Man oh man, I just can’t start my day without hearing a little John Ashcroft! I just wake up and say, “OK, Already, what will it be today – ‘Let the Eagle Soar’ or ‘Blessed Be That City?’” Such a lyrical genius too – “But just buildin’ up your body / With kung-fu and karate / Ain’t no ticket to a bright eternity!”
You can’t dance to it, but I think that was the plan. 
Actually, he’s a really primative player, better at making noise then music with the guitar, but it works fairly well for him.
Actually, considering this part of his post:
I think he really could be talking about John Ashcroft!
God help us if you hear Tom Waits
To that end, I say music is in the ear of the beholder. And you can piss on Neil all you like, because frankly, he does not and more than likely would not give a shit.
Let’t get one thing straight here at least. While I agree with some above that Neil Young’s voice is an acquired taste, and I agree with others who have tremendous respect for his writing, he does NOT, bernse sing out of tune. His pitch is nearly perfect–just listen to the sharp harmonies of Crosby Stills Nash and Young if you doubt it. What you object to is not his pitch, but the quality, the texture, the tone, the timbre, whatever, of his voice.
Outside of Southern Man his music is great! It’s not the voice that makes the music nor really the singing talent. It’s the fact that it comes from the heart. And it shows.
Stop, stop, STOP! I can’t TAKE IT. I confess, I’ll be your toe slave, just No More Ashcroft please… sob
I’ve always said that as long as Neil Young could make it as a singer, there was always hope for me. Now you have gone and smashed my dreams. Thanks a lot!! Of course I can’t play guitar, either.
Of course, Slim Whitman sold lots of albums (and destroyed the Martians!) so who can say what’s good music.
Neil Young is the master of Garage Rock. It’s a very primitive sound - if his voice was perfect the music would lose its power.
lissener has it right: Neil Young can definitely carry a tune, stay in key, hit the right notes; I too lack the musical vocabulary to say exactly what’s different and unfinished about Neil’s voice, but it ain’t that. Listen to “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” (if Ray Bradbury had been a singer-songwriter, he might’ve written something like that) or “Cowgirl in the Sand”, both off of Four-Way Street, and you’ll see what I mean.
Damn, I love his stuff from the '60s and '70s, from “Mr. Soul” on up to “Powderfinger”. After that, he gets a bit more sporadic, but he’s still worth listening to.
No, that’s Richard Ashcroft. Since I know nothing about John Ashcroft, I’ll stay out of that side discussion.
But as for Neil Young, I agree that he is a true living legend, and furthermore that his voice is very good and unique. So I respectfully disagree with bernse as well.
F_X
Of course, you realize that you are going to force me to really listen to his music next time I hear it on the radio.
Alas, it is a sacrifice I am willing to take (barely) for fighting ignorance, to see if I am the one spreading it and if he is, indeed, in key.
John Ashcroft is our Attorney General.
I apologize to every eardrum that hears this (you must be able to run activex controls for this site)
oh my god
sorry to all
listen to this if you dare (I cannot be held responsible for medical bills or psychotherapy required as a result of listening to it)
Bernse, Neil Young’s Harvest Moon is a wonderful song. While you can fault Neil Young’s ability to run the do-re-mi scales the song stands alone as a beautiful and evocative song.
There are two kinds of singers in this world. The first kind is technically proficient. Perhaps even to a virtuouso level. They can hit the high, high notes. They have perfect pitch and breath control. They’ve got chops.
Fitting into this category would be a lot of female warblers like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Linda Ronstadt, and whoever happens to be winning on American Idol this week.
Then there are those singers who have voices that can tear your heart out. They just drip emotion. They don’t have to be particularly good at hitting notes, and they don’t have to have range. What they have to have is a voice that fits the emotional content of the song they are singing.
This category would include Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Janice Joplin, Eric Clapton, John Prine, Warren Zevon, Tom Waits, Robert Johnson, etc.
I know which group I’d rather listen to.
Then there are a handful of truly gifted singers who have both the technical ability and the ability to emote with their voices. Ella Fitzgerald. Billie Holliday. Pavarotti. Sometimes, Burton Cummings (although he uses his voice to highlight many crappy songs). Michael Bolton (ditto, in spades).
Hitting notes accurately is just one aspect of vocal craft.
Then, there are the singers that are just godawful and should be beaten to death with the next microphone they go near. I’m looking at you, Kris Kristofferson. You write great songs - shut up and let someone else sing them.
While trying to keep my temper under control, all I can add right now is that lissener is aptly named.
Now, everyone go out and get a copy of “Ragged Glory” and play it louder than anything you have ever played before and some things become clear…
Never kiss an animal who can lick it’s own ass.
I like NY’s voice. However his wife can’t sing for shit. I wish she wouldn’t insist on singing backup at his concerts.
I like the fragile, off-key quality of the vocals on songs like “Needle and the Damage Done.” It works better than if it was some smooth, perfect voice.
IMHO, Sam’s got it right. Far too much pop and “adult contemporary” music, and a depressingly increasing amount of country, shows absolutely no emotional range. It’s happy little triumphant ditties and power ballads. Technically, it’s pitch-perfect, but it’s just missing something.
Neil Young’s voice fits his songs perfectly. He often sounds like he’s being painfully hit with something large, but it’s on songs that are supposed to show pain, show hurt…he’s got such a range on the dark emotions.
His sad resignation in “Needle”, his mournful loneliness in “Man needs a Maid”, his uncontrolled fury in “Rockin’ in the Free World”. His voice matches his songs, at least the very best ones. I will admit that every song is not a perfect match, but some of his songs are just perfect.
Another example that hasn’t been mentioned yet in the realm of doing the most with your vocal talents is Johnny Cash. The man can’t hit more than 5 notes, but when his 80 year-old ass covered “Hurt” last year he made Trent Reznor sound like a poser.
-lv
even you are being generous at this point. he is a spectacularly bad guitarist as well as a bad singer.
Still, I have enjoyed some of his stuff. A tribute, I suppose, to his songwriting.
All of these people, Young, Dylan, Hendrix, were all young idealistic schmucks at one point in their lives, and they managed, through all the dung tossed at them by the industry, to escape on the other side to become legends. Neil Young SOUNDS like a bag of cats in a clothes dryer, but his writing and his message is out-bloody-standing.
Same deal with Dylan, he’s been taking the same shit for 35 years, but you’ll hardly find a song with more socio-political punch than Subterranian Homesick Blues, or even Blowin’ in the Wind for that matter.
End result is, Young made it because he sold records.
A-Ha didn’t. You do the math.