Round 1 Heat 11

[Cricko]

Today's first heat is between:

Neil Young - Supernaut v Nick Drake - Lester Bangs

Over to you lot decide who goes through.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Again, Neil Young wrote some cracking songs - Ohio, Like A Hurricane, Rockin' The Free World, but Nick Drake, to me, is an absolute genius (may he RIP). Sorry Super, on another day Neil would have got the vote easy but not today.

 

[Cricko]

Again, Neil Young wrote some cracking songs - Ohio, Like A Hurricane, Rockin' The Free World, but Nick Drake, to me, is an absolute genius (may he RIP). Sorry Super, on another day Neil would have got the vote easy but no today.

I am a big fan of Nick Drake but his catalogue of song writing is nowhere near that of Neil Young's, so an easy choice for me here.

 

[Uncle Leo]

[video=youtube;tY5x8pF512k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY5x8pF512k[/video]

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

I recall Live Aid and kids at school (Appleton, Benfleet) saying 'but did you see that dirty old hippy on stage' - a few years later that dirty old hippy had seeped into my world. 'After The Goldrush' album sends shivers.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Neil Young without doubt, hugely influential songwriter.

 

[Supernaut]

This is a tough one for me, as I could happily vote against myself here, but anyway...

Neil Young deserves to win not only this tie but the whole contest. Let's think about the criteria for the greatest songwriter of all time; a large body of work that's of a consistently high standard, longevity, the ability to change people's lives rather than just give them something to dance/singalong to, and lastly, remaining relevant and cutting edge through the decades. Neil Young is the only person nominated in this battle who ticks all of those boxes. Although I'm only covering the early stuff in this post, bear in mind that this is the man who wrote 'Southern Man', 'After the Goldrush', 'Heart of Gold', 'Rocking in the Free World' and 'Like a Hurricane', among many other Americana/alt. country classics. I hope I'll still be in the contest to post more on the great man next week.

At 21 years of age Neil Young released his first record with the group Buffalo Springfield, an album that featured two fine Young songs, 'Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing' and 'Burned'. A year later he he contributed three more originals for BS's second record, 'Mr Soul' and his first two bonafide classics, 'Expecting to Fly' and 'Broken Arrow'. For the final BS album, he offered 'On the Way Home' and 'I am a Child', the latter being the blueprint of what was to come in the early part of his solo career, a truly astonishing song.

[video=youtube;oi3jljf31EA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi3jljf31EA[/video]

[video=youtube;9uWqo9hnliA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWqo9hnliA&feature=related[/video]

Young's eponymous debut solo album came out in tandem with the final BS album, he was only just 23 at the time. Despite being a slightly hesitant start to a solo career, the album contained two songs that would become firm fan favourites for the next 5 decades...

[video=youtube;c6H3P5Om6NU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6H3P5Om6NU [/video]

[video=youtube;zch70LwmSpg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zch70LwmSpg[/video]

On his 24th birthday, Young wrote one of his most famous songs 'Sugar Mountain', a beautiful song about his youth in Winnipeg. Inexplicably, it was only ever released as a single B side (making it the finest B side ever IMO). Young performed the song at the US Live Aid concert in 1985 which was, incidentally, my first introduction to the man. I was 13, I'd never heard of him before, but the song struck me and I've loved him ever since.

[video=youtube;EyZfQZBP-fc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyZfQZBP-fc[/video]

Young's second solo record, 'Everybody Knows This is Nowhere', was the first to feature his legendary backing band, 'Crazy Horse'. CH's heavy electric approach became Neil Young's trademark sound in the late '70s, it arguably gave birth to alternative country, and it's the main reason he was dubbed 'The Godfather of grunge' in the late '80s/early '90s. The album contains three of his absolute best songs - 'Cinnamon Girl, 'Down by the River', and the truly epic 'Cowgirl in the Sand'. After making 'Everybody Knows This is Nowhere', Young hooked up with Crosby, Stills & Nash for the 'Deja Vu' album, a move that would begin to steer him towards the mainstream and finally see him becoming both a household name and a living legend.

[video=youtube;zphUt_tp898]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zphUt_tp898[/video]

[video=youtube;FvR6HOGWgn0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvR6HOGWgn0[/video]

 

[Cricko]

*Mind blowing facts*..Neil Young's ranch is also called Broken Arrow.

I thank you.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Neil Young for me, I'll never forget the goal he scored for Man City against West Brom in the 1969 Cup Final. :dim:

Seriously, great post by Supernaut. After the Goldrush & Harvest were two great albums IMO, and it was good to see his set at Glasto from a couple of years ago.

 

[Pubey]

Neil Young all day for me. He got tinnitus after rocking like a mofo so starting writing more and more acoustic stuff, which is absolutely superb (and I'm not a big fan of acoustic stuff).

 

[Napster]

Abstain. Not a fan of either.

 

[Firestorm]

Never really liked Young and TBH I had never heard of Drake.

But,after reading wiki, my vote would go to Drake , purely for kicking Chris De Burgh out of his band at school....

 

[Pubey]

Always loved Cortez the Killer, what an epic epic song.

[video=youtube;6GDIkb5CDUY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDIkb5CDUY[/video]

 

[Lester Bangs]

Looks like I'll have to concede this as I'm working in the Amsterdam office this week and don't have the time to update this thread today.

If there are any Nick Drake fans out there who could take on the baton and post some stuff from 'Five leaves left' or 'Pink Moon' I'd be grateful. Or any other ND stuff.

Sorry Nick I've done you a disservice :sad:

 

[MK Shrimper]

When I get home LB I shall, but you've got one bugger of a draw and I've been listening to Neil Young all day :thumbsup:

 

[Dick Bate's Protege]

Nick Drake, I'm a big fan in general but Five Leaves Left is one of my favourite albums. Never really got Neil Young, which probably says more about me than anything given his popularity.

 

[Rob Noxious]

Nick Drake left us some achingly beautiful music - the first track of his I heard was the enchanting 'Northern Sky' which prompted me to get the 'Way To Blue' compilation and then the three albums he made with Joe Boyd. 'Black Eyed Dog' is one of the most harrowing songs about depression that I have ever heard and (as someone once said) carries echoes of Robert Johnson's 'Hellhound On My Tail.' Critics wrote that they could not believe Drake was playing guitar just by himself - such was his style, they thought that there must be two guitarists in the room.

But ... Neil Young is still making interesting music and has done so since Nick was with us. His 'One Of These Days' forced me to pull my car over when I first heard it and burst into tears, the only song that has done that to me. So it's ol' Shaky for me.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Here's some Nick Drake as requested by LB, one from each magnificent album.

[video=youtube;ze5Bktb2jiQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze5Bktb2jiQ[/video]

[video=youtube;aXnfhnCoOyo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXnfhnCoOyo&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;_1YsFgDaEeo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1YsFgDaEeo&feature=related[/video]

 

[OldBlueLady]

No, I'm with Naps on this, no vote.

 

[MK Shrimper]

No, I'm with Naps on this, no vote.

Listen to Pink Moon or Cortez The Killer and make your mind up. Bloody woman!