Way back in the mists of time, October 1990 I left my farm in a little hidden away valley in West Wales and headed for the big city. Amongst all the glam rock cassettes loaded into a specially designated suitcase was a recent purchase picked up on a whim the week before following a good review and the fact it had a track on it called ‘Fuckin Up’*. This tape very soon got to be a real firm favourite of mine, especially during those times when all the excitement** wore off, as it did occasionally and I’d feel a crushing homesickness for my little green valley, for somewhere I could be alone outside in nature; good therapeutic tears were shed to the sound of it. Over the years I must have played this LP and its opening track two hundred trigazillion times and it still gets a very regular run out, take a bow Neil Young & Crazy Horse Ragged Glory.
Recorded in a barn on Neil’s ranch, I love every nanosecond of this big beast. This is an astonishing work of outstanding genius, right from the cover on in, a fish-eyed lens cover shot, which makes Crazy Horse look like the coolest bunch of no-frills gnarly old garage rocking barn burners in existence, especially the back cover pic of an unspooked horse. Ragged Glory has some great tunes, some on-and-on-til-the-very-crack-of-the-motherfucking-apocalypse-itself guitar soloing, and a great warm immediate sound, but what sets it out from everything else around it, then and now, was an almost frightening sense of total commitment. Forget all that fucking about Mr Young did for Geffen Records, forget all the good tunes and very good songwriting on the two LPs that formed his creative rehabilitation before Ragged Glory, This Notes For You and Freedom are both (in parts) very good albums, but mere foothills to this raggedly glorious Everest.
Opener ‘Country Home’ is the emotional one for me, I can remember lying in bed late at night listening to this on my Walkman at a volume that made my brain vibrate audibly, over and over again. It says everything I felt about my geographical situation then and now:
I guess I need that city life
It sure has lots of style
But pretty soon it wears me out
And I have to think to smile.
I’m thankful for my country home
It gives me peace of mind
Somewhere I can walk alone
And leave myself behind.
I struggle to tell you just how uplifted I feel when I drop the needle in the groove and hear that opening totally overdriven salvo of notes, then the band click into place and carry me up and away. The soloing is damn fine, as you’d expect but everything here serves the tune which is the size of a continent. I don’t think music gets much better than this.
After the pleasant enough diversion that is ‘White Line’ something very heavy lumbers into view over the horizon, ‘Fuckin’ Up’^. Again the band take this one to the very edge of sanity, the sound so LOUD and raw it puts you right into that barn hugging the biggest amp you can find. The evergreen targets of hypocrisy and self-righteousness are firmly in Neil’s crosshairs here and he really lets rip, lyrically and sonically, as you might expect from a man who can sound heavier than most metal bands when playing an acoustic guitar, the results are excoriating:
I can see you on a hill
Comatose but walking still
Curves beneath
your flowing gown
Only I could
bring you down.
Then Ragged Glory gets even better with ‘Over And Over’, which is sometimes my favourite ever Neil Young track. A sweet balm of overwhelming love and everything again, overdriven and cranked hard into the red, it gets better every time I listen to it, not bad after 27 years. Neil’s vocals really hover at the edge of his range, the way he delivers the lines ‘Somewhere in the fire of love /
our dreams went up in smoke / We danced beneath silver rain’, just gets me, nothing held back, nothing spared, damn the torpedoes – total commitment; this song matters to him. When he isn’t singing it he’s playing it, genuinely some of his best playing is right here – Crazy Horse plodding on beneath him all the while in the best possible way. Romantic regrets, eh?
At 8:28 ‘Over And Over’ is a mere stripling compared to the epic ‘Love To Burn’ which follows. Sweet, strident, epic it ticks all the right boxes and boasts some astonishingly good guitar extemporizing, sounding like most of the album, simultaneously classic and of the moment. On this track, more than any of the others, Crazy Horse really give it everything they have, Ralph Molina’s drumming is incredibly good throughout. This track by itself totally justifies the evolution of ears. True story.
Flip the sides and we get pure garage grunge on the band’s cover of ‘Farmer John’, a Nuggets fave of mine. The band play it like the most ornery hard-handed bar band of all-time – good luck asking for a request from this lot. Then we get two gentle shots of bitter sweet nostalgia in ‘Mansion On the Hill’ and ‘Days That Used To be’, both meditations on the doomed hippy dream, the reconciliation of ideals and possessions and the only two songs on Ragged Glory that don’t end snarled in feedback; maybe there is a hard-fought peace to be won in middle age after all.
Saddle up folks we’re off up Epic Gulch again next for the 10 minute ‘Love And Only Love’, which is not a second too long either. This tale of the triumph of love over everything is kept firmly on the rails by the spritely kicking rhythm of the band and the sweet harmonies of the song. Sure, Neil fires up his trusty guitar and takes us on a flight over the whole Earth but it never flags for a second, never feels like self-indulgence at all. The lyrics may not be very subtle but he MEANS it, he really does.
Ragged Glory ends with an absolute corker, of course. An amp protests with a crackle as a guitar picks out a simple refrain which is slightly redolent of Hendrix torching ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and then ‘Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)’ emerges as an environmentally conscious folk chorale, backed by the lingering tingling threat of that barely-checked guitar; a little like seeing a Glock totin’ gopher. I never used to be able to see the point of the track, which was recorded live, I thought it jangled the continuity of the LP, but now it has grown on me until the point where I think it is one of the real highlights here. Neil doesn’t heed your rules, he just is, like the mountains.
I have written way more than I meant to here, but this is one that means a lot to me. Forget all my words here, the LP title tells you all you need to know – ragged and glorious.
764 Down.
PS: These men are definitely old enough to know better:
PPS: You want a quote to sum up the whole of Ragged Glory? maybe the whole of Neil Young? take us back to our ‘Country Home’:
It’s only someone else’s potatoes
If you’re pickin’ someone else’s patch
And if you go down there anyway
It very seldom lasts.
I found that out once long ago
And it sure got me confused
I still don’t know which way to go
To lose those old spud blues.
*obviously I’m way more mature now.
**Booze! Bands!! New Friends!!! Record Shops!!!!
^written as ‘F*!#in’ Up’ on the cover and label to avoid getting a PMRC sticker, Mr Young was adamant he wouldn’t allow them to slap one on his LP – it’s also the reason why we have a blank black sheet on the inner sleeve, which makes a statement pretty eloquently methinks.
Your take doesn’t surprise me. This album kinda has it going on. ‘Fuckin’ Up’ is the self talk CB lives with. I have a companion piece to this record. Compact Disc Maxi – Single, ‘Mansion On The Hill’. There’s an extra tune ‘Don’t Spook the Horse’ another CB fave. Just don’t pet the old hound dog.
Country Home actually massively predates that album
Hiya, I’d read that somewhere before that a few of these tunes had been kicking about for a while.
There is a Youtube video of the old version somewhere.
Wonderful review.
(bows politely)
Love this album to pieces. Country Home was one of the first songs I tried to learn on guitar. I still remember finding Farmer John on Nuggets and discovering it was a cover for the first time. Great write up!
So can you play a decent version of it then?
It’s been a long while since I played it but I’m pretty sure I could. It’s a fun song to jam to with others. Just a few chords and you can let ‘er go!
This album was a turning point for me in my conversion to becoming a Neil Young fan.
There are a lot of moments here that I think inspired another CanCon band I quite like (Blue Rodeo) and I really started to appreciate his unpolished vocals.
Ragged and glorious indeed!
Love your enthusiasm. Pictures are great, too! Me, I’m of the opinion this album is mostly great. Sweary word song never did much for me and being so early in the track list was obviously a bit unfortunate in that case
Certainly put me in the mood to listen to it, though Neil wouldn’t approve unless it’s on Pono.
You big cry-baby!
Of course that didn’t happen – I just put that there because bitches love all that emotional shit.
Swoon!
See?
This is my absolute favorite Neil Young album, nice review.
I had a cassette I bought in Caernarfon on the day of release and it was the only thing that got me through the week at Butlins in Pwllheli, I was forced to be there for work, when I got home my wife had bought the CD for me and I have been looking for the record ever since at a price a mere mortal can afford, I am waiting for the re-release at this point.
I can’t agree about Freedom though it is perfect.
I’m sure that when he was cutting the various scorching solos in his barn, that he and Crazy Horse had Butlins in Pwllheli in mind; I actually had it from an insider at Reprise Records that ‘Pwllheli’ was the working title for the LP. True story.
And thank you, I did want to try and do this ragged old beast justice.
“which makes Crazy Horse look like the coolest bunch of no-frills gnarly old garage rocking barn burners in existence”
That’s exactly the impression I get when I look at that awesome cover. And what is contained within validates the power of that picture.
“I never used to be able to see the point of the track, which was recorded live, I thought it jangled the continuity of the LP, but now it has grown on me until the point where I think it is one of the real highlights here.”
I have always wanted to warm up to Mother Nature, but it has never happened. Therefore, I still think it “jangles the continuity of the LP” and it is the sole track in Ragged Glory that is not somewhere between awesome, mind-blowing, and face-melting.
But that goes along with my theory that Neil is just way too much of an nonconformist to release a perfectly neat album. He always has to throw a curveball in there to show he doesn’t care as much as we think he does. Most of his great records have one such instance: Harvest has “There’s a World”; Tonight’s the Night has “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown”, which is by no means bad but breaks the mood of the album given it is a live track; On the Beach has “Walk On”, which is awesome but it is way too confident for a record that is generally moody and gloomy; Comes a Time has “Motorcycle Mama”; and the list goes on.
Anyway, fantastic write-up on one of my favorite records.
Brilliant Matt and thank you very much. Is it your fave Neil Young LP?
It isn’t. My favorites would have to be On the Beach and Tonight’s the Night, in that order. But Ragged Glory is safely inside the Top 5.
I’ve never owned On the Beach, I’ll see if I can find a cheap reissue somehow.
That’s a great choice!
“I have to think to smile”
What a great line.
Though having lots of Neil Young, I don’t have this one – something that probably needs remedying.
Didn’t have to think to smile about this post.
You shock me Bruce. To my very core.
(makes shocked face)
I thought a great, debonair, tastemaker like yourself would have at least three copies knocking around.
I think it is a genuinely great album, not much going on you could label ‘subtle’ just loads of commitment and verve.
It is a wonderful line the smiley one, simple yet great.
You are right to be shocked and appalled (especially since there are over 25 Neil titles hanging about). I’m hanging my Young head.
It can be a pricey little bugger to buy, I’ve never seen it in a second-hand shop – my suspicion is that it’s too good an LP, people won’t let go.
Now, I really wish I’d bought ‘Weld’ on vinyl – that’s one that I really can’t afford now.
I think I have a new favorite Neil Young song.
The one with the rude words in?
Those are always my favorites!
This is one of my favorite NY albums too. Here is my take. https://catchgroove.com/2016/05/29/neil-young-crazy-horse-ragged-glory/
Cheers, I just love this one indiscriminately!
I like the cover of this! If a picture could say a million words this would be it! Great writeup!
Cheers Deke! Have you ever caught him live?
No I haven’t. He did receive a degree from our local University years ago as he lived here for a bit in the 60’s. Randy Bachman sings about it on his Prairie Town track…
I always liked his Sleeping With Angels album (Piece OF Crap)and really really liked the album with Pearl Jam as his backing band…
Mirror Ball – that’s a really good LP.
I’m amazed it all fitted onto one LP. I feel like it’s the only Young album from the era that benefited from its long running length; other albums like Freedom and Sleeps with Angels would have been stronger with a trim.
I couldn’t agree more, every second of Ragged Glory is justified – Freedom is great but it sags in the middle and SWA just didn’t have the songs to sustain itself for me.
The man was a golden God for about a 3 year period at this time.
I’ve been thinking about making a blog post about editing Freedom. It should have included ‘Cocaine Eyes’ from the Eldorado EP, and dropped a few other songs.
Great idea for a post.
OMG this is maybe probably my favourite* Neil Young album! When I reviewed it aaaaaages ago, I said something about it being able to spit 40′. It’s true.
Anyway, anytime anyone (it’s an any-aliteration!) talks about this album I get all excited and wanna go play it again. I think I will. THANKS!
* He has so many, it’s hard to ay one as a favourite, but this one ranks DAMN high!
Good call! It is easily a Top 5 LP for me (along with the other 17 albums I’ve said that about) and his best by far, I’ve only liked bits of his albums since this one.
The man was so damn cool at this point, he had it all and dressed brilliantly too.
He was 45 when he made this. My age now. #UnderAchiever.
This was around the time he was showing those youngsters in Pearl Jam a thing or two, too. Here kids, sit down. This is how the grown-ups do it! Hahahaha
Great salute to an album I’ve neglected for some time. I plan to hammer it tomorrow although my copy is CD. The album came out just about the time I fell for their hype as I’ve got all Neil’s album’s up until then on vinyl.
Hey Paul, thanks a lot. I love this one so much, I bought Weld on ******* cassette – the vinyl is astronomical these days. I should have stayed true to my faith.
So you grew up on a farm which explains your desire to transform into a tractor, I suppose.
I always wanted to date a farmer’s daughter, actually.
Great writeup and I feel your passion, and I love the way you describe his guitar solos.
It is Mike, I genuinely would like to own a tractor despite having absolutely no use for one whatsoever, or even anywhere to put it.
I have, umm, ‘dated’ farmer’s daughters but I’m far too gentlemanly and discrete to say anything else about it. You’ll just have to wait for my forthcoming concept album ‘I’ve seen a Million Faces and I’ve ****ed Them All’.
And thank you very much, it really is one of my favourite LPs. In fact, it is the last studio one of his that I’ve liked more than about two tracks on at all. Have you heard it?
Yes I have but it’s been absolute ages. I remember liking it, and you made me hungry for more.
A buddy of mine dated a farmer’s daughter. Went out to the barn to feed the horses. When they didn’t return, the farmer grabbed his shotgun and went looking for them. Him, went looking for him. If I could get him to write that story for me, I would!