Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Down To The Wire
2. Burned
3. Mr Soul - Buffalo Springfield
4. Broken Arrow
5. Expecting To Fly
6. Sugar Mountain
7. I Am A Child
8. Loner
9. Old Laughing Lady
10. Cinnamon Girl
11. Down By The River
12. Cowgirl In The Sand
13. I Believe In You
14. After The Goldrush
15. Southern Man
16. Helpless
17. Ohio
18. Soldier
19. Old Man
20. Man Needs A Maid
21. Harvest
22. Heart Of Gold
23. Star Of Bethlehem
24. Needle And The Damage Done
25. Tonight's The Night
26. For The Turnstiles
27. Winterlong
28. Deep Forbidden Lake
29. Like A Hurricane
30. Love Is A Rose
31. Cortez The Killer
32. Campaigner
33. Long May You Run

Disc 2:

1. Ohio
2. Soldier
3. Old Man
4. Man Needs A Maid
5. Harvest
6. Heart Of Gold
7. Star Of Bethlehem
8. Needle And The Damage Done
9. Tonight's The Night
10. Tired Eyes
11. Walk On
12. For The Turnstiles
13. Winterlong
14. Deep Forbidden Lake
15. Like A Hurricane
16. Love Is A Rose
17. Cortez The Killer
18. Campaigner
19. Long May You Run

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3685 in Music
• Released on: 2002-07-15
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .27 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The first stop for anybody new to Neil Young's music, this 34-song set (originally released in 1977) traces his growth from Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to Crazy Horse to his Harvest band, the Stray Gators. The album defined Young to rock radio the way Hot Rocks determined which Rolling Stones songs would become classics, but this is more than a quickie greatest-hits collection. Rarities and hits--Springfield's "Mr. Soul", CSNY's "Ohio", and Young's "Cinnamon Girl", "Heart of Gold", and the closing "Long May You Run"--develop in thematic and chronological patterns. --Steve Knopper

CD Description
'Decade' charts the first ten years of the Canadian singer-songwriter's recording career. It includes material from thehis time with the LA-formed folk-rockers Buffalo Springfield, right through to 'Long May You Run', a track from the 1976 Stills-Young Band project. It is effectively the only "best of" collection currently available by Young, and includes lengthy guitar workouts, alongside autumnal folk tracks.

Customer Reviews

A superb compilation of Neil Young's early work
This was my introduction to neil Young. Previous to this all I had heard was "Like a Hurricane" which I always found fantastic. Not knowing any of his other work I plunged in and bought this. What a fantastic album! Generally I'm not much of a fan of compilations but for this I make an exception. It really is the perfect introduction to Neil Young's early work (1967-77). Standout tracks on the album include of course "Like a Hurricane". But there is so much more to Neil Young than this. His early efforts "Down to the Wire" and "Broken Arrow" performed with Buffalo Springfield are a revelation - true classics. The same goes for later songs like "Cinnamon Girl", "Sugar Mountain", "Needle and the Damage Done" and "Down by the River". This is a must buy for anyone. There's enough here for everybody whatever their musical taste such is the breadth of styles that Neil Young uses. After this I've since bought many more of Young's albums and not been disappointed. This is the perfect place to start.

A nearly faultless compilation
This compilation of Young's work from 1966 to 1976 was hand picked by the man himself, and as such may be expected to reflect his own notoriously wayward tastes. For the most part, though, here Young seems to have concurred with public opinion on what constitute his major works. While there are bound to be omissions ("Ambulance Blues" and "On the Beach" being two of the more disappointing ones, as the album they are taken from is unavailable on CD), it is the exclusive tracks which really make this album worth owning. Songs such as the "On the Beach" outtake "Winterlong," the reflective "Campaigner" (written after Young had seen footage of Richard Nixon caring for his wife after she had suffered a stroke) and the early "Down to the Wire" are as good as anything Young has produced. Add his entertainingly vague handwritten sleevenotes, and you have an exemplary package. Unfortunately, the long promised "Decade II" is now over fifteen years overdue!

The first ten years... but where's the next twenty?
This album (an excellent overview of Neil Young's recordings from 1967 to 1977) along with "Lucky Thirteen" (a compilation of his not so illustrious work from 1983 to 1988) represent the only attempts, to date, to summarise this frustratingly mercurial artist's career.

Three things distinguish Neil Young's prodigious recorded output: extraordinary variety; incredible inconsistency and, most interestingly, an enormous number of truly excellent tracks that most of the record buying public have never heard. Die-hard fans put up with this and, as a result, reap the rewards of finding the brilliant nuggets that are dotted about his recordings... the casually interested are left with a bewildering array of albums to choose from, many of which will seriously disappoint. While this odd, often brave, inherently erratic and probably deliberate approach has elevated Neil Young to cult status, his albums regularly verge on the self-indulgent - a trait that bodes badly for the much vaunted, long awaited and self-selected "magnus opus" (10 CD ?) overview of his career.

But... amongst all the wild diversions and mediocrity, this man has produced one of the most interesting and powerful set of recordings of any artist over the past 30 years and, for those who have neither the will, patience or money, to wade through vast numbers of albums in search of these tracks, what is desperately needed is an objective, third party compilation of them. In the meantime, this is the best on offer - an interesting and representative selection of the best recordings from his most creative period