Albums by this artist

Live At Massey Hall (Recommended) (2007)

Zuma (Recommended) (1975)

On The Beach (Recommended) (1974)

Harvest Moon (2000)

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Ragged Glory

» BEN FRENCH | CO-DIRECTOR

Neil Young

Ragged Glory

Reprise, 1990

RiYL: Neil Young's Ragged Glory

So one of your friends says this album sounds too "derivative" of Neil Young's earlier albums -- like Rust Never Sleeps Revisited or something passe. Another one of your friends says he can't get past the country in "Country Home." And another friend says he likes "F*!#in' Up," but you're thinking he's only hearing Eddie Vedder's voice in his mind.

Try to tell them this: a few solid listens reveal this album to be a testament to the creative endurance of one rock history's most unique voices. Help them understand Ragged Glory is Neil Young's best album since Rust Never Sleeps, as well as one of the decade's best recordings. Help them realize that they are missing out... Big time.

It's hard to call this album "retro," when you really think about it. Whereas Neil Young incorporated the punk attitudes of the late 1970s for Rust -- borrowing ideals and feebacky sound from burgeoning English acts -- he created Ragged Glory in the grunge world of plaid shirts and fuzzy guitars before Pearl Jam even sat down to write a song together. True, Ragged Glory returns Neil to the days of long, roots-based jams. And his approach is refreshing coming from a guy who was sued by his record company in the '80s for not sounding enough like himself. But comparisons between the sound of this album against, say, Tonight's The Night or After The Goldrush, are only valid on the surface.

I guess you could try to compare the songs on Ragged Glory to his older material in terms of length or style. But the straight-ahead length or anthemic sound of "Love and Only Love" is far different than the multi-part length of "Cowgirl In The Sand" or the angry feel of "Cortez The Killer." "F*!#in' Up" may indeed be its best and most representative song, with an attitude totally unlike the punk sneer of "Hey Hey, My My" or the depressed wallow of "Mellow My Mind," but the entire aura surrounding Ragged Glory is fresh like the smell of newly laid manure in your back-yard garden.

Neil basically admits he keeps fucking up. But Neil likes fucking up. Fucking up is good. And the whole album is a series of fantastic fuck-ups. Tunes are outrageously overdrawn. Lyrics, especially those of the wonderfully dumb "Farmer John," are down to earth and easily understood.

But it's all too perfect, honestly, because these fuck-ups add up to one hell of an album -- easily one of Young's most consistent, well-constructed and best-titled works. And above all else, it's a damn good listen.

BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working for Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Billboard. Ben's favorite acts include Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.