Reviews of Neil Young AlbumsIn 2004 Rustie, Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova posted a series of articles on his experience listening to all of Neil Young's albums in chronological order. Here is one in the series. For a complete listing, see Albums in Order reviews.
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:51:36 -0800 (PST) I didn't actually get this one when it came out. In fact,
I didn't buy this EP until 1991 after getting the next two
full-length albums. I had ordered the Japanese import at a
record store sometime in late 1990. The Air National Guard
unit I was in was activated for the Gulf War and I had
been deployed to Dubai in the United Arab Emerites.
Eldorado arrived while I was there. But, my nice (now ex,
but still nice) wife taped it for me and sent the tape and
that's how I first listened to it.
Listening in order as I am now, I find the transition from
the saccharine production of American Dream to the
blasting aural assault of the opening notes of Cocaine
Eyes to be stunning. It feels to me like Neil Young was
trying to distance himself from that other thing and jump
into some of the most exciting music he had made in a
while. Neil recruited the rythm section of the Bluenotes
band, Rick (The Bass Player) Rosas and Chad Cromwell on
drums and dubbed the three-piece band The Restless. This
trio could make some loud beautiful noise. Cocaine Eyes is
great electric rock. Don't Cry is, I think, the same track
that later appeared on Freedom except it is edited
differently. What a song this is. Neil's singing is
superb. The bass and drum parts that punctuate between
verses and lead guitar parts are fabulously satisfying. I
would have loved to have seen this one performed live by
the Restless. Heavy Love is heavy rock. Good tune. On
Broadway and Eldorado are the same tracks that appear on
Freedom I do think. On Broadway seemed to me initially as
kind of an odd choice of a song to cover, but the twist
Neil gives it at the end (give me some of that crack,
awwwwwwww) really makes the song his own. The title track
has some good percussion and pacing.
Clocking in at 25 minutes, this EP is just a few minutes
shorter than some "full-length" albums. Since it was only
a limited release and available in most of the world only
as an import, Neil went ahead and put three of the songs
on his next album [I get to hear Don't Cry again,
yippeee!!!]
I very much enjoyed listening to Eldorado today.
Mike - Expecting To Fly
From: Mike Cordova
To: rust@rustlist.org
Subject: Albums in order: Eldorado
For more of Expecting To Fly's reviews, see the Albums in Order series.
Neil Young - Thrasher's Wheat Archives