That is a really nice self-portrait by Ronnie, Hairball. I don't recall seeing it before. Did the gallery frame it for you after purchase? I met him briefly in Las Vegas outside the gallery before the mob scene.

~"Love is Strong"~

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shortfatfanny
Got " Colorado" today, and...mhhh....got mixed feelings after first listening.
Some fine songs...some boring stuff as well unfortunatly...
Psychedelic Pill knocked me off at once...this one not.
Will give it another spin the other day...

Same with me, great opener but then nothing really remarkable. But hey, he did so many albums, some are grat some are weak. So lets wait for the next ten.. :-)

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angee
That is a really nice self-portrait by Ronnie, Hairball. I don't recall seeing it before. Did the gallery frame it for you after purchase? I met him briefly in Las Vegas outside the gallery before the mob scene.

Yes, the framing was part of "the deal" and was done by the gallery. As for the mob scene, that was at Mandalay Bay in 2006, or some time during the ABB tour - total chaos both inside and outside the gallery.
The first opening I met him at in 2002 ('03?) was in a gallery at the Venetian hotel. Very civilized with only about a twenty people including Jo Wood who I also chatted with for a while. She was so nice...and HOT!

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-10-31 06:31 by Hairball.

Those are 2 cool stories regarding Ronnie, the hand written personal nature of his replies gives a really nice touch.

I once drank with Shane MacGowan for a few hours one day/night and he had a pad beside him upon which he would write the opening lines of “Fairytale of New York” sign it, draw a demented picture on the page and he was selling them for £10 a go. We were on an island off the coast of Ireland and he was broke and on his own. He’s had a row with the missus and she headed back to Galway and left him zero funds. He reeked of piss to be honest but he was a good laugh and bought drink all night.

He was on the ferry and the bus back to Galway city from the terminal the next day and sat near us but was in zero mood to talk, there was a big gap between our group, him and the rest of the bus. One of the guys I was with vomited on his pants so between him and MacGowan it was a bad smell. I remember

I met him again 12 years and 10 of them sober later, a girl I was seeing played in a band Shane had backing him one night along with Sharon Shannon and a few others. He was in a wheelchair temporarily at that time.

it was a New Year’s Eve and after the gig I was backstage, the only one indulging in herb and he smelled it, looked at me and pointed for what seemed like 10 minutes before shouting “Dead Kennedy’s”, I couldn’t believe the guy remembered me, it blew me away, I was wearing a dead Kennedy’s shirt that day, I wouldn’t have remembered it other than it came to me right then. We’d talked about a lot of punk stuff that day.

Now those are some funny/good stories Paddy!

I read recently there's a Shane MacGowan biopic in the works... it might be good!

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Hey Hairball, only just seen your anecdote about going to the cinema with Neil - that is very cool. I know what you mean and agree with you about approaching people for autographs and/or photos. We encountered various musicians at our hotel during our recent stay in LA - we didn't hassle them and kept our distance!

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Manofwealthandtaste
Hey Hairball, only just seen your anecdote about going to the cinema with Neil - that is very cool. I know what you mean and agree with you about approaching people for autographs and/or photos. We encountered various musicians at our hotel during our recent stay in LA - we didn't hassle them and kept our distance!

You told me you saw Pete Townshend poolside at the hotel, and I think I told you if I saw him him in public I'd do an air guitar windmill slashing pose ha...
Might have got a laugh out of him, or he might have angrily flipped me off...depending on his mood!

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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Hairball

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angee
That is a really nice self-portrait by Ronnie, Hairball. I don't recall seeing it before. Did the gallery frame it for you after purchase? I met him briefly in Las Vegas outside the gallery before the mob scene.

Yes, the framing was part of "the deal" and was done by the gallery. As for the mob scene, that was at Mandalay Bay in 2006, or some time during the ABB tour - total chaos both inside and outside the gallery.
The first opening I met him at in 2002 ('03?) was in a gallery at the Venetian hotel. Very civilized with only about a twenty people including Jo Wood who I also chatted with for a while. She was so nice...and HOT!

Right, that's where I met him, outside of Mandalay Bay when he showed up quite late during ABB, I think. I was sitting out there near the front of the place. The mob was only inside at that point. The prices were better back then. Well, hey, the Venetian sounds like a much better scene. I went to Las Vegas on that tour for the RS but not to his art show.

~"Love is Strong"~

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angee

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Hairball

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angee
That is a really nice self-portrait by Ronnie, Hairball. I don't recall seeing it before. Did the gallery frame it for you after purchase? I met him briefly in Las Vegas outside the gallery before the mob scene.

Yes, the framing was part of "the deal" and was done by the gallery. As for the mob scene, that was at Mandalay Bay in 2006, or some time during the ABB tour - total chaos both inside and outside the gallery.
The first opening I met him at in 2002 ('03?) was in a gallery at the Venetian hotel. Very civilized with only about a twenty people including Jo Wood who I also chatted with for a while. She was so nice...and HOT!

Right, that's where I met him, outside of Mandalay Bay when he showed up quite late during ABB, I think. I was sitting out there near the front of the place. The mob was only inside at that point. The prices were better back then. Well, hey, the Venetian sounds like a much better scene. I went to Las Vegas on that tour for the RS but not to his art show.

At the Venetian it was a very low key invite-only private reception, and I was given an invitation from someone on shidoobee - might have been from the late, great Art aka Raingblimps who lived in Vegas (RIP).
Pretty sure the Mandalay Bay reception was also supposedly supposed to be "private", but there was clearly more hoopla and chaos with the mobs of people - word must have spread amongst the masses.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

I`ve just heard some songs from it on youtube. I had expected more, according to some reviews. One paper gave it 6 out of 6 points. An album for the fans, I`d say.

heard a little on radio while driving
the other day …… had a struggle to stay awake ...



ROCKMAN

I also felt that. It's good but I can't stand all these pointless jams that just go on and on. Neil needs a good editor to cut back the songs that outstay their welcome.

On other songs he's definitely harkened back to a classic Zuma or Harvest sound. For me it's a decent 8/10 but let down by those jams.

More here: [iorr.org]

It's all over the place, what do we expect anymore ?

I hope we wouldn't feel this way about a new Stones album. Fingers are crossed.

First listen........pretty insipid stuff......and he doesn't seem to be able to get a decent captivating flow going with his protestations about how the planet is being treated, however noble his sentiments about that are.........unlike 'Natural beauty' on Harvest moon which was heartbreaking........esp. verse 3

I'll probably give it another go some time.......



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2019-10-31 18:54 by EddieByword.

Love it - most of it anyways.
I think it helped to have seen the film prior to hearing the entire album, and watching it all unfold as a work in progress in the studio.
Can't expect Neil to reinvent the wheel at this late point of his career, and safe to say he hasn't, but no doubt it has his signature all over it.
I imagine it will continue to grow on me - still absorbing it all start to finish, but time will tell if it still holds up.
One thing seems clear, some will love it and some will not, and that includes critics.

A few quotes from reviews:

"It's a relatively conventional album as far as these double-credited records go, but it's a familiar-sounding one that's welcomed after the past several years of quickly forgotten LPs". (Ultimate Classic Rock).

"Putting aside the complicated history of Neil Young and considering his new album simply within the lens of rock music in 2019, track by track it still plays purely like a force of nature.
No one has ever been able to cop Young’s style — though many have tried — and even when he isn’t at his A-game, he’s still an absolute treasure...
Colorado is pretty good. The fact that Young made it at this stage of his career is even better". (Consequence of Sound)

"You can't accuse Young of not wearing all the appropriate badges, flags, and emblems, but the message has become more than a little threadbare over the years.
Fortunately, Crazy Horse sounds as reliable as it always has even if no new ideas are borne out" - 6 of 10.(Under the Radar)

"But the end result is another Neil Young album to add to the pile of the not-bad and the OK he’s amassed over the last decade, while a steady stream of archive releases highlight how great Neil Young can be at his best: as good as any artist in rock history, and certainly better than this"- 3 of 5. (The Guardian)

"Colorado, the latest album from Neil Young with Crazy Horse, is a tour de force and return to form for Young". (The Aquarian)

And this review in full from Pitchfork:

Young’s fourth album of the century with his most famous band is simple and heartfelt, gritty and tender.

Colorado

Many have tried, but no one plays guitar quite like Neil Young. He solos like something’s buried under the fretboard that he’s trying to dig out. When he transposes to acoustic settings, the inertia of his playing can cause his legs to cycle up and down wildly, a source of energy traveling through his entire body, dissipating in the lonesome exhaust of his fragile singing voice and harmonica playing. Even when he was a young man, this sound expressed a world-weariness that complemented his lyrics. But his music always seemed engineered to age with him—to rust and burn and keep on going.

No group better suits this sensibility than Crazy Horse, the pared-down accompanists he first recruited for his sophomore album, 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The band—which then featured the late guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina—were built to tear things up. They kept it simple. Young’s guitar solos sometimes consisted of just one note, looped and clipping until the whole band seemed to lock in place with him. And while Young explored a wide variety of genres in the following decades, from pastoral country to arena rock to instrumental guitar, this primal sound will always be the one most closely associated with him.

So when Young reassembles Crazy Horse for new music, there are always heightened expectations. Colorado marks their fourth studio album of the 21st century, following a dense concept album (2003’s Greendale), an unremarkable set of royalty-free cover songs (2012’s Americana), and a brilliantly meandering double album (2012’s Psychedelic Pill). Situated around those releases have been a spotty run of albums (even by Young’s standards), building toward his most inscrutable era since the ’80s. Young himself seems to acknowledge his current standards in the accompanying documentary Mountaintop, as he instructs his reunited bandmates to work quickly but meaningfully during its 11-day sessions. “It doesn’t have to be good,” he instructs. “Just feel good.”

Despite his empowering mantra, a dark cloud hangs over Colorado. Its songs are furious (“Help Me Lose My Mind”), haunted (“Milky Way”), and remorseful (“Green Is Blue”). In “She Showed Me Love,” the closest thing this album has to a characteristic Crazy Horse epic, Young sings about a new generation carrying the torch for climate change and imagines how they might view him. “You might say I’m an old white guy,” he speak-sings. “I saw old white guys trying to kill mother nature.” It goes without saying that the “she” in the song title refers to our planet, and the past tense refers to the shortening timelines of both the narrator and subject. The long jam eventually slows to a trudge and makes sure you feel every passing minute.

The rest of the record is shaded with subdued tones. In addition to Young’s old bandmates Talbot and Molina, he’s accompanied by Nils Lofgren—the E Street Band guitarist who also played with Young on career highlights After the Gold Rush and Tonight’s the Night. While Lofgren is best known for a near-athletic virtuosity, here he mostly colors in the lines. (His tap-dancing percussion in the sweet, Sleeps With Angels-referencing “Eternity” is the clearest showcase for his gifts.) Even for Crazy Horse, the music is simple but heartfelt. On tracks like “Olden Days” and “Rainbow of Colors,” Young’s basic folk melodies are rendered grittier and heavier by the band, if no less tender.

“When you see those geese in the sky, think of me,” go the album’s opening lines, and Young often sings from this distance, watching over a world without him. Outside a few words of gratitude in the gorgeous closing track “I Do,” his lyrics rarely seem autobiographical, but they do seem newly focused and reflective. And while the documentary is certainly not the most riveting film Young’s put his name to (highlights include a story about producer John Hanlon getting poison oak), it does occasionally offer a pure snapshot of his creative process. Seeing how ecstatic Young gets over a subtle tambourine part in “Olden Days” may permanently alter how you hear that song. It offers a reminder of his passion, how the studio remains a source of excitement and joy after all these years.

And yet, if it were up to him, none of us would be listening to this album in its final form. “I get to hear it the way we made it. Too bad about most of you,” he wrote on his website, bemoaning the current state of sound quality via streaming. The concern speaks to a lifelong battle with the industry, also discussed in his new 240-page book, but it also speaks to the struggle he’s faced as a solo recording artist this decade. Whether food justice or the destruction of the planet, his muses have often seemed muffled or misconstrued when they finally reach the market. Colorado surpasses those recent works by speaking directly to that ephemeral nature of life, our tragedies and joys and disappointments. “There’s so much we didn’t do,” Young and his bandmates sing together, their ages averaging around 73, in a ballad called “Green Is Blue.” And if one thing has remained unwavering about them, it’s that you know they mean every word.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-10-31 18:02 by Hairball.

I still love Psychedelic Pill, and find Colorado a cut below. Not sure how much not having Frank Sampedro on board plus the loss of Young's longtime manager had an effect. That being said need to give more listens, it will not collect dust like A Bigger Bang for example.

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Maindefender
I still love Psychedelic Pill, and find Colorado a cut below. Not sure how much not having Frank Sampedro on board plus the loss of Young's longtime manager had an effect. That being said need to give more listens, it will not collect dust like A Bigger Bang for example.

Agree with all of this.

The first two minutes of Psychedelic Pill's 27+ minute of Driftin' Back - when it transforms from acoustic to full blown electric - is enough to make that entire album a classic imo.
And no, the new Neil will never collect dust the same way A Bigger Bang does, but will it hold up as much as Crosseyed Heart did? Depends on who you ask I guess.
Like Crosseyed Heart, there's bound to be a division amongst fans - those who love it and always have, and those who don't and never will.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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Hairball

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Maindefender
I still love Psychedelic Pill, and find Colorado a cut below. Not sure how much not having Frank Sampedro on board plus the loss of Young's longtime manager had an effect. That being said need to give more listens, it will not collect dust like A Bigger Bang for example.

Agree with all of this.

The first two minutes of Psychedelic Pill's 27+ minute of Driftin' Back - when it transforms from acoustic to full blown electric - is enough to make that entire album a classic imo.
And no, the new Neil will never collect dust the same way A Bigger Bang does, but will it hold up as much as Crosseyed Heart did? Depends on who you ask I guess.
Like Crosseyed Heart, there's bound to be a division amongst fans - those who love it and always have, and those who don't and never will.

I have to hold them up differently artistically.Need to listen to Colorado more
Colorado vs. Crosseyed Heart:
I like Neil's vocals over Keith's

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Maindefender

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Hairball

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Maindefender
I still love Psychedelic Pill, and find Colorado a cut below. Not sure how much not having Frank Sampedro on board plus the loss of Young's longtime manager had an effect. That being said need to give more listens, it will not collect dust like A Bigger Bang for example.

Agree with all of this.

The first two minutes of Psychedelic Pill's 27+ minute of Driftin' Back - when it transforms from acoustic to full blown electric - is enough to make that entire album a classic imo.
And no, the new Neil will never collect dust the same way A Bigger Bang does, but will it hold up as much as Crosseyed Heart did? Depends on who you ask I guess.
Like Crosseyed Heart, there's bound to be a division amongst fans - those who love it and always have, and those who don't and never will.

I have to hold them up differently artistically.Need to listen to Colorado more
Colorado vs. Crosseyed Heart:
I like Neil's vocals over Keith's

Yeah, completely different for a variety of reasons, was just using it as an example of staying power.
BUT...having only had the new Neil for two days, and probably listened a half dozen times so far start to finish, I can say undoubtedly it is a keeper.
The same way Crosseyed Heart represents late summer of 2015 in my mind, this new Neil will represent the early Fall of '19 - there's some catchy stuff w/echoes of prime Neil/Crazy Horse sprinkled throughout.
One noticeable misfire is the length of She Showed Me Love at 13+minutes. Killer song musically (the lyrics maybe not so much), but after the half way point it sort of meanders aimlessly with no real goal,
then sort of just fizzles out. Keep expecting/waiting/hoping for a payoff with band kicking it back up a notch, and it tries to at the last minute, but overall it sort of dissolves.
The other lowpoint, though I'm starting to like it a bit more within the context of the album, is Rainbow of Colors.
Love the opening track Think of Me with it's harmonica and country vibe - "I'm gonna live long and I'm happy to report it back to you...".
Starting to love Olden Days - "Where did all the people go...why did they fade away from me?" Love the heavy duty Help Me Lose My Mind (even Neils shouting/singing) as well as Shut it Down (more shouting) and Milky Way,
I like the mellow Eternity alot, while the even mellower Green is Blue is probably my favorite at the moment. Last song I Do is a bit too mellow - almost like a whispering lullaby, but I suppose it's a nice way to end the album.
Overall damn happy to have some new Neil, and before we know it he'll release another one! Now looking forward to the new Who which will undoubtedly represent the late fall/early winter of 2019.

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From the perspective of Nils Lofgrin which adds an extra layer of meaning to the new album:

Nils Lofgren Says ’Colorado’ Was Therapeutic for Neil Young

Neil+CrazyHorse=Colorado

Crazy Horse guitarist Nils Lofgren said the making of Colorado, their new album with Neil Young, was a therapeutic experience for the band leader.

It was recorded after a period in which Young lost his home to a forest fire, his ex-wife Pegi died and he’d dealt with some health issues.

“I love Pegi, I love Neil, I have such a long history with them,” Lofgren told Uncut in a recent interview. “Just such a heartbreaking thing. And all the stuff he’s gone through with his own health, that I just felt that he wanted to play it all – he kept going out and singing and letting the music, which I believe is the planet’s sacred weapon, work through him and help him and his family.”

He added the experience was also good for himself and his bandmates, noting, “We get older, we all got stuff going on. It was very therapeutic and healing – the ragged inspiration of it, playing with old friends and creating something new. It won’t bring anyone back, but it reminds you their spirits are with you and they want you to carry on.”

Lofgren said he wasn't aware of speculation that Colorado started out as a Young solo album, though he recalled playing some of the songs on tour last year. “I remember how ‘Green Is Blue’ deeply affected me,” he recalled. “I didn’t realize I’d be recording it with Crazy Horse months later!”

When the band completed the sessions, which are detailed in the new documentary movie Mountaintop, there were plans for further recordings, but, Lofgren said, "when we left, we all felt really good about it. Neil was off to Europe to play festival shows with Promise of the Real. He thought maybe we’d get back together in August and do some more recording. Then, as the weeks went by, he did some serious listening and figured he had a record he felt great about already. We didn’t need to keep going at it.”

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Better than the last bunch of Neil albums by a longshot. Unfortunately, nothing has touched the last great records of the late 80s early 90s era Freedom, Ragged Glory, Arc/Weld, Sleeps with Angels, and even Mirror Ball.

I keep waiting for the magic of those discs, but every single one after that leaves something to be desired, imho.

T@3

The 6 out of 6 points guy meant that the album is on the level with Ragged Glory.

Like the new Who new album, Rolling Stone magazine gives Colorado a 4 out of 5 stars:

Neil Young and Crazy Horse Return With the Ragged, Glorious ‘Colorado’

On their first record in seven years, Young and his longtime backing band make the kind of cranky downhome grunge we’ve come to expect and love

Colorado

At one point, the working title for the new Neil Young and Crazy Horse album was Pink Moon. It describes the eleven days the band spent in April, hunkered down in a studio at an elevation of 9,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains, recording their first new record in seven years. (Oxygen tanks were involved.)

But Colorado, the title Young eventually settled on, is more fitting for the record. It encompasses the ragged earthiness of Crazy Horse that dates back to 1968, when Young first jammed with the then-known Rockets at the Whisky a Go Go. More than 50 years later, the fuzzed-out riffs and mellow harmonies are still intact, the lyrics just as heartfelt.

Young’s signature searing harmonica opens the album (“Think of Me”) as he sings about oceans and prairies. Pushing 74 years old, he’s lost several close friends and bandmates in his life — the recent passing of his longtime manager Elliot Roberts has been particularly devastating — and on “Olden Days,” he faces tragedy with the same honesty he did on Tonight’s the Night. “Where did all the people go? Why did they fade away?” he whimpers over searing reverb. “They meant so much to me and now I know/That they’re here to stay in my heart.”

The absence of guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro — the heart and soul of the Horse — is highly noticeable. Since 1975’s Zuma, Sampedro has backed Young’s guitar with blistering riffs that only Lukas Nelson of Promise of the Real has been close to emulating. But Nils Lofgren, who has played with Young sporadically since 1970, fills that void. The sprightly autumnal piano chords on “Eternity” echo “Till the Morning Comes” from After the Gold Rush, a record an 18-year-old Lofgren learned how to play keyboards for.

Young has been playing several of Colorado’s tracks on the road for the past year, and it’s satisfying to see them come together in such a seamless fashion. The gentle “Green and Blue” flows into the ethereal “Milky Way,” while the band sings in unison for the anthemic “Rainbow of Colors” as Ralph Molina’s drums follow along. The album’s closer “I Do” provides the gorgeous subtlety that “Through My Sails” does on Zuma, a digestif to the madness.

In 2019, Young is one of the few rockers of his generation who’s still making music on the same meandering, uncompromising terms he staked out in his youth. “You might say I’m an old white guy,” he proposes on the eco-friendly “She Showed Me Love.” He is, and we do, and he’s working that old-white-guy magic all over this record.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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TeaAtThree
Better than the last bunch of Neil albums by a longshot. Unfortunately, nothing has touched the last great records of the late 80s early 90s era Freedom, Ragged Glory, Arc/Weld, Sleeps with Angels, and even Mirror Ball.

I keep waiting for the magic of those discs, but every single one after that leaves something to be desired, imho.

T@3

I love Greendale (acoustic version) and Living With War: In The Beginning and think these albums sit up there with those you list + Harvest Moon and Unplugged

Said reviewer said it was Neil Young`s best album in 30 years. I`ve been a non-fan for 30 years. I had to get rid of Sleeping With Angels, Broken Arrow and Harvest Moon `cause they were so boring. I even got rid of After the Gold Rush. I have been keeping Harvest, Live Rust, Ragged Glory and Mirror Ball.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-11-01 15:04 by noughties.

It is amazing that Neil still puts out as much music as he does. Is it possible he puts out too much? Maybe do less albums and be more selective of the songs?

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noughties
Said reviewer said it was Neil Young`s best album in 30 years. I`ve been a non-fan for 30 years. I had to get rid of Sleeping With Angels, Broken Arrow and Harvest Moon `cause they were so boring. I even got rid of After the Gold Rush. I have been keeping Harvest, Live Rust, Ragged Glory and Mirror Ball.

Getting rid of Harvest Moon and After the Goldrush?!!!
Definitely a non-fan haha.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

It could have easily been a non- Crazy Horse record, given the general lack of long jams, and quieter acoustic numbers. Neil's albums have been mostly uneven for a while now - although I thought 'Psychedelic Pill' was classic CH. 'Colorado' does have some decent tunes, but is overall missing the big sludgy powerhouse Horse sound of past. I guess lineup changes and age are all factors. Crazy Horse 3.0.

Alas, the Horse is now a toothless nag, consigned to pulling a plow when once it galloped thunderously 'neath western skies.