True. Scott Young is a well-known journalist in Canada.
Yes, that’s him.
Is there anyone out there with a similar voice?
If one of his songs came on the radio I wouldn’t change the station, but I wouldn’t start singing along or drumming on the steering wheel.
Jack White, kinda-sorta.
**Mark Kozelek ** definitely to my ear: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AKRA7weVyLs
That’s his band Sun Kil Moon, whom I love - that song became an entry point to Neil Young for me because it sounds NY-ish, but Kozelek’s voice is a bit easier to take and the use of picked acoustic and gentle washes of distortion underlying the mix really works for me. After listening to SKM’s album Ghosts of the Great Highway, I listened to Neil Young differently.
This -> Powderfinger
Don’t care for much of his folkier stuff - Roger Waters picked one as one of his Desert Island Discs* (Helpless?) I can live without that stuff.
But. Powderfinger.
*An “I can’t believe this is still running” program on BBC Radio4
Love him. Love how he’s simultaneously been at the center of so much of the kind of music I love – Buffalo Springfield epitomized “seminal,” CSNY were folk-rock gods… – AND he’s always done things his own way. He is utterly sui generis – experimental, yet dependably musical; and the Canadian origins give it all just a slightly different touch.
I’ve even grown to like his singing voice!
I find his The Needle And The Damage Done and After The Goldrush most haunting.
When the file sharing stuff was newish on the internet, I remember seeing A Horse With No Name credited to Neil. I thought, there is no way that Neil Young covered that song. I downloaded it and it was the standard America song- no cover, not Neil.
Dr. Mercotan, if you haven’t listened to Sun Kil Moon, you might click on that link. Very similar to those songs in feel, to my ear.
Total fanboy and have been since the days of Buffalo Springfield. Lost count of the number of times I’ve seen Neil in concert, at venues ranging from amphitheaters to dinky bars.
Yes, assuming you’re not thinking about another song by that name, like the one by The Kinks. “Heart of Gold” is the Neil Young song I’ve heard most often, and I actively dislike it, largely because of Neil’s voice, which has prevented me from digging any deeper into his work.
I remember seeing him as musical guest on SNL (promoting his Harvest Moon album IIRC) and being impressed with him as a performer. But he remains one of those artists whom I respect more than I enjoy.
I hated him in college, but that was because my roommate played his first two albums incessantly. His first album is no great shakes, though Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere is quite good overall. Still, when you hear that and nothing but that every day, you grow to dislike it intensely.
Later I started to like Young. I’m not a big fan, but I do respect him and his work.
Not really.
His genre isn’t one I particularly like and his voice doesn’t help him stand out. Mostly he’s in the easily ignored elevator music category for me.
For doubters: listen to an acoustic live set from between 69 and 71. And just think he was the writer of all those songs.
Or just listen to “Expecting to Fly”
Love him, and most of his work. The heavy ones and the quiet ones. Sometimes they’re kind of inseparable, like Out of the Blue and Into the Black.
*“Don’t Let It Bring You Down”
Old man lying
by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking
from the weight of the load
And the buildings scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping
down the alley at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying
by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.
Don’t let it bring you down
It’s only castles burning,
Find someone who’s turning
And you will come around.
Blind man running
through the light
of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down
to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing
through the window
in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying
in a gutter in the lane,
If you’re walking home alone.*
What’s not to like?
Well if you combine Kim Deal + Frank Black…
Original observation I think courtesy of Gina Arnold.
The man can’t sing. Magnificently.
I find musical taste an interesting topic. I actually feel just the opposite of Neal Young. He has a very distinctive voice (IMO). If I knew more about music I’d be able to quantify it but the way he stresses a note is difficult to describe but very unique.
As a general rule I find most vocalists get in the way of the music. Young’s voice IS the music. When I listen to Lou Reed it grates on every nerve in my body. Many people LOVE Reed.