Neil Young"the overview"

[CRAZY-HORSE]

NEIL YOUNG OVERVIEW 1966-PRESENT!

since completing the Neil Young "beginners guide" i have compiled all his career albums
by their 'rating' scores to come up with a list of the "essential" albums one needs in their
collection and also those that need to be avoided at all costs!

i also find it interesting that over his career spanning forty-six years and close to some
fifty albums...not including movie soundtracks or compilation albums that the average
rating for his albums comes in at a more than respectable 2.2 with 58% of his recordings
exceeding the average mark of 2.2.

of his ten best albums not one comes from the 1980s, of the rest predictably half come
the 'classic' period of the 1970s with one from the 1960s and two each from the
1990s and the 'noughties'

i think the biggest surprise of all is that "after the goldrush" failed by a solitary point
to make the top ten albums, so either there is something wrong with the rating
system i have adopted from Music Head(which i doubt as it usually seems pretty
accurate) or Neil Young has made some damn fine albums during his career?!?!

the top ten Neil Young albums of all time are IMO:

tonight's the night
rust never sleeps
live rust
weld
prairie wind
chrome dreams II
deja vu (with CSNY)
harvest
on the beach
harvest moon

the ten albums to avoid are:

arc
landing on water
broken arrow
life
re-ac-tor
trans
le noise
dreamin' man '02
looking foreward (with CSNY)
americana





opinions on the final lists welcomed!