Thanks as always, Lucian. Going to college in Boulder from 1970-1972 was the perfect preparation for these dark albums. To paraphrase the future Clash: "Phony Woodstock mania bitten the dust." Being a cynical New Yorker who wouldn't stare people in the eye and say "howdy!" to every stranger made me nervous at first. Then I adapted. But when I went back to New York after graduation and did that, like at work at CBS and the gym of the McBurney Y where I'd go to run and sauna, holding that eye contact set off other people's "gaydar"!
The ditch trilogy is pretty much my favorite Neil stuff too - and it 'separated the men from the boys' (pardon the expression) when it came to Neil fandom. I remember people saying things like ". . . what happened to his voice? He used to be such a good singer!" It was the stretch of time where one either abandoned ship or signed on for the long haul - which was not always as rewarding as these 3 albums, but always worthy of respect. And as the years went on (and still do), it resulted in many high points like "Rust Never Sleeps", "Ragged Glory," etc. God bless Neil Young - he is a true artist, always true to himself.
You're right Hugh. We did not live on "Sugar Mountain." It wasn't being perverse to prefer these three albums: They were what made Neil Young real. He saw the stitches of the "hippie dream" falling apart, and we were watching in real time. Also, one treatment for depression at the time was to listen to this and say, man, here's somebody as bummed out as I am!
Grim music for grim times...in his life, anyway. But I've never understood how he could feel depressed with THOSE GUYS playing behind him.
Thanks as always, Lucian. Going to college in Boulder from 1970-1972 was the perfect preparation for these dark albums. To paraphrase the future Clash: "Phony Woodstock mania bitten the dust." Being a cynical New Yorker who wouldn't stare people in the eye and say "howdy!" to every stranger made me nervous at first. Then I adapted. But when I went back to New York after graduation and did that, like at work at CBS and the gym of the McBurney Y where I'd go to run and sauna, holding that eye contact set off other people's "gaydar"!
The ditch trilogy is pretty much my favorite Neil stuff too - and it 'separated the men from the boys' (pardon the expression) when it came to Neil fandom. I remember people saying things like ". . . what happened to his voice? He used to be such a good singer!" It was the stretch of time where one either abandoned ship or signed on for the long haul - which was not always as rewarding as these 3 albums, but always worthy of respect. And as the years went on (and still do), it resulted in many high points like "Rust Never Sleeps", "Ragged Glory," etc. God bless Neil Young - he is a true artist, always true to himself.
You're right Hugh. We did not live on "Sugar Mountain." It wasn't being perverse to prefer these three albums: They were what made Neil Young real. He saw the stitches of the "hippie dream" falling apart, and we were watching in real time. Also, one treatment for depression at the time was to listen to this and say, man, here's somebody as bummed out as I am!