Decade review
Neil young's double disc
Anthology, Decade, is compiled from 1966 - '76.
It was
originally released as a three disc LP in 1977. It is no doubt an
outstanding representation of that period of Young's career. It includes material from the following
line-ups:
Buffalo Springfield
Neil Young (various line-up's, solo, Crazy Horse, The Stray Gators,
and others)
Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Stills-Young Band
If you're asking the question
do I get Decade or the individual albums? That is tough
because you'd need to get quite a few CD's, plus there is a handful
of unreleased songs, and singles. On the other hand, by
settling for the compilation you'd be missing quite a bit of
outstanding material. By all accounts this serves as a foundation of
Neil's catalogue. Then supplement it with a few of the albums that
are most appealing to you. Truthfully, for this period of Neil's
career that is quite a few.
Decade includes a few songs
only available on this collection as well as some classics and
rarities. Neil's hit, "Ohio" was released as a single,
though, it is on highly rated releases like the Crosby Stills &
Nash box-set, and a live rendition on Four
Way Street. The perfect
rendition of "Sugar Mountain" was recorded just after
Buffalo Springfield broke up. Other key tracks that were
released on Decade are "Love Is A Rose,"
which was covered by Linda Ronstadt, "Deep Forbidden
Lake," and "Campaigner."
The material is generally
in chronological order. One exception is "Star of Bethlehem"
that was originally on American Stars 'N Bars is sequenced
within the Harvest material. It fits right in. While On
The Beach was released prior to Tonight's the Night, the
material for the latter was written first and the composition date
dictated the order of the tracks. The liner are so-so. They have
brief notes about the tracks by Neil. Not much in terms of
personnel.
Neil Young's Decade
is some of the best music in the world. It would be difficult to
improve this release covering this period.
Order: CD
