There are artists I don't bother ranking. Hank. Gram. The Stones (I toss a lot of shit, but). Neil. The Replacements, Thunders, you get me. I don't feel like I have the damn right.
Natural Beauty rules. Harvest Moon is in my top 5 Neil records for sure, and definitely >> Harvest. It's got like four masterpieces and a bunch of solid tracks and then Such a Woman. Funny how Harvest and Moon each have a shit orchestral track to skip (though the solo Such a Woman on the 92 Live Archive release is alright). Beyond the title that's the clearest "sequel" link to me.
Also I always assumed Interstate was a Harvest Moon outtake but apparently it's from the 80s and was recorded during the Ragged Glory sessions which makes no sense to me - do I have that right? Either way it's beautiful and should maybe still be stuck into HM somehow:
Eyeball Kid wrote:No one's arguing it isn't a good album.
Yeah exactly. Harvest is fantastic. At this stage in my life though (and really the last 10 years I would say), I have just turned into more of a Harvest Moon guy. From Hank to Hendrix, Unknown Legend and Naturally Beauty (and the titled track of course) are all top tier Neil tracks regardless of the era. And to be honest, Classic Rock radio stations have basically ruined a lot of great Neil tracks from me, especially Old Man and Heart of Gold.
Eyeball Kid wrote:No one's arguing it isn't a good album.
Yeah exactly. Harvest is fantastic. At this stage in my life though (and really the last 10 years I would say), I have just turned into more of a Harvest Moon guy. From Hank to Hendrix, Unknown Legend and Naturally Beauty (and the titled track of course) are all top tier Neil tracks regardless of the era. And to be honest, Classic Rock radio stations have basically ruined a lot of great Neil tracks from me, especially Old Man and Heart of Gold.
I know Heart of Gold is so overplayed, but I will never lose my love for that song.
I think a mark of a great artist is that you can fall in love with different albums, eras, because there is such depth there.
I love Sleeps with Angels despite a bit of bloat (there's a pair of songs with different words over basically the same melody and backing track). It has a unique sound for crazy horse, lots of space in the arrangements. Title track is his Kurt Cobain song and an attempt to echo Nirvana's sound, but it sounds like hearing your upstairs neighbour play In Utero through the floor. Change Your Mind is a solid 15 minute Neil Horse song and Blue Eden is a weird spacey thing that sounds like little else he's done.