Neil Young News
In 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) It's very difficult to describe what it was like for me to
listen 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;
for a good read from Uncut magazine about those three
albums, check out Michal's Traces.
I must say, I didn't really know where Neil was headed
after listening to TTN 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.
But, I had read a great interview Neil gave to Cameron
Crowe in Rolling Stone Magazine; see it at Michal's Traces.
So, there was some hope. 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. December of 1975. Colorado. I
remember it well. As soon as the new album started
playing, I knew that Neil Young and Crazy Horse were back
in a big, big way. Don't Cry No Tears, what a tune. And it
rocked.
Then, there was the multi-layered Dangerbird.
Billy, Ralph and that new guy Frank could sing, man. Ooooh
I loved listening to the glorious Neil Young lead guitar
on that one. The next song, Pardon My Heart (Oh, and it
feels so good when love flows the way that it should;
don't ya know it) was, well let's just say it hit a chord
with me then and now that is profound and meaningful. It's
mostly acoustic, but features a great lead electric guitar
bit. For me, it's greater than any song on Greatest Hits
or Decade. Lookin' For A Love is one of those great
country songs of Neil's. I just loved the imagary, the
expressed hopefullness, the vocals (again) by CH. Just a
wonderful tune. Barstool Blues featured some searing
lyrics and that last lead Guitar solo is one I just loved
to blast from my stereo. What a song.
Side two starts with
hard hitting Neil Young rock with Stupid Girl and Drive
Back. Who knew songs like this were in him? And then the
masterful and multilayered appeal of Cortez The Killer.
Not exactly a history lesson, but the emotion evoked, the
sense of something perhaps bigger than ourselves is very
convincingly expressed. Neil's lead guitar playing at the
time he made this album had gone through a transformation,
either techologically or artistically or both, in which
the expressiveness of his instrument was more powerful
than ever. Through My Sails was a nice little song, but it
solidified a feeling that I had around then that CSNY was
not missed in the least; their harmonies were not nearly
as great for Neil on this album as those provided by his
CH bandmates on previous songs.
Zuma had a great effect on me. Whereas the previous three
albums had painted pictures of increasing despair, this
one cried out in hopefulness, and it was a statement that
Neil Young still had much to say lyrically and mucically.
I very much enjoyed listening to Zuma today.
Mike - Expecting To Fly
From: Mike Cordova
To: Rust
Subject: Albums in order: Zuma
For more of Expecting To Fly's reviews, see the Albums in Order series.
Reviews of Neil Young Albums
Neil Young Archives - Thrasher's Wheat