Neil Young is 75 years old today which is definitely worthy of a FMD post. One of those artists I discovered when I was a teenager that I have loved consistently ever since. Although he hasn't put out anything lately that I have found super compelling, he's also been releasing a bunch of stuff from the archives that have been amazing. I can continue to listen to both live recordings and album releases from each decade since the 60's and do so frequently.
Happy Birthday Neil, this note's for you.
I’ve loved Neil since I first heard him, too (probably around age 10 or 11 years old—when an older brother brought After the Goldrush home from college. ) You’re also right that his output from the past twenty years has been spotty at best, though I, too, am thrilled he’s emptying the vault. 70s Neil was a force of nature!
After The Gold Rush is what hooked me too.
I think the CSNY song, "Ohio" might have been what hooked me initially, in the mid-70s. I was a big fan by the time I was a college sophomore. But my post-The Roommate housemate had an ample collection of vinyl, which included Decade, the eponymous Neil Young album, and a couple of others. I played the hell out of those and taped them all.
His rockabilly album came out when I was
in high schoolattending Spamtown CC for a year after trying very hard to flunk out of the Alma Mater. We used to play the hell out of one or two songs from that on the jukebox at the other pizza joint in Spamtown (Steve's) when I was not hanging with George's son.