand Neil Young

If you don’t like this, seek help

Always a good day when a Neil Young album is generated. Especially with Crazy Horse backing him up. Just a great album. So many classics on here. RIP Danny Gatten.

I've passionately hated every Neil young album that this list has given me, except for this one. i only hate half of it. the tracks with electric guitar are pretty good, but then you have to sift past all of the whiny country stuff thats just background music for red dead redemption.

4 songs in and I already know this is a 5 star album. Gritty yet soft. Nothing else like it.

Neil Young's first album with Crazy Horse and a major step-up from his debut album. In fact, this is his first true masterpiece. Every song has simply incredible songwriting and the deliveries that are both sentimental and energetic served as a new path into ´Singer-Songwriter music in the 70's and it's the first time where the title "Godfather of Grunge" makes sense when looking at Neil Young. This album is a masterpiece and incredibly close to being perfect. It mainly takes the in Buffalo Springfield established Country Rock and Singer-Songwriter style but adds some more Folk and Hard Rock into a wonderful mix of any of these genres. 'Cinnamon Girl' kicks things off with one of the earliest examples of Proto-Grunge. It's mainly a Hard Rock song, that has so many other influences from Proto-Punk over Country to Garage Rock but does it that it works together perfectly. The songwriting is absolutely phenomenal and the sound is diverse but true to itself. This is straight up music from the 70's and not 1969. Did I say enough? This is a perfect song, right off the bat. The title track, 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere', might be one of the best true Country Rock songs of the 60's. It perfectly combines the Country aesthetic with elements and influences of Southern Rock into a one of a kind experience that simply works. It's beautiful and every part, including the backing vocals work perfectly to create a short, simply but effective and passionate song that is again, perfect. The energetic sound is tuned back on 'Round & Round (It Won't Be Long)' and replaced with a sentimental Singer-Songwriter Folk song that not only makes one incredibly sad but is also full of psychedelic parts that push you further into a spiral of emotions that Young perfectly combines and works upon. Even at nearly 6 minutes, the song doesn't get boring or looses its emotional impact on you and the vocals that he puts on here are absolutely amazing and add so much to the feeling of the song. It's a very sad song but another masterpiece as well. The return of the Country Rock sound comes in a very grand way, as 'Down by the River' is a nearly 10 minute long Jam Band epic that's not only Bluesy Country Rock but also adds some nice Acid Rock and Folk moments into this masterpiece. The songwriting is again, absolutely phenomenal and the chorus is incredible. The Jam part of the song is really well made and keeps it interesting the whole way through, even if I wish there was more Neil Young vocals on it as it is mainly what I love about his music. He does return at the halfway mark with some really nice verses before returning to the wonderful chorus before retuning to the instrumental Jam. The same thing happens again at the end. Now, the song in it's entirety is incredible, no question, but does it need the long Jam session... No. I do like them but the song would've been even better without. Is it still absolutely incredible? Yes. Perfect? Honestly... yeah! I had some doubt but it's just way to good not be called perfect. The albums second half starts with 'The Losing End (When You're On)', a straight up Country song that only features a little bit of Rock in the mix. I do like it a lot and I think it's a great song with absolutely stunning songwriting but some parts are just not deliverd in the way that I'd want them to and the bridge is really not my thing here. It's a really great song but doesn't go past that, at least for me. 'Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)' goes back to the Folk Rock and the addition of some Violin is really adding to the progressive feeling of this song but also the entire album. The vocals do sound a little too dull even when it does add to the atmosphere of the song, it is a little too much in terms of contrasting the rest of the songs recording quality. Does that take away from the enjoyment much? Not really. The song isn't perfect but still absolutely incredible and incredibly hypnotic especially towards the end. The album closes off with another long Jam Band epic. This time 'Cowgirl in the Sand' is over 10 minutes long and much more in the Hard Rock sound from the start. But it also adds the Country, Folk and Blues additions that 'Down by the River' had. Neil Young again delivers with amazing songwriting that is hard to top with how effective it is. The verses and chorus are simply perfect and although I do enjoy the Jam parts of the song, they are much less interesting than on 'DbtR' and I do feel a tiny little bit tired near the end. The song is still an incredible song that absolutely deserves a listen but when held side by side with the rest of the album, it does pale a little bit to side 1. Still, a magnificent track and a perfect outro for this masterpiece of an album. favourites: Round & Round (It Won't Be Long), Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Down by the River, Cinnamon Girl least favourites: The Losing End (When You're On) Rating: very strong 9 (super close to a 10 but not quite) https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

Essential Neil Young album, one of the five best records of his lengthy career by almost all (different) counts out there (and the first one of them, chronologically speaking). *Cinnamon Girl*, the title track, and the long "Down By The River" and "Cowgirl In The Sand", with their epic guitar soloing and hypnotic repetitions, are just the stuff of legend. But even a less known cut such as the borderline-psychedelic post-apocalyptic country number "Running Dry", with its evocative and ominous fiddle in the background, is worth the detour here. Five stars, obviously. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 844 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory: 84 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 39 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 32

Neil Young is in the camp of Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, NIN, and Prince.

classic, still can't get enough of this record - sent me into a Neil spiral

I don’t get it. I wish I did. He seems like a kind, genuine, interesting guy. And he’s got some interesting musical ideas. I appreciate that he hasn’t found his vocal fry yet. I giggled at realizing that the song called It Won’t Be Long would, in fact, be. By the second guitar break in Down By the River I was no longer pleased. Why do Crazy Horse always sound like a group of 15 year olds who’ve been playing for a year? I’m a devotee of the punk rock ethos - emotional expression beats gratuitous technical demonstration every time. But this “unaccomplished" sound is so cultivated that it comes across every bit as pretentious as, say, Emerson Lake & Palmer. I’m not a fan of jam bands. But while listening to the masturbation of EL&P or the Winter brothers is difficult, at least you have the "but what they’re doing is really impressive.” Listening to this messy masturbation is just plain difficult. The punks don’t force us to sit through extended jams.

It's whiny Neil young, but a little less whiny and a little more rocky. I still find it interminably boring though

I'm starting to think Neil Young is highly overrated....He's all over the place - everything is hit or miss, and this one is a miss for me

Fantastic record start to finish. Solid tracks like Cinnamon Girl, Cowgirl, and River with lots of airplay, and don't sleep on the groovy title track. Obligatory diss to JR for his bs that has Neil pulling his music from Spotify . . .

Love the crazy horse sound. Young at his best

Really fun to listen to while working! Never listened to Neil Young but this forced me to check out more and it’s great!

Scene: Reprise Records executive office, 1969. A balding man in a three-piece suit is languidly smoking a large cigar with his feet up on the mahogany desk. The phone rings, and he answers it. We only hear his side of the conversation. "Neil, baby! Long time, no hear. Just heard the demo of the new album you sent over, some great material there. That 'Cinnamon Girl' is going to sell a million copies! And that song where you suddenly shoot your girlfriend for no reason is just hilarious -- shot her for no reason at all! I'll book some studio time right away. Who do you think for the band? Keltner? Wachtel? Who else? Do you think Stills or Crosby would do a guest spot?" There is a lengthy pause while the person on the other end of the line speaks. "What do you mean 'that's the album'? Aren't you going to record it properly? Get a producer to arrange the songs? Finish the lyrics? Tune the guitars, at least!" Further speaking on the end of the phone. The executive rises to his feet, now shouting. "What is this shit, Young? You can't just dump a turd like this and say 'it's my new album'. I know what your contract says, but for chrissakes, Neil, you're killing me here - fuck you!" He slams down the phone receiver, picks up his cigar and stares out the window, slowly shaking his head.

Three times in a row Young?? WTF? This is bullshit!

Yeah. It's just another CSNY album. Who cares? There are like 17 of these on this list. Who in God's name cares about any member of CSNY to put them on this list more than once? This isn't even one of the more interesting albums! This list has been giving me quite a few duds lately.

4.5/5 Listening to this while stranded in the middle of nowhere, drinking a strawberry lemonade from the gas station, with a cool breeze smelling of rain—a spiritual experience.

Quite simply, this sounds fantastic. I love the cutting guitar work that electrifies these songs, which a year or two later would add so much to friends Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The site lists this as Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Singer Songwriter. The sum is so much greater than the parts. Just one trigger warning: If you're squeamish about the Beatles' "Run for Your Life," you are really going to have trouble with "Down By The River." Because apparently, she did…

Neil Young and Crazy Horse are amazing. In seven songs they break out rock standards, anthems, ballads, laments, and country. And they make it seem effortless. If you think about it too much, you may start to wonder how it fits together. So, don't. Just hit repeat and enjoy another play through. It moved my rating from a 4 to a 5, and my respect for Neil continues to grow and grow!

I’ve never listened to the whole album start to finish before. It’s excellent.

Stellar country rock and folk rock, with some great hard rock too. There are also some nice jams, particularly on “Down By the River.” Awesome guitar solos throughout. “Cinnamon Girl” is a classic too. I love that Neil Young has this hard rock side to him. The songwriting is excellent all around. Lots of great tunes.

This is one of the defining albums of my life - I used to work in a music store in the UK in the 1970's and Cowgirl in the Sand was the trackc we always planned to close the store during the week

Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River and Cowgirl are three monster songs and are so good that the rest of the tracks could be Justin Bieber songs and the LP would still get a 5.  Now I'll digress: In 1985 I saw Neil during the Canadian National Exhibition. He was touring in support of his Old Ways LP, a country album that nobody bought. He had a 500 lb fiddler who easily bowed his weight and lit up the country songs. As soon as we heard the opening chords to  Down by the River, my buddy Rick (RIP) and I immediately thought the same thing: What on earth is the 500 lb fiddler going to do during this song? We quickly concluded the best bet was that he would  skip out to the CNE's Food Building; after all he had a good 15 minutes.  But nooooo. He stayed on stage  and bowed something that wasn't too interruptive while the rest of the boys kicked it hard. 

One of my all-time favorite records. I'd go 4.5/5 if I could, but this deserves more than 4.

Hooray for vinyl day. Cowgirl in the Sand, Down by the River, Cinnamon Girl. This is a great album.There's really not a terrible track on here, the worst of it being forgettable, which is more than can be said for Harvest. This is one of my favorites from Neil and the Horse. He's at his feverish best.

Crazy Horse bringing the rock to Neil Young's folk, the start of a beautiful relationship.

Cinnamon Girl - 4/5 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - 4/5 Round & Round (It Won't Be Long) - 3/5 Down by the River - 5/5 The Losing End (When You’re On) - 3.5/5 Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets) - 3/5 Cowgirl in the Sand - 4.5/5 As an introduction to Neil Young as a solo artist, this is a pretty good album for a first-time listener. It struggles a bit with the more slower songs but interestingly excels in the longer-form songs. Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand are the best examples of this and are probably the best two tracks to come off this album. Overall: 4/5 Favorites: Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Down by the River

An all time classic. Amazing guitar work and songs, no skips.

Incredibly somber. First time listening to country genre. A great listen. Keen to explore more of Neil Young. Highlights: Round & Round, Down by the River, Running Dry, Cowgirl in the Sand.

Awesome Neil Young record. Any time Crazy Horse is involved I'm going to like it, as I really dig the electric sound behind Neil's soft vocal timbre. This one is pretty dynamic and is a fresh listen. "Round & Round" is a beautiful acoustic track with great vocal harmonies, and "Down by the River" is so lively; I don't know much about the recording process for this record but I would be surprised if it wasn't recorded with the band in the same room. The production is really quite tight and every instrument sounds clear and distinct. A great feat for 1969. Great album, great album cover.

Good album. The longer songs were more interesting to me. When Neil lets the guitar go, I get happy.

A short album, but packed full of classics. Neil always has great lyrics and the music to back it.

Most of the songs on this fairly short album are loose and wiry, and many tumble on longer than necessary, but the upbeat numbers have a pleasant bounce and lilt to them, and the harmonies give it charm. The title track is a sunny island in the rolling sea of this album. ‘Down by the River’ rambles for an awfully long time, but it holds water as a punchy murder ballad. It’s not an album I would go back to time and time again, but it’s really nice to hear some of the formative music of the folk rock genre that may have inspired some of the modern artists I listen to now.

I like the idea of Neil Young better than I like Neil Young. Cinnamon Girl is a terrific song. I like cover versions better. In 1969 this was probably a good record. The playing is capable but the songs are too long by half. Noodling is for practice it shouldn’t be committed to vinyl. Same thing live. Skip the guitar solos or any solos for that matter. Be concise. Have a message. Communicate. Inspire. Unfortunately, none of these apply to this record. Sounds great though. Well produced. Just a little dull. And in a world where people can listen to Neil’s whining (and I’m Canadian and Neil is a legend) without going - whoa - that dudes got a shitty voice - this record is a tough listen precisely because his weakness is himself. Imagine these songs with an actual vocalist with a tone that doesn’t cause digs to shit themselves when they hear his voice (as my dog did when I pit this on). This would be a notch better imo. Not good, but better. Don’t forget the noodling. If you excuse the lengthy noodling, replace Neil, then you’d have a good record. 3/5 because Neil is Canadian.

Liked the instrumental parts of the songs

it was fine but i’ve already forgotten it

I must be unAmerican because I am pretty much the only person in this country who isn't in love with everything Neil Young does. Unless he has a C and an S (sometimes even an N) near his name in the lineup, I find myself underwhelmed. +1 star because my husband said he liked it.

Instrumentally this album is a massive win. Brilliant guitar and bass work throughout, with extremely interesting rhythm guitars plucking away in the background underneath the lead. Ultimately though the pace and tone of the album falls slightly flat at points. The folk-rock vibe is enjoyable but there aren't enough stand out moments for it to score higher than a 6/10.

Ok - not a bad listen just not really my thing

Not bad if you like 9 minute guitar noodles! He’s done better

The voice is really a love it or hate it deal. The instrumentals are ok though. As far as country rock goes, pretty good. But those jams are going to remain the strongest parts

Nine albums on this list are from Neil Young, solo or his other projects. NINE. And they all sound the same. They're all perfectly adequate but like, c'mon man.

Not even a great Neil Young album. Not sure how it can be top 1001. Time will tell but I’m not loving this merry go round. 5.0. Cinnamon Girl is the best song and I would rather hear any other of his big hits.

Comfy. Loved the last song.

Very light 3. A folk rock album, there are some interesting elements like the guitar solos, but many of the songs blend together and leaving me impatient for the sound to change up. If I'm not paying too close attention, it sounds fairly pleasant. The title track and "Down By the River" sound pretty good.

Deze is gewoon echt gruwelijk. De zang is zo vals, ik zweer dat ik dit beter zou kunnen. Ook slechte gitaar, alsof je een tiener band hebt van pubers die spontaan een gitaar hebben gekocht. Hoe is hij ooit beroemd geworden?

Oh dear god, a second Neil Young album in two days!

this week was the worst (musically speaking) damn 2/5 🐎

Quite boring folky album. Not one to listen to again.

You know, this is only my second Neil Young album, but I think I’m starting to realize I don’t care for his music. The first two songs were alright, and I thought that maybe a lot of the naysayers were a little harsh. But then the rest of the album drags on and the more I heard Neil Young, the more he’s just… eh. Honestly, there’s nothing special here and his mediocre voice just makes it worse. There’s also some annoying shit like the random “la la la’s” sprinkled here and there, especially on the title track. And the violin on Running Dry should look for a lawyer, because that it was being violated. Truth be told, and I fucking hate saying this, my major problem with classic rock (at least the 60’s to the 70’s) is that most of the songs have a jam band mentality. Basically they would stretch the songs by cramming it meandering guitar solos, which resulted in 5-6 minutes tracks. It’s makes albums harder for me, because the songs start to bore me. I hate saying that, because it sounds like a modern Gen Z thing to say, like some kind of “Old music is boring” bullshit, but it’s true to me most times. Mixing that with Neil’s vocals, I don’t think I’m going to enjoy the remaining plethora of Neil Young albums ahead of me. Favorite track: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Other hits: Cinnamon Girl

Neil Young just doesn’t do it for me.

God Neil Young is so boring. I've heard this album more times than I'd like to count, and I still don't like it.

Fuck me, 7 in a year huh. I think my favorite part is that every Neil Young album is the exact same. You could tell me this was from that 1990 or that one on the beach and I’d buy it. No innovation. No evolution. Fuck off. 2 more to go.

Well that was incredibly boring. Just twiddling about on the guitar and singing utterly forgettable songs.

This was more listenable than other Neil Young songs I’ve heard.. BUT I JUST DON’T GET WHY HE IS SO REVERED

I wouldn't mind it if it came on in a retail setting

Absolutely fine slice of Americana which didn't make much impact on me.

The best part of the album was when I got 2 minutes into "Down By the River" and could just enjoy Crazy Horse rocking out for a while, without having to endure Neil's shitty voice.

Cinnamon girl is a great song, but the rest is schrammel-Folkrock. No need to buy, Nichtmal von nem alten Kerl wie mir.

har hørt et helt album med REKLAMER og mellem hver anden sang og det er altsammen NEIL YOUNG og JOE ROGANS skyld synes egentligt ikke som sådan nogen af sangene var dårlige det er bare slet ikke min stil! sorry neil!

Gitaar gepingel met een monotone jank stem.

Ehhhhhh. If Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen had a voice baby, it'd be Neil Young on this album.

So boring

Naaaaaa

Cannot stand Neil Young

Neil Young. Man, this album started out strong. Cinnamon Girl? Classic. After that, it WAY drops off into 60's singer songwriter guitar noodling. And the violin noodling on Running Dry sounded more like Chinese music. No, Neil. Just no. My Rating: 1/5

Dull. I've already forgotten it.

Very repetitive and annoying. Did not like.

yeah no i can't stand this lmao

fuck hard rock

Cinnamon Girl is probably my least favorite song of all time.

Old Boring Bastard

Excellent album. I loved the jams!

Along with albums from Velvet Underground and Nico, the Stooges and Black Sabbath, this is THE most influential 60s album in the development of quote unquote alternative rock n roll. You could make a list of 1001 bands from the 70s to today for whom this album's shaggy, stripped down, spaced out take on country rock is the rosetta stone. I love this sound, it scratches such an elemental itch in my music listening brain. This album feels like being stoned to the bone rolling a smoke on a couch in a garage on a hot Wednesday afternoon. Dig it.

Tricky one. Back in the 70s this album seemed amazing - like a total revelation. Perfect songs performed with passion and wonderful guitar interplay. To me now it feels a bit dated. I'm still never giving it less than five stars. Not so tricky after all.

I love how all the reviews for this are either 'wow this is great' or some version of 'fuck I can't stand Neil Young'. That's how you know you've made it as an artist. I happen to be the former, I've always really liked all of Neil Young's solo stuff and I feel like he was a much better musician solo than he ever was in any of his other bands. But for me this makes the sixth of his solo albums on this list and I think that's too many. If you can only pick 1001 records would you really take 6 Neil Young Albums? I'd pick this one for sure. Not sure I need 5 others... Anyway, kicking off with Cinnamon Girl is a great way to start a record. I love the way Neil Young plays guitar. Particularly his style with electrics, it's so different and quirky. I feel like this album is really where he started exploring that style of playing - it's laid back, rough, bold, harsh, chill, and wild all at the same time. The repetitive notes work so well for the groove somehow and I love it. Case in point - Down by the River. I really like this album as a whole, it might be Neil Young's best. 4.5/5 and will round up just because.

I first listened to this last year actually. I really enjoyed how jammy this is on revisiting it. Neil is for sure my favorite Canadian.

это ахуеный рок 60ых просто мясо 90

February is off to a really good start with this Neil Young classic, the first of his albums I ever owned, bought on cassette in my schooldays, late 70s. No filler here, it's a stunning album from the opener Cinammon Girl through to Cowgirl In The Sand.

I'll search for detailed information about this classic Neil Young album to provide you with a thorough review. **Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere** (Reprise Records, May 1969) represents the moment Neil Young shed his folk-rock skin and became something far more dangerous, unmoored, and essential. Recorded over a fragmented two-month period at Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood with a bar-band trio he’d poached from the Sunset Strip only days earlier, the album captures a creative lightning strike—seven songs that established the template for the next fifty years of Young’s career and helped birth what would eventually be called grunge. --- ### **The Music: Primitive, Visceral, Liberated** Musically, this is the sound of constraint dissolving. After the orchestrated, studio-polished debut *Neil Young* (1968), this record arrives like a drunken stumble into a garage. Young’s partnership with Crazy Horse—guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina—creates a rhythmic trance (*boom-boom-thak*) that abandons technical precision for visceral chemistry. The album’s architecture is defined by tension between compact pop and sprawling improvisation. **"Cinnamon Girl"** opens with a riff so fundamental it feels carved from bedrock, driven by Whitten’s high harmonies that blend so seamlessly with Young’s lead that they sound like a single fractured voice. The infamous "one-note solo" (actually the same note played on two strings with a wang bar) is a masterclass in minimalist expression—Young insists each repetition sounds different, and in the context of the song’s mounting fever, he’s right. Then there are the epics: **"Down by the River"** (9:13) and **"Cowgirl in the Sand"** (10:03). These aren’t jams in the Grateful Dead sense; they’re trance rituals. Built on two-chord vamps that function as meditation loops, the songs create space for Young’s guitar to explore emotional territory rather than melodic complexity. His solos here—staccato bursts, sustained distortion, abrupt shifts from piercing highs to guttural lows—anticipated the tonal vocabulary of punk and grunge decades later. As music lecturer Ken Bielen notes, this approach offered "a viable alternative to the fire-breathing blues of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix" . **"Round and Round (It Won't Be Long)"** offers a brief sanctuary—a country waltz with ghostly acoustic guitars and the ethereal harmony of guest Robin Lane, whose wordless vocals float above the verses like carnival music heard through fog. It’s one of Young’s most melodically gorgeous compositions, a stark contrast to the electric warfare surrounding it. --- ### **Production: Calculated Accidents** Produced by Young and David Briggs, the recording process embraced imperfection as aesthetic. The album was captured quickly—sometimes the band had only been together for days when tracking. "We didn't even know what we sounded like until we heard the album," Young later recalled . The production choices border on the perverse: - **"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"** uses a scratch vocal Young sang through the studio’s low-quality talk-back microphone, deliberately bypassing the mixing board to capture a "spitty-sounding" impedance mismatch . - The extended tracks were edited from multiple takes—radical cuts were made to "Down by the River" to remove sections where the performance collapsed, though you can still hear the seams if you listen closely . - **"Cinnamon Girl"** features handclaps inspired by The Angels’ "My Boyfriend’s Back" (1963), adding a girl-group primitivism to the heavy riffs. Young later expressed regret about the final mix of "Cinnamon Girl," where he buried Whitten’s vocal in favor of his own high part: "I fucked up. I did not know who Danny was. He was better than me... Some things you wish never happened" . --- ### **Lyrics & Themes: Darkness in the Canyon** The album’s lyrical content ranges from deceptively simple to deeply troubling, often masking LA disillusionment beneath country-rock tropes. **Dislocation and Disillusionment:** The title track masquerades as a country song about a homesick rural transplant ("I think I’d like to go back home and take it easy"), but the lyrics reveal Young’s disgust with the Laurel Canyon scene: "Everybody seems to wonder what it’s like down here/Gotta get away from this day-to-day running around/Everybody knows this is nowhere" . By 1969, the hippie idealism of the Canyon was curdling into commercialism; Young sensed the rot before others. **Toxic Masculinity and Violence:** **"Down by the River"** remains one of rock’s most disturbing narratives—a first-person confession of domestic murder ("I shot my baby/Down by the river"). Young initially dismissed it as being about "blowin’ your thing with a chick," but later acknowledged it depicted a man "who had a lot of trouble controlling himself" . The lyrics suggest entitlement and possession curdling into violence ("When you could be taking me for a ride"), while the unrelenting bass line and group vocals create a haunting, inevitable atmosphere. **Relationship Stasis:** **"Round and Round"** explores the paralysis of pride in dying relationships—"How slow and slow and slow it goes/To mend the tear that always shows"—capturing the exhaustion of cyclical conflict without resolution . **Problematic Gender Politics:** **"Cowgirl in the Sand"** features lovely melodic sections and Talbot’s undulating bass, but the lyrics ("It’s the woman in you that makes you want to play this game") reek of 1969’s casual sexism, framing female autonomy as manipulative game-playing . While some defend it as period-appropriate, critics note that timeless art should transcend its era’s blind spots—and here, the lyrics anchor an otherwise transcendent musical achievement to dated gender attitudes. --- ### **Influence and Legacy: The Godfather of Grunge** *Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere* fundamentally altered rock’s trajectory. When released, it was "breathtakingly different"—a commercial risk that reversed Young’s fortunes and established the Crazy Horse sound as his primary vehicle . **Direct Influence:** Robert Plant quoted "Down by the River" during Led Zeppelin’s 1970 Royal Albert Hall performance . The album’s distorted, feedback-laden guitar work directly influenced the alternative rock explosion of the 1990s—Kurt Cobain, Thurston Moore, J. Mascis, and Trey Anastasio all absorbed Young’s anti-technique approach, where emotion trumped precision . By the early ’90s, Young was celebrated as a "Godfather of Grunge," performing with Pearl Jam and retaining credibility while his contemporaries faded into classic-rock nostalgia. **The Danny Whitten Factor:** This remains the only complete studio album featuring the original Crazy Horse lineup. Whitten’s death from heroin in 1972 ended an era. His rhythm guitar work and high harmonies were crucial to the album’s texture—he was, as drummer Ralph Molina noted, "the heart and the soul" of the group’s equation . The chemistry here is unrepeatable; subsequent Crazy Horse lineups could approximate but never replicate the fragile telepathy captured in these sessions. --- ### **Pros and Cons** **Strengths:** - **Raw Spontaneity:** The album captures a band discovering its identity in real-time, resulting in performances impossible to replicate . - **Guitar Innovation:** Young’s solos expanded rock’s tonal palette, proving that one well-placed note could carry more weight than a hundred scales. - **Melodic Strength:** Despite the abrasive textures, songs like "Cinnamon Girl" and "Round and Round" feature hooks that lodge permanently in memory . - **Vocal Chemistry:** The interplay between Young and Whitten (particularly on "Cinnamon Girl" and the title track) creates a singular vocal texture—high and lonesome, yet warm. - **Side One Sequencing:** The opening four-song run (through "Down by the River") represents one of the strongest sides in rock history . **Weaknesses:** - **Lyrical Blind Spots:** "Cowgirl in the Sand" suffers from dated, reductive gender politics that undercut its musical grandeur . - **Runtime Bloat:** While the extended jams are historically significant, "Down by the River" can feel interminable to modern listeners not attuned to its hypnotic intent—its nine-plus minutes demand patience. - **Side Two Drop-off:** After the powerhouse first side, the album loses momentum. "The Losing End (When You’re On)" and "Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)"—despite Bobby Notkoff’s haunting violin on the latter—feel like placeholders compared to what precedes them . - **Deliberate Lo-Fi:** The "spitty" vocal on the title track and the generally unvarnished production, while intentional, may alienate listeners seeking polish over atmosphere. --- ### **Verdict** *Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere* is a masterpiece of controlled chaos—a document of four musicians catching lightning in a bottle before they even understood their own alchemy. It established Young as the patron saint of beautiful ugliness, proving that rock music could be simultaneously primitive and sophisticated, melodic and abrasive, spontaneous and meticulously constructed. While certain lyrical elements betray its 1969 origins, the musical innovation remains startlingly contemporary. This is where Neil Young became **Neil Young**, and where rock learned that perfection is often the enemy of truth.

The review section is crazy here. Love Neil Young? 5 star album. Hate Neil Young? 1 star. Personally, I enjoyed this more than After the Gold Rush, which I gave 4 stars. The thing is, people comment about his voice (not good) and his lyrics (uninspired), and I agree, but I don't listen to Neil Young to be moved, I listen to hear some nice guitar playing. Neil absolutely shreds on this album, and I'd argue moreso than Gold Rush, which unless I'm mistaken is a more critically acclaimed album, hence my higher rating. 4.5

Damn. For reasons unknown to me, I had never been familiar with Neil Young's work before. And what an amazing discovery it is. The vocals and guitar playing are both excellent. Incredibly good, especially for 1969.

Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, and Cowgirl in the Sand all on one album is absolutely filthy work and more than enough to make up for this album being 57.1% filler tracks.

Loved it! I’m a big Neil Young fan, knew some of these songs from the Live Rust album but hadn’t heard this whole album before. Cinnamon Girl is an all-time classic from the Godfather of Grunge. I also enjoyed Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand but really the whole album is right up my alley and will definitely be coming in for repeated listens over the coming week.

This album was awesome, ESPECIALLY the back half.

this is the greatest album to ever exist in the history of albums. easily neil's best. perfect music all around.

So many hits I liked it