1- ALABAMA” (from Harvest)
“Southern Man,” off After the Gold Rush, gets all the glory, though the Harvestfollow-up is an equally vicious attack on the U.S. south: “What are you doing, Alabama? / You got the rest of the union to help you along / What’s going wrong?”
2- “ON THE BEACH” (from On the Beach)
Before there was Sea Change there was On The Beach: Young at his weariest, with faint glimmers of hope. “Though my problems are meaningless,” he wisely observes, “that don’t make them go away.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYL5dPBiHog
3 – “EXPECTING TO FLY” (from Buffalo Springfield Again)
Revisit the second Buffalo Springfield record if you don’t think Neil Young can do orchestral psychedelia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAjr0xyyt0Q
4- “CRIPPLE CREEK FERRY” (from After the Gold Rush)
A whimsical, the Band-like ditty written to score a still-unmade film.
5- “BAD FOG OF LONELINESS” (from Live at Massey Hall 1971)
A sweet and sad early cut that never made it onto a studio album; it could not have been more appropriately titled.
6- “TIRED EYES” (from Tonight’s the Night)
“Please take my advice,” Young pleads, uselessly; around him, friends succumb to booze and addiction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcplDg32y7Q
7- “WILL TO LOVE” (from American Stars ‘N Bars)
Neil: the godfather of grunge and, considering these cracks and hisses (the song was recorded in front of a burning fireplace), perhaps also the godfather of lo-fi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z4KdVwCvmI
8- “REVOLUTION BLUES” (from On the Beach)
Neil’s best diss track: “Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars / But I hate them worse then lepers, and I’ll kill them in their cars.”
9- “MOTION PICTURES” (from On the Beach)
A lightly tapped bongo: perfect accompaniment to Neil Young’s gloomy lament.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdT07UdqsX0
10- “SPEAKIN’ OUT” (from Tonight’s the Night)
Blues, in the saddest sense of the genre: Young sounds strung out and bitter (this is a compliment).
11- MELLOW MY MIND” (from Tonight’s the Night)
Pure defeat and exhaustion in this vocal performance—hear how his voice cracks at 2:18.
12- “DANGER BIRD” (from Zuma)
Young emerges from his Ditch Trilogy depression to pen this eerie slow-burner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u5gCiKq9Zc
13- “BARSTOOL BLUES” (from Zuma)
Young nabs the vocal melody from Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (and writes an even better song).
14- “FONTAINEBLEAU” (from Long May You Run)
Fuzzy and gorgeous—a highlight from Young’s otherwise tepid 1976 collab with Stephen Stills.
15- “WE R IN CONTROL” (from Trans)
Young gets scarily dystopian, though the robot-voiced threats (“We’re controlling you while you sleep!”) don’t seem so far-fetched in 2015.
16- “WINTERLONG” (from Decade)
See also: Pixies’ great 1990 cover.
17- “LOTTA LOVE” (from Comes a Time)
Simple and affecting proof that Young could have resumed his folk-hero career just fine if he wanted, though thank God he got distracted by Crazy Horse (Rust Never Sleeps) and vocoders (Trans).
18- “THE LONER” (from Live Rust)
Crazy Horse tears apart the production choices David Briggs made on the 1968 studio version to give this track the live boost it deserves.
19- “LOST IN SPACE” (from Hawks & Doves)
There is a Munchkin-like vocal effect on the line “Out on the ocean floor,” and it singlehandedly makes Hawks & Doves worth owning.
20- “DRIFTER” (from Landing on Water)
Mock Landing on Water’s big-beat ’80s production all you want—there’s nothing quite like this song’s eerie, chopped up guitar loop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcAcREDAbp8
21- “RAPID TRANSIT” (from Re-ac-tor)
Long before Weird Al popularized the gurgling-mid-song technique, Neil Young gave one of the funniest performances of his career: “Pbbbbblllllllll-public enemy!”
22- “SHOTS” (from Re-ac-tor)
Re-ac-tor’s most “serious” track coaxes intensity from machine-gun effects and military-like drums.
23- “SAMPLE AND HOLD” (from Trans)
You could make a fine playlist of great ’80s tracks that more or less predicted Internet dating: Kraftwerk’s “Computer Love,” Kate Bush’s “Deeper Understanding” and Young’s great “Sample and Hold.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgjnHdsQFZM
24- “COMPUTER AGE” (from Trans)
Neil Young’s first techno foray: still rocking enough to warrant a 1989 Sonic Youth cover.
25- “SOMEDAY” (from Freedom)
Hard to believe Springsteen didn’t record this too-sentimental keyboard riff before Young nabbed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tTa25zBYE
26-“FARMER JOHN” (from Weld)
The Weld take on the Ragged Glory cut is careening and reckless in the best ways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZCk0rcAcg
27-“TRANSFORMER MAN” (from Unplugged)
Neil Young peels back the vocal alterations applied to the song on the studio album Trans, and reveals how moving this ode to his disabled son really is.
28-“FALLEN ANGEL” (from Mirrorball)
Neil Young’s tender moments: most affecting when tucked in with an hour of roaring feedback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMIgYwZBsrU
29-“THIS TOWN” (from Broken Arrow)
Fuzzy, simmering and no—thank God—nothing to do with the Mark Leibovich book of the same name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX44u0pzLAw
30-“WONDERIN'” (from Everybody’s Rockin’)
This track had been floating around since at least 1970, but didn’t see release until it got the doo-wop treatment on Everybody’s Rockin’.
31-“PAYOLA BLUES” (from Everybody’s Rockin’)
In which Neil laments not hearing his music on the radio on a ’50s-themed album designed to baffle radio.
32-“MISFITS” (from Old Ways)
The long-delayed Old Ways produced one keeper: this sparse, string-tinged ode to JFK and space exploration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNe-gYFyxD8
33-“HIPPIE DREAM” (from Landing on Water)
Young’s always revisiting his past, though rarely through rose-colored glasses. Here, hippie nostalgia turns dark: “Another flower child goes to seed / In an ether-filled room of meat-hooks / It’s so ugly!”
34- “PEOPLE ON THE STREET” (from Landing on Water)
I’ll defend 1986’s Landing on Water any day, and this synth-heavy rave-up, with all its momentum, is one reason why.
35-“CRYIN’ EYES” (from Life)
The briefest and heaviest track on 1987’s Life hints at Young’s triumphant return to garage rock (Ragged Glory, Weld).
36-“TWILIGHT” (from This Note’s For You)
Neil Young finds himself a big-band horn section; stumbles on this memorable blues melody.
37-“COCAINE EYES” (from Eldorado)
Young’s return to rock after a shaky decade of experiments was first teased on the Eldorado EP, including this stormy opener.
38-“ON BROADWAY” (from Freedom)
Young’s take on the old-timey Drifters hit: a charred and explosive reimagining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Yyx_8EdY0
39 “FUCKIN’ UP” (from Ragged Glory)
Vulgar and messy—Ragged Glory’s two best traits.
40 “WHITE LINE” (from Ragged Glory)
Is it about cocaine or just friendship? Who cares.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcy7qeWdSDA
41 -“CRIME IN THE CITY” (from Weld)
The crime epic from the studio album Freedom gets the Crazy Horse live treatment.
42 -“WELFARE MOTHERS” (from Weld)
The politicized punk anthem dates back to Rust Never Sleeps, but has never sounded scarier than on this 1991 recording, with its cacophonous climax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhQOOBsV714
43″ONE OF THESE DAYS” (from Harvest Moon)
On paper, the song is corny and hackneyed; on record, it’s nostalgic and sweet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXhbA9wYVs0
44 “OLD KING” (from Harvest Moon)
Neil Young Loses Dog, Writes Song: “Old King sure meant a lot to me / But that hound dog is history.”
45 “FROM HANK TO HENDRIX” (from Harvest Moon)
Young’s relationship musings—“Can we get it together / Can we still stand side by side / Can we make it last like a musical ride?”—feel especially poignant after the artist’s 2014 divorce.
