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(This page covers both Neil Young as a solo artist and Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Neil-young

Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He began performing in a group covering Shadows instrumentals in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, later joining Crosby, Stills & Nash as a fourth member in 1969. He forged a successful and acclaimed solo career, releasing his first album in 1968; his career has since spanned over 40 years and 35 studio albums, with a continual and uncompromising exploration of musical styles including country music, alternative rock and grunge ... (read more at Wikipedia)

Links To Peel[]

Peel first met Neil Young on April 15, 1966, when the DJ was working at KMEN in California and Young was a member of Buffalo Springfield, who were supporting the Byrds at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino.[1] [2] In a 1976 column for Sounds, Peel wrote:

“I recollect chattering away at young Neil Young (as he then was) for some minutes and being told that this was the first proper concert the band had played. A few years later and back in London the very same Neil Young came round, propelled by a dynamic record company wallah, to Peel Acres ... They stayed for an hour, in the course of which Neil said not a word.”[3]

Between his two encounters with Young, Peel had praised the singer's work in his newspaper columns and had regularly played tracks by him, both with Buffalo Springfield and as a solo artist, on his BBC shows, so the DJ was understandably perplexed by Young's behaviour. Nevertheless, Peel would be a long-time admirer of Young’s work, “particularly the noisier things that he does.”[4] On his 19 October 1991 show, the DJ commented:

“I've been saying for years that really about the only person who's survived stardom and continued making interesting music, for me anyway, has been Neil Young … He's made bad records and records that I've not cared for very much, but nevertheless he seems to be getting better and better and better. What I like about him is that you feel he can hear certain noises in his head that he knows are somewhere in that guitar and by God he's going to get them out of it if it kills him."

In 1975, Peel had made the musician’s ‘Zuma’ LP one of his five records of the year.[5] The following year, he described the musician’s 1969 album 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' as “one of the ten greatest LPs of all time”.[6] Over two decades later, in 1997, Young’s 1991 'Arc-Weld' live triple CD was included on a Top 20 Albums list Peel put together for the Guardian newspaper. He also picked the track 'Like A Hurricane' for his self-selected 1977 Festive Fifty and among 40 records for his 40th birthday in 1979 [7], as well as 'Rockin' In The Free World' as a Ten Of The Best video for MTV in 1995.

After the DJ’s death, Young demonstrated his enduring appeal across the decades by returning to the Festive Fifty for the first time since 1978 in the 2012 Festive Fifty on Dandelion Radio.

Festive Fifty Entries[]

Sessions[]

  • None

Live[]

  1. The Big Time
  2. Music Arcade
  3. Like A Hurricane
  4. Sedan Delivery

Other Shows Played[]

1969
1970
1972
1974
  • 05 September 1974: Vampire Blues (LP-On The Beach)' (Reprise) (JP: 'His best LP since his second.)
1975
  • 12 November 1975: Cortez The Killer (and other tracks) (LP: Zuma) Reprise
  • 20 November 1975: Don't Cry No Tears (LP: Zuma) Reprise
  • J P D25: Stupid Girl (album - Zuma) Reprise MS 2242
  • 16 December 1975: Looking For A Love (LP: Zuma) Reprise
1976
1977
1978
1979
  • 25 June 1979: My My Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) (LP - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise (JP: “Hmm, another graduate of the Bob Dylan school of harmonica playing...”)
  • 26 June 1979: Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) (LP - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 27 June 1979: Powderfinger (album - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 28 June 1979: Pocahontas (LP - Rust Never Sleeps) (JP: "... perhaps the first popular song ever to mention Marlon Brando...")
  • 03 July 1979: Powderfinger (album - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise K 54105
  • 09 July 1979: Revolution Blues (album - On The Beach) Reprise K 54014
  • 12 July 1979: Powderfinger (album - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 14 July 1979 (BFBS): Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) (LP - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 16 July 1979: Thrasher (album - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 23 July 1979: My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) (LP – Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 30 August 1979: Like A Hurricane (LP - American Stars & Bars) Reprise (40th birthday 40)
  • 03 October 1979: Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) (LP - Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • October 1979 (Virgin In-Store): Hey Hey My My (Into The Black) (LP – Rust Never Sleeps) Reprise
  • 19 November 1979: Sedan Delivery (LP - Live Rust) Reprise
1980
1987
1989
1990
  • 02 July 1990: Like A Hurricane (LP - American Stars & Bars) Reprise
  • 13 September 1990: Mansion On The Hill (LP - Ragged Glory) Reprise
  • 28 September 1990 (BFBS): Love To Burn (LP - Ragged Glory) Reprise
  • 30 September 1990: Over And Over (CD - Ragged Glory) Reprise
1991
  • 19 October 1991: (JP: "I'm going to play you eighteen minutes from an LP which I was listening to in mid week which really astonished me. I've been saying for years that really about the only person who's survived stardom and continued making interesting music, for me anyway, has been Neil Young, and I was playing his records millions of years ago when I lived in California and worked there, back in Buffalo Springfield days. He's made bad records and records that I've not cared for very much, but nevertheless he seems to be getting better and better and better. What I like about him is that you feel he can hear certain noises in his head that he knows are somewhere in that guitar and by God he's going to get them out of it if it kills him.")
    - Love And Only Love (3xCD-Arc-Weld) Reprise (interrupted by Simon Bates trailer)
    - Rocking In The Free World (3xCD-Arc-Weld) Reprise
  • 27 October 1991: 'Rocking In The Free World (3xCD-Arc-Weld)' (Reprise)
  • 01 November 1991 (BFBS): Rockin' In The Free World (LP – Weld) Reprise
  • 01 November 1991 (BFBS): Love And Only Love (LP – Weld) Reprise
  • 08 November 1991 (BFBS): Cinnamon Girl (LP – Weld) Reprise
  • 09 November 1991: Mansion On The Hill (album - Weld) Reprise
  • 14 November 1991 (Radio Mafia): Rockin' In The Free World (LP – Weld) Reprise
  • 16 November 1991: Rocking In The Free World (3xCD-Arc-Weld)' (Reprise)
  • 08 December 1991: Love And Only Love (album - Arc-Weld ) Reprise
  • 22 December 1991: Cinnamon Girl
  • 29 December 1991: Keep On Rocking In The Free World
1993
  • 20 August 1993: All Along The Watchtower (2x Compilation CD-Bob Dylan - The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration) Columbia (John and Andy Kershaw have been listening to the Bob Dylan concert LP, of which Andy has vowed to play one of the Neil Young tracks. John plays the other)
  • 03 September 1993 (BFBS): All Along The Watchtower (v/a album - Bob Dylan - The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration) Columbia
  • 06 November 1993: Cinnamon Girl (2xLP – Live Rust) Reprise
  • 20 November 1993 (BFBS): Cinammon Girl (cd single - Long May You Run (live))
Other 1990s
  • 24 June 1994: Over And Over (LP - Ragged Glory) Reprise
  • 08 July 1995: (JP: "I have to admit that I've never been really a great fan of Pearl Jam. I saw them supporting Neil Young in London last year, was it, or the year before, and I thought to myself, rather mannered pub rock. Having listened to all of the records, of course, dutifully, as they came in, I pretty much stuck with that, so I was thrown into a degree of confusion when I read that Pearl Jam and Neil Young were recording together, because I'm a great admirer, by and large, of the work of Neil Young, particularly the noisier things that he does, but it kind of comes off actually, as you probably know already, having tracks from the LP on Kershaw's programme, if nowhere else.")
    - I'm The Ocean (CD - Mirror Ball)' (Reprise)
  • 14 July 1995: 'Song X (CD-Mirror Ball)' (Reprise)
  • 22 July 1995 (BFBS): 'Throw Your Hatred Down (CD-Mirror Ball)' (Reprise)
(JP: 'I've always...ever since he started with Buffalo Springfield admired what Neil Young does. Not everything, I mean he makes the occasional poor LP, as far as I'm concerned, and may even make two in a row, but then he'll come back with a third one and do something that's really outstanding.')
  • 23 July 1995 (BBC World Service): Throw Your Hatred Down (2xLP - Mirror Ball) Reprise
  • 25 June 1997: When You Dance I Can Really Love (album - Year Of The Horse) Reprise
  • 26 June 1997: Barstool Blues (album - Year Of The Horse) Reprise
  • 10 July 1997 (BFBS): 'When You Dance I Can Really Love (2xLP-Year Of The Horse)' (Reprise) (JP: 'I have to say, I probably say it every single time, but he's about the only person of my age who still makes records that I find remotely interesting: not all of them, but every once in a while, I like the live ones actually, the guitar torture stuff really more than anything else.')
  • 18 September 1997 (Radio Eins): Rockin' In The Free World (album - Arc-Weld) Reprise
  • 30 December 1998: Cortez the Killer (LP - Zuma)
  • 07 October 1999: Arc (fragment) (LP – Arc) Reprise
2000s
Other
  • Peeling Back The Years: Like A Hurricane
  • Peeling Back The Years 6 (Transcript) (1987): (JP: “He seemed to be unhinged in every aspect of his being. His guitar playing as well I used to really like – those long kind of shrieking guitar things, which weren’t heavy metal guitar solos at all. Again, instantly identifiable guitar player. And I went to see him playing at Wembley about a year ago and was reassured in that he wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought he might be from evidence gathered of seeing others of his contemporaries playing now, who by and large are awful. I mean, he is still good. Some of the stuff he did was a bit clumsy, but by and large there was enough there for me to come away feeling quite satisfied with his performance. But I saw him playing in a gig that he actually mentioned, so he must have thought quite well of it, playing in Hammersmith four or five years ago, and one of the great gigs in fact it was. Just everything fell right on the night as they say and he was particularly good then.”)
  • And_Err_That's_A_Bit_Of_The_Label_Too: Powderfinger
  • 31 October 2004 (Andy Kershaw): Country Home

Covered[]

(The list below was compiled only from the Cover Versions page of this site. Please add more information if known.)

Artist | Track | First Known Play

See Also[]

External Links[]

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