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.

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.

“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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 . . .

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

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

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

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

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. 

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!

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

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.

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

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!

Great album

Beautiful album. Every song is great and I appreciated his singing much more than usual. Favorites: Pretty much all of them

Fuck yes. Beef would be proud

This may be my favourite Neil Young record, some classic rock songs on it. Very raw in it's production with some really nice guitar solos

Easily my favorite Neil album. The live stuff with Crazy Horse around this time is also great. Listening to this and I'm back on a couch playing Madden '93 on Sega. Good times.

This experimental rock album of Neil Young is a must-listen from one of my guitar heroes.

He's always just so good!

Everybody knows this is an incredible album. I could scream “down by the river” infinitely.

Repeatedly smashing the fifth star

Absolute classic.

Neil Young and ketchup potato chips are the two best things Canada produced in the 20th century.

I’ve only ever listened to Neil Young because of this project. I can now safely say that I am a fan of the man’s work. It just sounds like what would good music should sound like, it feels like what could music should make you feel like & it’s something you can throw on at anytime to set a good vibe.

Classic

90's rock is very different if this album didn't exist

Sounds just like Neil Young fucking great. Loved it. I should buy this record

Great classic album.

Didn't expect to like this as much as I did, short and sweet nice vibe.

Love this album, might be my favorite album of all time. The tracks on here are truly stellar. Cinnamon Girl is a great opener and reminds me a bit of Mr. Soul from Buffalo Springfields second album. Down by the River has such mesmerizing guitar playing that I could listen to for hours. The regularly reoccuring harmonies sound really nice as well.

good long jam

This is a great album

From the opening guitar riff cinnamon girl. To the 10 minute finale of cowgirl in the sand this is just a tremendous. One of my favorites of Neil Young.

Solo Neil Young: I sleep Neil Young & Crazy Horse: REAL SHIT I love this album so much and think it’s Neil’s best by far. “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand” are two fantastic songs that serve as pillars of the album. There’s something about the leisurely yet precisely deliberate pace of each that is hypnotizing and transforms the soundscape into a world with rushing rapids, a hot dry sun, and a meaningful hard days work. Sit me down in that album cover in the shade of the tree with a glass bottle of coke and let me look out over the mountains. That’s what this album sounds like

I confess I’m a big fan of Neil Young, even the more obscure stuff, so this review isn’t entirely objective. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, released just four months after his solo debut, marks the true beginning of Young as the revered artist we know today. Much of this can be attributed to the recruitment of Crazy Horse, who take Young’s rolling chord progressions and sweet melodies and tear them apart like the teeth of a mountain lion. Instead of refining the songs, they rip through them with jagged intensity, exposing raw nerves and untapped emotion. The contrast between Young’s plaintive vocals and the band’s rough-edged delivery creates a tension that balances on the edge of chaos. This electric tension adds volatility, making the songs feel alive and dangerous. “Cinnamon Girl,” with its punchy riff and infectious energy, showcases the perfect blend of melody and grit. “Down by the River” is a hypnotic epic, its extended jams and dark narrative building a haunting sense of unease. “Cowgirl in the Sand” blends dreamy introspection with fiery guitar work, while the title track captures Young’s yearning for escape with its breezy rhythm and underlying restlessness. These tracks aren’t just highlights; they’ve become foundational to Young’s career, merging folk sensibilities with hard rock through Crazy Horse's distinctive style. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere explores both the beauty and darker sides of human emotion, framed by Young’s raw and evocative songwriting. Did I own this release? No Does this release belong on the list? Yes Would this release make my personal list? I have to include at least one Neil Young release; the tougher question is which one. Will I be listening to it again? As a big fan of this record, its seven tracks (40 minutes) make it perfectly digestible.

Amazing album a must listen

Muy bueno

Not a bad song on here! Might be my favorite Neil Young album, maybe.

Minn maður. Mín tónlist. Ekkert út á hana að setja og þessi fer aftur í spilun og aftur og aftur. Ég er bara afskaplega gömul sál held ég en ég sakna þessa tónlistartímabils án þess að hafa upplifað það

"Down by the River" ist stellvertretend für die verschiedenen Stilrichtungen und den Anspruch seiner Kompositionen. Genial.

This is what I was talking about last week. I never considered Neil a performer, but he's an incredibly talented acoustic songwriter. This album phenomenally blends his songwriting chops and composition skills with that perfect amount of distorted guitar crunch. Love love love this one in context of his anthology of work.

Cinnamon Girl and Down By the River album.

I’m going to have to dive into Neil’s full catalog at some point. He has all the key criteria that I like from artists I deem “worthy” of such investigation: an almost ornery resistance with a heavy dose of “I don’t give a shit” attitude about what’s commercial, and a unrelenting pull to trying new genres and styles as they chase after their artistic muse. The benefit of such artists is no two albums are the same, as they’re willing to challenge thenselves and ultimately us as listeners. Coming to this album from After the Gold Rush and Harvest, I was blown away at how different this was. Almost MoTown like in some of the instrumentation. But at the core, it’s Neil jamming with his soon to be legendary Crazy Horse crew, producing a classic.

This is the Neil I feel like people always talk about. Cinnamon Girl is such a bad ass song and even the slower songs in the middle of the album just have a certain vibe that helps carry it through.

Everyone Knows This is Nowhere's brand of sloppy, loud country rock still blows as many socks off as it did in 1969. people (falsely) claim it invented grunge, but i think it did something even better: it invented neil young. there's something meat-and-potatoes simple about the songs, the most beloved ("Cinnamon Girl", "Down By The River") having been written in a 103 F fever. maybe it shows. but it doesnt matter. you can tell what EKTiN is about from the cover art alone: a grainy picture of a man, but just enough detail so there's no mistaking who it is. plus there's a cute puppy.

Neil Young, a living legend! One of the biggest shames I have as a musician and music lover is never having explored this icon's discography in depth. Of course, the most famous albums from the 70s have been part of the soundtrack of my life for a long time, but here today is an album that I had never heard of before. And I really don't want to say anything about the record. Nana not today. I just want to sit my ass down in the chair and listen to this record over and over again and reflect on where I was and what I was doing all these years for me to have never heard this masterpiece before. So if you'll excuse me... (5 stars, of course)

Young's self titled solo debut is decent, but this is the breakout hit for one of the all time legendary songwriters. It showcases both his ability to rock out with the extended solos of Cowgirl In the Sand and Down By The River, alongside more tender and thoughtful songs. Even with all the material he released throughout the long career that would follow, this album is still a shining example of many things that are great about Neil Young

Young's first album with Crazy Horse Cinnamon Girl Down by the river A "ten"

Quintessential Neil Young. When you think of Neil this is what you think.

His best album

It has some of my favourite Neil Young songs, Crazy Horse is an amazing backing band to help bring them to life.

Sizzling guitar! With so much grit in the music.

One of my favorites from the get go. Nobody plays or writes like Neil.

Stellar album. One of my favorites. This never really comes out of rotation and every time I hear I'm like, wow this is really good

My favorite NY album. Three great guitar dominant tracks, Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, and Cowgirl in the Sand. The other 4 tracks are slower, but all quite lovely. Reading about the recording process on the Wiki page was insightful. Had to look it up on setlist.fm, but when I saw him live in Hartford in September of 1986, he did CG and DBTR. Also performed were Heart of Gold and The Needle and the Damage Done from yesterday’s album. I recall the concert was very loud. This came out in May of 1969, when I was living in Spokane (until moving to Princeton in August) and wasn’t much of a record buyer at that time. My first NY album was ATGR, but probably did not buy it for a year or so after its 9/70 release date. Then I bought ENTIN and his self titled debut soon after that. A classic.

sehr gut, feel good Album

Neil Young is finally back on Spotify

Classic music

Nice

Love Neil Young sound

The true start of Young’s remarkable solo career. Raw and rocking, it’s filled with excellent songs that demand to be played at max volume, but also a handful of beautiful slow burners with magical harmonies. Running Dry may be the only weak point, but a minor fault on this otherwise excellent classic.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself saying the phrase, “Oh, what the fuck is this?!” with less frequency and excitement whenever I listen to an album for the first time. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere made me say, “Oh, wait…what the actual fuck is THIS?!?!” to every single song, then immediately start it all over again. Even after listening to it obsessively all day, even on listen 7 and counting, my jaw is still on the fucking floor. Every element — the songwriting, the lyrics, the drum sound, the bass grooves, the vocal choices, the unique rhythm playing, Young’s solos, the production, EVERYTHING — instantly rewired my brain and redefined my understanding of what a rock album could be, let alone what a song could be. This could come out tomorrow and sound light years ahead of its time. Mind blown 🤯🤯🤯

Did everyone just have to spend all their money on records in the '60s? Was it exhausting trying to keep up with everything that was coming out? Cinnamon Girl was one of the first songs I loved and advocated for that I found on my own and wasn't approved by my older brother or punk friends (though it turned out they did also love it).

Neil Young can be very hit or miss with me. The CSNY solo albums are always "Yeah, but they'd be so much better as CSNY albums" with me. But this was fantastic. Really easy groove to get into for the entire album. Favorite track: Cowgirl in the Sand

8,14

You can’t beat the guitar sound on this album.

The beginning of Neil's long, weird journey. After his first solo album, he decided to rock. HARD. This one has some of his enduring classics and he let's them breathe with a great backing band.

YAAAAAY

Honestly one of the best albums you'll ever hear.

I love Neil Young. Especially when he works with Crazx Horse. Like on this record. Enough said.

Jeder Song eine Perle.

Great when released. Even better after all these years. I would buy this recording. 👍

Likely my second favorite Neil studio record. Love everything about it. 5/5

4.6 - Another great neil young album, love the guitar and just great vibe

El debut de la legendaria colaboración entre Neil Young y su banda Crazy Horse es excelente. Con canciones que se alargan por minutos sumamente inspirados y hits radiales como "Cinnamon Girl" y la canción homónima (qué ha sido víctima de covers incluso por parte de los Red Hot Chili Peppers), el trabajo entrega poco más de media hora de genialidad, marcando el inicio de la carrera de uno de los almas más libres del country/rock norteamericano.

My first ever Neil Young album. I'll always love it.

Three tracks on one record that have strongly influenced Neil Young's unmistakable musical style, great!

Rock on brother loved it

Fundamental, ao começar com todo o esplendor de Cinnamon Girl, chega a sublime Down by the River e confirma a glória da discografia com Cowgirl in the Sand.