Young’s “Cortez the Killer”.

[Lungimsam]

 

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I remember hearing this in the 80’s and  just heard it again tonight.

One interesting thing I noticed is that while a lot of people seem to strive for “that tone” in their head,  it is plain to hear that Neil’s playing is clearly not a product of any tone obsession yet he pulls off one of the most beautiful soloing jobs I ever heard ( I could name some by others, too).

I am not really a fan of his. Just enjoyed the beauty of his melodic playing mixed with the chord voicings while noticing it doesn’t sound like he was into tone shaping as much as just raw style playing.

I assume it was a non-fender guitar. Sounds like a Gibson.

[cody78]

The guitar on Cortez would be his 50's Les Paul Goldtop that was resprayed black at some point. I'd actually disagree about what you say regarding Neil's tone. I remember reading once that in the early to mid 70's he became quite fanatical about finding a specific recognizable tone that he was happy was. If you listen to his mid to late 70's output and onwards his guitar tone is instantly recognisable and sounds like he spent a lot of time finding his sound. There is a great shot of Neil from the 70's in front of all his amps and clearly spending time working on his 'tone'. 

 

I think a lot of people get tone obsessed and half the time it doesn't really matter, but Neil did seem to put a lot of effort into his sound. 

 

Anyway, yes, Cortez is an amazing song. I love about 99% of Neil's music though! He's a fantastic songwriter and lyricist (especially during the 70's). 

[Lungimsam]

Thanks for the info. It definitely sounds good to my ears.  Just doesn’t sound like a tone you would think someone would shoot for. Like when you hear it you don’t think, “man , what pedals does he use?”. Just sounds like a nice sounding no frills guitar and amp setup. That’s interesting why he picked that sound. But it does turn out sounding great. Probly cuz of the spontaneous sounding style of the content of the playing is a good match for the rawness of the tone he has. Very interesting.

[cody78]

Yeah, Neil  liked to record on the spot with little rehearsing apparently, hence a lot of his stuff sounds raw and not very polished. Personally, I love this idea, but for a lot of people it sounds unfinished I guess. If you listen to the album Tonight's the Night from 1973 there are a lot of mistakes, out of tune singing and poor time keeping, but that's what makes it unique in my opinion.

Regarding his sound he does actually have a big red pedal board thing and you can see him using it often on live videos. Listen to parts of Hey Hey My My and his tone almost sounds like his amp is broken. I think it's great! Albums like Ragged Glory, Broken Arrow, and Psychedelic Pill (and of course the rest of the Zuma album) are also worth checking out to hear what a distinctive tone he has.   

Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (2016 Remaster) - YouTube

Edited May 19, 2021 by cody78

[Whitefang]

10 minutes ago, cody78 said:

Yeah, Neil  liked to record on the spot with little rehearsing apparently, hence a lot of his stuff sounds raw and not very polished. Personally, I love this idea, but for a lot of people it sounds unfinished I guess. If you listen to the album Tonight's the Night from 1973 there are a lot of mistakes, out of tune singing and poor time keeping, but that's what makes it unique in my opinion.

 

"Out of tune singing" pretty well sums up the majority of Young's vocal output.

Not really a fan either. There were maybe two or three tunes of his I ever liked.    Most of my friends liked his HARVEST album, but mostly because the texture of the paper used on it's cover was good for cleaning their stash 

Whitefang

Edited May 19, 2021 by Whitefang

[cody78]

40 minutes ago, Whitefang said:

"Out of tune singing" pretty well sums up the majority of Young's vocal output.

Not really a fan either. There were maybe two or three tunes of his I ever liked.    Most of my friends liked his HARVEST album, but mostly because the texture of the paper used on it's cover was good for cleaning their stash 

Whitefang

Fair enough! Even if you don't like Neil, I don't think you can underestimate his output over the years and the influence he has had on many people. I never much liked Bob Dylan, but I get why he was such an inspiration to many, I just could never get past his terrible sounding voice. Neil Young is probably my favourite songwriter of all time though….I'm not sure why.

[jdgm]

I had "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" in.....1970??   "Cinnamon Girl", "Cowgirl In The Sand" and "Down By The River".    Played it to death, great LP from my youth.

After that I didn't have to buy any more Neil as everyone else did.    Until "Zuma" - 1975.  Had to get that. 

But the only Neil music I have now is "Rust Never Sleeps" on LP.   "Powderfinger" must surely be his greatest 'Wild West' tune.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by jdgm

[cody78]

23 hours ago, ghost_of_fl said:

His voice just annoys me, I don't think it's a pitch issue as much as timbre.   I like the stuff he did with CSN - it's like throwing that one weaker vocal in the mix somehow improves everything.  Like Joe Walsh with the Eagles.   

A lot of those "grunge" guys called Neil the "Godfather of Grunge" which I always thought was weird, but inspiration is a good thing.  

The 'Godfather of Grunge' thing was a media tag I guess, but it sort of makes sense as some of Neil's albums like 1981's Re-ac-tor were heavily distorted, sloppy and I 'grungy'.  I imagine a few of the electric tracks on Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rust (both from 1979) likely inspired a number of grunge artists. 

22 hours ago, jdgm said:

I had "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" in.....1970??   "Cinnamon Girl", "Cowgirl In The Sand" and "Down By The River".    Played it to death, great LP from my youth.

After that I didn't have to buy any more Neil as everyone else did.    Until "Zuma" - 1975.  Had to get that. 

But the only Neil music I have now is "Rust Never Sleeps" on LP.   "Powderfinger" must surely be his greatest 'Wild West' tune.

 

Zuma is my favourite of Neil's albums tied with Harvest, but Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is a fantastic record too. I used to play 'Cowgirl in the Sand' in a band years ago. Alongside the tracks you mention from that album, I love the title track and Running Dry. Not a bad song on the whole album.

Powderfinger is a classic.