Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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67 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Too little, too late?..., 16 Jan 2005
So what have we here? Well, as a 5 star selection of Neil Young tracks there's little to fault this album - every one is top notch and together they cover a very fair cross-section of his often complex wanderings between folk, country and hard-rock.
Job well done then? Well not really. First off the selection itself is too limited, with only four tracks covering the last 25 years and with none after 1992. The man's had his ups & downs but his career is much broader than represented here and his post 1977 work includes a much larger number of truly excellent tracks than this compilation, with its heavy weighting to pre-1977, suggests. Odd... not least because, with only a small number of genuine single/album "hits" to his name, it's not as though there's any particular reason to limit it in this way through a "Greatest Hits" title.
Secondly, its sequencing, while strictly chronological, is bizarre. Do people who want to be introduced to an artist (as those at who it's directed at will be) really want to start off with "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" - two excellent but distinctly similar and lengthy hard rock work-outs. Sitting here as its first two tracks, they provide a less than helpful 20 minute opening for someone who probably only knows "Heart of Gold" and maybe a couple of other of Neil Young's more MOR outings.
Finally, 11 of the 16 tracks are already available on the only other sensible retrospective currently available, the excellent two CD "Decade" from 1977, which provides a much more comprehensive & interesting overview of the first 10 years of his 30 year plus career. Result? If "Decade" is the only Neil Young album you own then you're paying a lot for just five more tracks and if you buy this album first and then buy "Decade", as new recruits may well do... well, you're starting to understand the problem.
Someone needs to get on top of it because it's increasingly clear that Neil Young, who undoubtedly exerts rigid control over his releases, seems to have "missed the point" when it comes to overviews of his career. As a previous reviewer said, why didn't he give the whole lot to Rhino and let them get on with producing a more comprehensive and better sequenced effort. A 30 track double CD would have done it, leaving both his fans and his new recruits much, much happier. Brilliant though it is, "Greatest Hits" makes the chances of this even more remote, which is a great shame because his best work covers much more than what's on offer here and, as such, deserves much better treatment. A case of too little, too late?
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The God-like Genius of Neil Young, 11 Nov 2004
What are "Greatest Hits" albums for? Partly a cynical music biz ploy to make people part with their well-earned cash in the run-up to Xmas? Undoubtedly - but they can also be used as a means of introducing new listeners to one of the most important rock musicians of the last 40 yearsWho are "Greatest Hits" albums for? Not the die-hard and loyal fan that has bought every album, video, DVD or been to every gig on every tour in living memory! In this case, it is for the occasional Neil Young fans or, perhaps more importantly, the next generation of Neil Young fans. I can remember when I first got into Neil Young when I heard him play Rockin' In The Free World at the Mandela tribute at Wembley. From then on I was blown away. By that time he already had a huge back catalogue of albums and as such I almost had a new Neil Young album to listen to every month. It was like discovering a goldmine! Since then I have gone on to buy every Neil Young album on CD, the good and the bad and I still think the man is a genius! So how can I possibly begrudge the man a "Greatest Hits" album? Some artists repackage and re-release a Best Of every 3 or 4 years - Neil Young's last compilation was in 1976! Neil Young fans will all have their own opinions about what should or shouldn't be on an album like this, but that shouldn't stop people from acknowledging that these particular 16 songs are undoubtedly some of the finest examples of Neil Young at his very best and as such this compilation is worthy of nothing less than the full 5 star rating. Will I buy this album? I don't think I need to and its probably not intended for fans like me anyway, but I would certainly recommend it to a friend or buy it as a gift for a relative (such as a musically-uneducated brother-in-law) as a means of introducing them to the godlike genius of Neil Young.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ASTOUNDING SOUNDING!, 19 April 2007
Having just been reading the other informative reviews there is one point missing so far. This c.d. has been mixed from the master tapes and the sound is truly superb. A slight hissing can be heard at the start of certain tracks but the instruments and vocals really come out crystal clear.
Due to his prolific output some studio albums would no doubt be too much for alot of people but this c.d. does not have a duff track on it.
The guitar work is superb and varies between being very rocky and showcasing delicate acoustic songs still managing to rock. The vocals, although not to every ones idea of mainstream, stretch every emotion from the songs.
You always feel that every word is heartfelt.
As noted in another review it is a brave decision to put two almost ten minute tracks at the start, but if you like this style of music they do not drag on like some long tracks can seem to.
One of my favourite albums, you won't play it lots maybe but when you do you will wonder why you don't !!
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