Albums in Order: Zuma

Over on the Rust list, Expecting To Fly has been posting his thoughts on listening to the entire Neil catalog chronologically. Certainly an ambitious enterprise for a noble cause which we're all for the better.

Here's a snippet on listening to Zuma:

"It's very difficult to describe what it was like for me to listen to Zuma for the first time. I had great respect for the previous three albums, the so-called "Doom Trilogy" -- albums and songs born of despair and deep emotional pain.

I must say, I didn't really know where Neil was headed after listening to Tonight's The Night several times. I realized that this album was actually recorded before On The Beach, but the music on that and the previous two albums really I felt could have led to some level of depth in which (banish the thought) Neil might not even want to record music anymore.

Yet nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me for how this album would impact my life. Zuma came out a mere 6 months after TTN (that's what releasing an album recorded 2 years previously can do for you) and I think there was something in Neil's muse that compelled him to put this out. The result is one of the greatest albums ever by anyone."

He cites Michal's excellent Traces site as a resource for more on Neil's "Wilderness Years" from the 1998 Uncut Magazine articles. It's interesting to note all of the different phrases that writers use to refer to the 1970's period of 'Time Fades Away', 'On The Beach' and 'Tonight's The Night'. Thrasher's preference is the Ditch Period.

Hopefully, we can get e2f to bundle up all of his reviews from the Albums In Order series and we'll get them archived here on Thrasher's Wheat. ;)

In the meantime, here's the rest of the Zuma review.