Neil Young: Road Rock Volume 1

I had a hunch this would be a stinker, and didn't buy it until the year after it came out, when I saw it cheap in Record Collector. It's Neil Young, so I had to get it, but I can't think of any of his solo albums that I'd like to listen to less than this one.

Neil has usually been better when backed by a band that have a history of playing together: Crazy Horse, Booker T and the MGs, or even Pearl Jam. Of all his specially-convened bands, I only really like the Blue Notes. I can take or leave the Stray Gators, and the live recordings by the Trans band, the Time Fades Away band, and the Shocking Pinks are almost always out-shone by the recordings with 'proper' bands.

There's one new song on this album, but it's not one to remember. The version of Cowgirl in the Sand never takes off. Words is more interesting on Journey Through the Past. I must have about twenty live recordings of Tonight's the Night, and I think this is the only one that sounds like it's feebly going through the motions. The original Neil Young/Booker T version of All along the Watchtower at the 1992 Bobfest was vastly superior to the one here.

So where's Volume 2?

MusicBrainz entry for this album