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.

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.

DAOWN BY DA RIVURRRRRR AH SHAT MAH BAYBEEEEEEE

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.

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 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.

Fckn can't stand Neil Young

“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.

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.

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!)

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.

If you don’t like this, seek help

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'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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Comfy. Loved the last song.

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.

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.

Old Boring Bastard

About fifteen years ago, a crew would consistently come by my place for vinyl parties. Those were the days in my life where I look back already and say ‘those were the days.’ People would bring their new vinyls, but we’d also spin a lot of classics. ‘Everybody Knows This is Nowhere’ was a constant. If ever I felt critical of its jammy nature, I’d just keep nursing the joint and the instrumental sections suddenly seemed too short. That melody from Cowgirl in the Sand still floats around in my mind at random times. Truly just an incredible album. I never understood why he shot his baby when she could drag him over the rainbow, but he sure turned the trauma into an epic song. Way to go, Neil.

I love Neil Young, especially with Crazy Horse. This album has three absolute bangers, and the rest are very good songs as well. I could listen to this just about any day.

I am a Neil Young fan and this is one of my favorite albums of his. I can listen to it at any time and any day. I regularly listen to it. So easy to give this 5 stars....

Neil Young! Another generational songwriter. And just like the last I'm a fan. Neil's got a super captivating style. Despite the lengths, the songs all feel like they never go on more then they deserve to. I wasn't expecting to give mr. young a ten already but I think I am! 10/10

4 1/2 stars. Highlights: Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand

Neil Young... former rock star... now big, dumb blowhard... but, when he was hot he was hot... five stars for this one... Cinnamon Girl, Down By The River, Cowgirl in the Sand... need i say more? the title track is a banger... the other songs top... to know that he has a FEW albums that are way better than this one, is a bit awe inspiring... gotta give it up...

oh wow, an album I already know so well. I mean. Absolute banger. TWO 10 minute songs. Neil you dog. Down by the river rocks.

An all time classic and a formative album for me. Cinnamon Girl is one of the best songs ever IMO.

I think this one reached me at a great time. Very enjoyable listen!

Amazing 10/10

Beautiful

Another banger from Neil.

Fa estoy amando los aspectos mas prog rock de este album. Creo que se balancea muy bien con el resto de canciones asi mas tradicionales country rock. Tipo hay cada solo en esto... en la cancion de 9 min especialmente. Pero en running dry por ejemplo la parte instrumental con el violín re chillón? Suuuuuuper ethereal lo amo.

Classic. Didn't get to listen to the whole thing, but I'm very familiar with it. Love pretty much all of it. The guitars are wonderful, but I have to mention the bass playing. So slinky and groovy.

Great. Not a Neil Young fan but I loved this album

Fantastic album that combines great melodies, ragged and crunchy performances, and a couple of Young’s best tunes.

Loose and rocking, good songs and a couple long jams

Neil Young is a Canadian treasure and his output here is nothing short of magnificent.

A hallucinatory hillbilly classic. Perfect for a hazy spring drive.

another absolute and clear 5! one of my fave neil young albums. cinnamon girl never gets old, such a great song! i love neil young’s guitar playing style. his solos are just great even though they may not be perfect or clean in someone else’s eyes. to me they hold a lot of emotion and character.

just an absurdly godlike display of musical vocabulary...lush hypnotic ballads, upbeat boppers, dirges, and ofc huge guitar workouts, all in a voice both literal and artistic that is just instantly vivid and unstoppable. many moments make me think this is exactly what music Should Be. difficult to write about, at least atm, but yet more proof that neil young is likely one of the great Defining Artists of future azzy, whenever i get to the full soaking in his work

Yes

Znači ovaj album ima naslovnu stvar, cinammon Girl, cowgirl in the sand i down by the Water, pa nek mi netko kaže nešto protiv starog neila.

so good man

Neil Young’s best album. The guitar solos are iconic

Goddamn, been too long since I’ve given this one a spin and listen to Crazy Horse blow doors down. Cinnamon Girl/Down By the River/ Cowgirl in the Sand make this record, the rest of the record is solid, but it doesn’t waste time with a lot of filler. It breathes easy and leaves plenty of room for just the right amount of jamming when necessary.

Fantastic sound! I really enjoyed this listen and have a new favorite artist to explore.

9/10

Saw Neil Young, thought "here we go, another Young album I have to get through". Really wasn't looking forward to it, was not in the mood. Turns out to be my favourite Neil Young album thus far, and an absolutely beautiful record. Every song is great. Crazy Horse bring a lot to the table. Wow! That's why I love this 1001 albums process so much. You are forced to listen to albums you otherwise wouldn't.

Great Neil Young record

Really enjoyed this album over a Neil young greatest hits

If Neil Young had finished his career with CSNY he still would have been famous for all time. Between that and Buffalo Springfield, he produced a lot of iconic music in a short time. A listen to his first album may have had you thinking that it would be better if that were so. His second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere would have changed that opinion in a heartbeat. It propelled Young to stardom as a solo artist, alongside his backing band Crazy Horse, and he kept going from there. The rest of his albums througout the 1970s were hit makers and part of the common culture of the time. Many of the songs from that era are staples of classic rock. This is the album that kicked it off. Standout songs such as Cinnamon Girl and Down By The River, as well as Cowgirl in the Sand capture the emerging zeitgeist of the era and sound more 70s than 60s. It was Country Rock that got the balance between Country and Rock correct, and is a formula that can stll be heard in modern Country Music today. It's unfortunate that Young's music became less accessible, that the balance shifted more toward Rock, and that his politics overcame his muscianship later in his career, especially in the 1990s. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, however, captures Young at the beginning of his solo career, mature enough to make memorable music, but young enough to be idealistic. It launched him to stardom before he fizzled.