1981 -1988 were tough years for Neil Young.  At the start of this period he had just signed a million dollar per album contract with Geffen records (and had differences with them throughout the whole period) and his second child had been diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy.  At times during this period you could tell he was burnt out on making music.  To be honest, the releases from this period are challenging and you will be hard pressed to find any songs that come close to the brilliance of those he recorded in the sixties and seventies.  Young’s methods, recording technology, attitude, and band members all changed many times during this period.  I have outlined the releases from this era below.

	1981 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Re-ac-tor: The next step on from the heavier tracks off of Rust Never Sleeps.  Unfortunately the mix is off and the material is uninspired.
	1983 – Neil Young – Trans: Young take a hard left turn here and releases an album that features 5 vocoder heavy/electronic music tracks and 3 conventional rock tracks, which completely mystified his critics and fans.
	1983 – Neil Young & The Shocking Pinks – Everybody’s Rockin’: Another genre switch here, this time to Rockabilly.  At the very least features some entertaining songs, some even are a little funny… but the album is representative of this era as they feature style over substance.
	1985 – Neil Young – Old Ways: Most of the material was originally recorded in 1982 but not release until 3 years later because of problems with his label.  This time around its a country album for Neil and a cast of guest country stars including Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
	1986 – Neil Young – Landing On Water: If I had to label this release with a genre it would be “over-produced corporate 80s synth pop.  A few goods songs but overall probably one of his worst albums.
	1987 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Life: Back to Crazy Horse again after releasing 4 albums without them.  You get a few decent track among an album that includes some 80s synthy stuff and some conventional NY w/ CH tracks.  Note the cover art featuring someone behind bars with a NY poster on the back wall which eludes to his feelings about his record label at the time.  This would be his last record with Geffen (except for the shotty best of from this period entitled Lucky 13.
	1988 – Neil Young & The Bluenotes – This Note’s For You: Neil’s first album back on his original label Reprise Records.  This time Neil is backed by The Bluenotes (including a 6 pc horn section) for a album of Blues and R&B numbers.  Includes the song “This Note’s For You” which Neil actually won a the Video of the Year award at the MTV video music awards in 1988 which MTV had previously refused to play because they were parodied the video.
	1988 – Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – American Dream: Young reunites yet again with these burnouts.  What you get is a bunch of tracks from the wash-ups and a few halfway decent numbers from Neil.

Even though it is a difficult era, I thought I would still put together a playlist below of my favorites songs from it.  If you can not see the playlist below, please follow this link.

I have recently discovered that 1973 through 1980 is my favorite era of Neil Young’s music.  It includes my favorite Album, On The Beach.  It was a dark period for Neil but it is filled with broken hearted gems.  I have outlined the releases from this period below.  Please note what I deem to be the ESSENTIAL releases.

	1973 – Neil Young - Time Fades Away: A strikingly noncommercial followup to 1972s hugely successful release Harvest.  An album of new material recorded entirely live in concert.  Neil had to fire guitarist Danny Whitten before the tour started and he overdosed and died shortly after.  What you get is an extremely raw recording of some of Young’s most emotional songs drunkenly delivered on this album that is still unreleased on CD.  ESSENTIAL
	1974 – Neil Young – On The Beach: Another mid 70s gem that didn’t see a proper CD release until 2003.  Young is joined on this revelatory set of music by Cajun Countryman Rusty Kershaw.  The album has a great vibe all the way through and is probably one of Young’s most consistent recordings.  ESSENTIAL
	1975 – Neil Young – Tonight’s The Night: Originally recorded in 1973 but not released by Young until 75.  A legendary release known for its loose off kilter cuts.  Book ended by the title track, “Tonight’s the night”, an interesting reaction to loosing both Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry to drugs.  ESSENTIAL
	1975 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Zuma: The debut of new rhythm guitarist Frank Sampedro. Young and the Horse return to form along with his producer David Briggs.  ESSENTIAL
	1976 – The Stills Young Band – Long May You Run: Young reunited with his old band mate from Buffalo Springfield on this release.  Really the only song that came from these sessions that is worth a damn is the title track by Neil.
	1977 – Neil Young – American Stars ‘N Bars: A fairly mediocre collection of songs thrown together that includes one of my favorite tunes “Like A Hurricane”.
	1978 – Neil Young – Comes A Time: Young’s most accessible music since the release of Harvest in 1972.  Put together from acoustic demos with the band overdubbed in.  Some really great songs that wasn’t released on CD until 1988.  ESSENTIAL
	1979 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps: Some regard this as Young’s last great album until his resurgence in the early 90s.  Another album book ended by a great song, this time the Rock N’ Roll epic “My My, Hey Hey…” / “Hey Hey, My My…”.  Some of the other tunes on the album would be his hardest edged songs so far.  ESSENTIAL
	1980 – Neil Young – Hawks & Doves: Another fairly mediocre mix of tracks which include a few great stand outs including the experimental “Lost In Space”.
Live releases from this era:
	1979 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Live Rust: A great live album including most of the tunes from Rust Never Sleeps along with great renditions of some of Young’s classic tunes.  ESSENTIAL

There are also two albums during this period that Young had put together and sadly decided not to release.  They are known by the titles Homegrown and Chrome Dreams (Young released Chrome Dreams II in 2007 as somewhat of an inside joke).  They both featured the song that were scattered throughout his output in the 70s but some tracks have still not seen release.  If you really search you may be able to find fan re-sequenced releases of Chrome Dreams put together by what songs were said to be included.

Here is a playlist I have put together featuring my favorites from this era.  I tried to stay away from the most well known tunes.  If you can not see the playlist below, please follow this link.

The first and most fertile period of Young’s musical legacy.  I have outlined the releases from this era below.  Please note what I deem to be the ESSENTIAL releases.

	1966 – Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield: Young finally hits the big time…  Unfortunately the band wasn’t so keen on letting Young sing his own songs.  What you have is 5 songs written by Young but only 2 sang by him.
	1967 – Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield Again: This time the band let Young sing a few more songs.  Young became frustrated with the in fighting and left the band after the recording of this release.
	1968 – Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around:  Young decided to reunite with the band for a short time before they completely fell apart.  He contributed only 2 songs to this record.
	1969 – Neil Young - Neil Young: The continuation of the work that Neil was doing with Jack Nitzsche, whom he had collaborated with on some of the more complicated arrangements on the second Buffalo Springfield record.  A very strong debut, with glimpses of what was to come.
	1969 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere: The debut of Neil’s backing band Crazy Horse (formerly The Rockets).  If his debut was a polished jewel, this was a rough gem of beautiful country tinged rock n roll. ESSENTIAL
	1970 – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Deja Vu: Young reunites with Stills in his new group including former members of The Hollies and The Byrds.  Other than lending the group some much needed rock n roll credibility, Neil sings only two songs on this record, one of them the wonderful "Helpless".
	1970 – Neil Young - After The Gold Rush: Originally supposed to be a soundtrack to a film that actor Dean Stockwell (best known for his role in TV show Quantum Leap) had written, when the film never happened Young released this landmark recording.  ESSENTIAL
	1972 – Neil Young – Harvest: Neil had fallen in love with actress Carrie Snodgress and was stricken with serious back problems during this period.  He  was in Nashville for a performance on Johnny Cash’s variety show and decided to enlist some Nashville session players and a couple of stars that were also in town for the show (James Taylor & Linda Ronstadt) to help him record what was to become his most popular record.  Definitely more polished than his work with Crazy Horse but absolutely brilliant in its own right.  ESSENTIAL
Neil Young Archives releases from this era:
	1968 – Neil Young – Sugar Mountain: Finally released in 2008 this acoustic solo performance  captures Young doing some of his great early songs.  Some of which were usually sung by other members of Buffalo Springfield.  ESSENTIAL
	1970 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Live At The Fillmore East: A rousing rock set from Neil and Crazy Horse while guitarist Danny Whitten was still alive, including the prerequisite 12 plus minute rendition of "Down By The River".
	1971 – Neil Young – Live At Massey Hall: Another great solo acoustic show, this time in Toronto featuring some songs from his then recent albums and some peaks at wonderful tunes yet to be released.

Check out the upcoming release of Neil’s long awaited Archives project.  Volume One 1963 – 1972 has finally gotten a solid release date of June 2nd.  See details here.

Here is a playlist I have put together featuring my favorites from this era.  I tried to stay away from the most well known tunes but also included those that appeared on the recordings of Buffalo Springfield and CSNY.  If you can not see the playlist below, please follow this link.

Our Band Could Be Your Life:  Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981 -1991 by Michael Azerrad

Published in 2001, Michael Azerrad’s 3rd Rock book chronicles the early histories of 13 original American Indie rock/Hardcore bands.  Including the following:

Azerrad deftly puts together each of the bands histories, explaining their background, how they laid the ground work for today’s network of independent labels and venues, and explained how they influenced the world around them.   He makes careful note to qualify his decisions to cover only certain bands and out of those band to focus on their independent releases.  For example, he limits his coverage of The Replacements (one of my favorite bands) up to just after the release of Pleased To Meet Me.  One obvious omission from the book is R.E.M., having come into existence around the time the book is covering and being on independent label IRS.  Azerrad explains that he purposely did not include R.E.M. since they were one of the first Indie groups to sign to a major label and become hugely popular.  The title of the book is taken from a song by the Minutemen.

Check out some of my favorite tracks from the bands below.