Neil Young 24: Ragged Glory and Weld

What to do when riding high? Time to call the Horse! Barely a year after Freedom, Neil was back again, with an album the likes of Kurt Loder immediately branded as essential. Now decades later, the jury’s still hung as to just how essential Ragged Glory is, but there’s no mistaking that it’s loud.

“Country Home” starts us off on the right foot. It’s nice and long, and ends with several seconds of lingering feedback, as do most of these songs. It seems to just keep going, and that’s fine. “White Line” is another resurrected nugget from the ‘70s, and “F*!#in’ Up” isn’t as funny after the first few listens. “Over And Over” is very long but not dull, but it’s still hard to tell “Love To Burn” and “Love And Only Love” apart until the choruses kick in.

“Farmer John” is a stupid old garage band song, perfect for these guys, and they sure have a lot of fun playing it. “Days That Used To Be” takes most of its melody from “My Back Pages”, but that’s okay since both songs cover similar ground. “Mansion On The Hill” was the first single, Lord knows why, except that it’s pretty short and uses the word “psychedelic”. “Mother Earth” ends the ride with a twist—a live vocal and distorto guitar performance with overdubbed backing vocals.

Ragged Glory isn’t as forgettable as much of his ‘80s material, but it just doesn’t have enough variety, especially coming so soon after the potpourri on Freedom. Also, Neil made a big deal at the time about “Don’t Spook The Horse”, which was left off the album for use as a B-side. First of all, it could have fit on the album with room to spare, and second of all, it was kinda ordinary. But it does include this priceless bit of advice: “If you wanna pet that old hound dog, make sure he ain’t rolled in shit.” This was rectified somewhat 33 years later when the album was remastered and rereleased as part of his ongoing Original Release Series box sets. Dubbed the Smell The Horse Edition, an extra disc included an alternate mix of “Don’t Spook The Horse” along with the acoustic “Interstate”, which had been a later B-side, and previously unreleased takes of “Boxcar” and “Born To Run”—his, not Bruce’s—the latter running over twelve minutes while they pound the simple riff into the ground.

Weld documented the subsequent Smell The Horse tour, and fills the same kind of purpose as Live Rust. Most of the songs are on that album or Ragged Glory, and the performances are all pretty straightforward, with some exceptions. “Blowin’ In The Wind” is played in a similar style to “Mother Earth”, after some Gulf War sound effects. “Welfare Mothers” features some silly give-and-take twixt Neil and Billy Talbot at the drawn-out end. We don’t need another “Tonight’s The Night”, though “Roll Another Number” is a different way to end these feedback-soaked, wartime proceedings. This collection has a really great version of “F*!#in’ Up” too. (Originally included only in the deluxe version of the set, Arc is a 35-minute sound sculpture built from various song endings and jams from the tour, within which one can discern the endings of some familiar tunes. There is a small following on the Internet that has an annual Arc-fest devoted to playing the disc communally, which, given Neil’s fanatic fan base, isn’t surprising.)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse Ragged Glory (1990)—3
2024 Smell The Horse Edition: same as 1990, plus 4 extra tracks
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Weld (1991)—3
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Arc (1991)—2