{"id":41744,"date":"2009-10-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/ragged-glory\/"},"modified":"2009-10-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-15T00:00:00","slug":"ragged-glory","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/ragged-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Ragged Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there were one word to describe the twists and turns that have comprised Neil Young\u2019s career, that word would have to be unapologetic. There is no other way to define the discography of a man who flouted conventional wisdom at every turn and defied commercial success for damn near a decade, simply because that was what he felt like doing.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the 1970\u2019s, Neil became a household name through albums like Harvest<\/i> and Comes A Time<\/i>, before closing out the decade with the critically-acclaimed Rust Never Sleeps<\/i>. \u201880s Neil, meanwhile, dropped off the face of the earth, releasing bewildering experimental records in Vocoder technology (Trans)<\/i> and rockabilly (Everybody\u2019s Rockin\u2019<\/i>). If not for the streamlined, commercial power of \u201cRockin\u2019 In The Free World,\u201d Young would have exited the Reagan era as a footnote.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With a measure of a hit on his hands, Young re-charted course and revived his successful partnership with Crazy Horse, the backing band to end all backing band debates. Thus, Ragged Glory<\/i> was born, a fitting title for a man and a group who had been through so much throughout the years. After the quirky output Young had released during the \u201880s, Ragged Glory <\/i>comes as a breath of fresh air, and reminder of Young\u2019s rocking prowess.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The highest praise I can offer this album is that one could place it anywhere amongst the finest Neil Young & Crazy Horse records of the 1970\u2019s and it would fit in perfectly with its brethren. When Young & Co. get together, the formula rarely changes; it is just a question of how strong the material is. With this album, though, there is no doubt that Young was at the top of his game, utilizing Crazy Horse perfectly once more.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As if to directly remind people of the good ol\u2019 days, Young saw fit to leadoff Ragged Glory<\/i> with two tracks that had been performed since the early \u201870s, floating around in the ether before finally being put down on tape. \u201cCountry Home\u201d and \u201cWhite Line\u201d are both built around incredibly catchy central riffs that continue on throughout the song while allowing, of course, the requisite time for Young and Crazy Horse to build off them. In the age of grunge, it must have been nice to hear two songs with such a timeless quality to them.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Truth be told, there are legitimate reasons why Neil Young is considered the godfather of grunge. There are the obvious Cobain connections that have been discussed to death, but when one actually listens to the heavier Young material, the similarities begin to grow. Young\u2019s material was always more firmly planted in the classic rock era, but the relatively basic riffing and bare bones production are merely a few shades different than say, Nevermind<\/i>. A track like \u201cFuckin\u2019 Up\u201d shares an attitude with the best of what grunge had to offer (which admittedly, in this reviewer\u2019s opinion, was not much).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ironically, despite the raw, heavy sound that Ragged Glory<\/i> has to offer, there are some rather tender, sweet moments here. Lest we forget, Neil Young came to prominence in the 1960\u2019s, and rest assured, his hippie tendencies have not dissipated over the years. You have Young reminding us that \u201cLove and only love will endure,\u201d while not forgetting to close out the proceedings with a genuinely beautiful ode to \u201cMother Earth.\u201d It\u2019s not Chaucer or Keats, but the sentiment is what we have come to expect from Young.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ragged Glory<\/i> would be followed by Harvest Moon<\/i>, a return to a different form for Neil Young. But the combination of these two records served notice that Young was far from done being heard by the \u201890s, and would continue to keep on doing things his way. Twenty years later, that is still the case.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":30105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5862],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41744","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-neil-young-crazy-horse","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41744"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}