Neil Young (studio album) by Neil Young

With his May 1969 release, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Young embarked on a notable period of creativity, which has had a major, lasting and undeniable impact on Folk and Country Pop Music. It included seven straight releases, which could all be referred to as classics of their genre. I had not previously been aware of this earlier 1968 release.

It is a gentle, unremarkable presentation debut. It gives only a small idea of the great music that was soon to come along. It is one for the unconditional Young fans.

A rather tentative start to what would become one of the greatest musical careers of all time and there were far, far better albums to come but does contain the awesome The Loner so worth having just for that track

Highly underrated debut from Shakey, as his style would be more defined by his next album.

This record continues Neil's work he contributed to the last two Buffalo Springfield albums (produced separately before the group disbanded). It's beautiful psychedelic folk rock.

I'm surprised Kanye West or other producers haven't lifted samples from this record, particularly Old Laughing Lady and I've Been Waiting for You.

Jack Nitzsche's production on Old Laughing Lady is bombastic and excellent and I recommend this record to anyone who enjoyed his orchestrated songs on Harvest and his psychedelic songs on Buffalos Springfield Again.

Look for alternative an alternative mix for Here We Are in the Years. Some LP pressings have a different mix that I prefer because it doesn't have a fade out. Also of note is the opening instrumental has a superior version on his archives set, with lyrics, entitled Casting Me Away From You.

Highly recommended.

A Side: The Loner
B Side: Old Laughing Lady

From VictorVale 10/13/2020 23:28

Modesto, mas com faíscas de gênio começo solo do Neil Young!

From teague 06/16/2020 04:45

A fine enough debut from an artist who would go on to do much better things. The Loner is one of his classics. The Last Trip to Tulsa is very, very influenced by Bob Dylan and you can really tell. It's a good one, I wouldn't pit it against Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands or any such song, but it's a good first attempt at a folk ballad. And Neil Young's self titled debut is just that, a good first attempt. Not much else I'm afraid.

From ExTeaSea 05/11/2020 20:28

First listen I thought it was pretty good but now I love it. Top ten Young for me. His best being good second album.

From Mercury 10/19/2017 19:59

Neil's debut is not bad. I actually quite like certain aspects of it. Its clear that Neil Young wasn't yet sure about his image, sound, style at this point. As a result there is a lot of surprising Baroque folk, country sounds here. And even on some of the better tracks here, the orchestra, all weepy and at times over the top, undermines the general rugged grit of Neil Young's songs. Still, the strings sure are pretty!

Some of the songs here are actually excellent, such as "The Loner", "The Old Laughing Lady", etc. But boy, "The Loner" is amazing and rocks so hard! Then those fudging strings elbow in and I'm just not feeling it.

Anyway, I don't wanna stay on this album here too long. I'll just say there was some slight slivers of the potential greatness of solo Neil on this album. But, really it is a big surprise how quickly he shed the bs and made a dozen staright goodies. All he had to do was nix the string arrangements of Nitschke and bring his beats of beast bands into the studio and the legend of Neil Young would be born.

Rating: 6.7/10

Neil young's debut album is a little uncertain. Still, some good songs in, the old laughing lady, and, the loner. Obviously Young would go on to make some stunning records, but this one is a little bit forgetful. Still, not bad.

Best Track: The Loner