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

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

Gave me a boner the entire time

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.

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'.

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.

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!)

Fckn can't stand Neil Young

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 . . .

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. 

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.

“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.

If you don’t like this, seek help

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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

It’s Neil Young and Crazy Horse. What the fuck am I gonna say? 10/10

Probably my favorite of the three I’ve heard so far

Classic young, but fun

Great album

A classic.

neil young is my spirit animal

Excelentes músicas, consigo me ver ouvindo de vez em quando, quando estiver cansado de ouvir as mesmas coisas. Melhores: Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River e Cowgirl in the Sand. Pior: Round & Round.

A classic. Possibly a little bit underrated despite having four of his absolute best songs.

Neil Fucking Young. Nuff said.

Behagelig rock

fire

One of my favorite Neil Young albums. Ragged perfection.

.

Nice album.

Yup. This would make it onto a list half as long

This is the album that established both Neil Young and backing band Crazy Horse as forces to reckon with.

Love it

100

Una joya, que excelente disco

Classic Neil! Love this album!

Flows beautifully, great songs

Neil Young is a legend. Great Folk album

wonderful album, love it

Classic

I MEANNN. This is not my first time listening to this album. It is solid and it is fairly hype but not TOO hype because Young has a pretty chill voice. Good guitar and background music.

Great blend of folk, country, and rock. Young's vocals are not the greatest, but they have character and work well within the vocal harmonies. The excellent guitar work, supported by a strong rhythm section, really draws you in and makes this album a pleasant experience overall.

A 5-star album, easily: it is one of these absolute classic albums on the list and one of these timeless albums that stay good no matter how many times you listen to it. Very influential, but most of all: great songs. Of course, the two 10-minute songs stand out but the other songs are very strong too (except for Round & Round even though it still fits).

Hello again, Neil. I already said what I had to say about you.

Classic

Five stars right up until the fucking fiddle started on Running Dry goddamn it Neil why you gotta do me like that. Loved the guitar playing on Down by the River. Nah giving it five stars anyway

Primeiro.

Love this album. Great sound and alot of great songs in here.

Amazing

Jean in a convertible at main gate lol

Love the crazy horse sound. Young at his best

Classic country rock! Down by the river and Cowgirl in the Sand are staples of the genre for a good reason. The fantastic guitarplaying and Neils voice makes you wonder how the last 8 minutes of the song passed within what felt like seconds. Even after a second listen of this album it really leaves you breathless at times. This might very well be the best of Neil Young (and Crazy Horse) and deserving of the 5-star rating.

The best Neil Young album on this list so far. Great variety of its songs, wildly ahead of its time in some parts.

I listed to Neil Young’s self titled debut before this, and like, I really like Neil Young’s music, but sometimes the way he sings deadass sounds like Carl Wheezer still I really liked both the debut album and this one this album does have some songs I didn’t really like but the grand majority of the album slaps and I think it makes up for a mediocre song here and there overall 9/10, a classic in folk/rock history

When you compare this LP to Harvest or After the Gold Rush you can see the transformation of Neil Young's sound when he played with Crazy Horse. The production is sludgy and the playing is loose, more like a live recording. I like it when they say that many "long-time concert favourites" came from an album. These tracks usually weren't released as singles and the only way to determine that they drove album sales was to go and witness the live audience reaction after the first few notes. In this case we have Down by the River & Cowgirl in the Sand that fit that definition, not to mention Cinnamon Girl, but that was a single and not 10 minutes long. Fortunately for us, due to CanCon, we heard these songs more on the radio than the rest of the world.

classic

Just a top notch album. Helps that it has my fav song by Neil ... "Down by the River". A classic in all ways. A-

Don’t like round and round I get lost in down by the river. Great riff.

LP

Neil Young at his gritty best, self-righteousness and all.

Awww yeah.

Good shit, man.

beautiful

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

Masterpiece

This was a solid album, a great mix between country folk, rock, and a hint of Americana. I enjoyed all the songs, they all kind of hit you in different ways.

It's Neil. It's great. Loved every second of this album - it's got a bit more rock than folk to it I feel.

Track 2 “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” is probably my favorite. Very nostalgic, kind of melancholy. I already had “Harvest” downloaded making this my second Neil Young album. I’m liking him a lot more than I thought I would.

It's sad this album is no longer on Spotify since it's an absolute banger. Although I slightly prefer the live versions from 4 Way Street, this still absolutely rocks.

aivan todella kova levy! erityisesti loppuraidan kitarat jää raikaamaan päähän. 5/5.

How could I never heard about this album before? This thing slaps!

Un classique, j'adore neil young 5/5

Somehow I’d never heard this whole album. Growing up on classic rock radio I’d heard the singles. But they make a lot more sense together. This record feels ahead of it’s time. From the opening notes it’s hard to believe Cinnamon girl was released in 1969. Listening to it today, the extended meaningless solos on Down By the River are a real test of patience. DBTR almost ruins this record for me, but Cowgirl in the Sand saves it. That initial punch after the intro blew me away, and then the first solo is so much more purposeful than DBTR, and the band grooves so hard off it. By the time the second solo comes around I’m ready for something off-kilter, and now the manic energy of it makes sense and lasts just long enough. When the lead blends back into the verse playing a sweet distorted melody, it’s pretty much perfect. As it fades out, I’m ready to play it again.

Awesome album, cinnamon girl, down by the river, cowgirl in the sand

La primera del reguitzell d'obres mestres que l'amic Young aniria destilant durant les décades en què ha estat en actiu. Aquí fonamenta el que seria el so característic de la seva unió amb Crazy Horse, sobretot amb aquestes dues joies de jam imponent que són 'Down by the River' i 'Cowgirl in the Sand'. Apart, li donava temps a deixar-nos altres mostres d'orfebreria més breu però igual d'inspirada a 'Cinnamon Girl' i el tema que dona títol a l'àlbum

Easy 5. I wasn't always a fan of Neil Young, but this is the album that hooked me, where it finally clicked how brilliant the man is. It's easily my favorite Neil Young album, and for my money, his most perfectly realized work. Young strikes a balance here between his trademark grit and some really lovely songcraft that few artists are able to do. This is just his second solo album and he hits it out of the park, revealing his incredible depth as a musician and expressiveness as a vocalist and songwriter. His ability to move from prickly and dark to warm and introspective is effortless and enthralling. Every song on here is a gem. I could go on all day, but I think I'll just go listen to it again. Album was not available on Spotify, but is easy to find on YouTube. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): Cowgirl in the Sand, Down by the River, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Round & Round (It Won't Be Long), The Losing End (When You're On), Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets), Cinnamon Girl

Sometimes one is exactly the right number of notes for a guitar solo. The start of something special with Crazy Horse, and some absolute classics that set a template for Neil Young and *many* other bands. So good, I listened to it twice in a row :)

I really love this album. I think it's his best

So happy to see Neil once more in the 1001 - He deserve every positive reviews. In repeat :)

A really great discovery for me. I still have much to discover from Neil's discography, but this one is clearly one of my favorites yet.

For some reason, I haven't listened to that one as often as the other big Neil classics of the first half of the 70's. That's certainly not because the album isn't as good. On the contrary. There are no lesser moments on this, this is Neil Young at his absolute best. The onyl reason why I wouldn't spin that one all the time is because he has so much great material to choose from. Flawless.

Really enjoyed this, particularly Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, and Running Dry. Nice snappy album.

Neil Young’s first collaboration with Crazy Horse. I loved this record. Really raw country-tinged rock, with some long jams here and there. Records like this really planted the seeds for grunge music further down the line.

sonzeira muito nask, grande bluesman

PREFS : Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Round & Round (It Won't Be Long), Down By the River, The Losing End (When You're On), Cowgirl in the Sand MOINS PREF : Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)

One of my all times already! So happy to revisit this one.