Customer Reviews

Rust Never Sleeps

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's hard to believe that I picked up "Rust Never Sleeps" on vinyl more than 20 years ago. I just downloaded the album the other day and it still holds up all these years! God, I recommend everybody go and revisit this album (or pick it up for the first time if you've never heard it before). This album still rocks!

I guess this album was considered some sort of comeback for Neil Young in the seventies, although, let's face it , he'd been there for years. I first heard "Hey Hey My My" on the soundtrack of Dennis Hopper's great, depressing movie "Out of the Blue" (for real!) playing over shots of seagulls swarming over a garbage dump - somehow that image is very appropiate to the music. This album is Neil Young at his most enigmatic and powerful, a combination that only him and Dylan have been able to pull off with any degree of real success. Somehow, the combination of meloncholic acoustic songs and bruising rockers results in an album that's of one piece, instead of one that's an awkard mish-mash. This should really be one of the first five Neil Young albums that you should buy - if you buy that many and feel that you don't need any more, you're not truly a fan.

It's a raw sound, but full of emotion. Young sings from the heart...he is not one of those high-image guys. What you see is what you get, and I would expect what you hear on this album is a good indicator of the energy one feels at a Neil Young concert.

He'll be rocking in the free world until he is 75!!

do not listen to anything this person says. he really thinks Def Leppard coined the phrase, "it is better to burn up, than to fade away." Da peace dogg is a joker and unfortunately has too much time on his hands putting out lame azz comments on excellent albums.

Simply put, Rust Never Sleeps is an outstanding album. But most of the other reviews convey that message quite well. I am writing in response to "Da Peace Dogg's" ill informed, submoronic review! Are you joking, or just an idiot? Rust Never Sleeps came out roughly 5 years before Pyromania, So noo...Neil Young DID NOT steal a thing from Def Leppard. Also, Johnny Rotten was part of the Sex Pistols, NOT The Ramones. Honestly Peace Doggie, perhaps you should spend more time actually listening to music rather than wretched attempts at reviewing it.

When most rock music was mired in bands with no faces, with no known musician's names, and extremely little talent, like Kansas, Styx, Journey, Neil Young heard the wake-up call coming from the punk world. And although his own "Tonight's the Night" (1975) was a howling, screaming, raw, powerful tour de force, perhaps he even recognized a need for a rock and roll shot in the arm for his own music. The result was "Rust Never Sleeps".

In a weird way, this album sounds like a greatest hits sort of collection, with one side displaying his accoustic talents, and the other his gritty electric prowess. Of the accoustic tracks, "Pochahontas" (sp?) is the most unique because of its strange combination of haunting despair for the plight of Native Americans which turns into a love song for Pochahontas and all things Americana (the Astrodome, Hollywood, Marlon Brando, etc.). It's the most inventive song on this side, although all the accoustic tunes are engaging and mellow without being sleep-inducing like most 1970s accoustic work.

The second side has one of Neil Young's best electric ballads he's ever written, "Powderfinger". By saying it's his best electric ballad, I realize that this includes a body of work which features "Like a Hurricane", "Down by the River", "Cinnamon Girl", etc. But really, in terms of lyrics and musical brashness, nothing beats this song.

Finally, the album is framed by the songs "My, My, Hey, Hey" and "Hey, Hey, My, My". These book-ends, one accoustic and one electric, are by far the most revealing insights into the rock industry ever written. Better than Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" or "Have a Cigar, these two songs signal the end of one era of rock and roll--"The King is gone but he's not forgotten" and the heralding of a new age "Rock and Roll can never die". With rock and roll in Neil Young's hands, we can be assured of that.

This is Young at his best - if you like Neil Young, you'll love this album. 'Nuff said.

A note about "Powderfinger" - The story of "Powderfinger" is set in modern times, and is about a family of cocaine (i.e., "powder") smugglers who use a boat to bootleg their product into the country. "Red means run, son" refers to the bold red stripe on the bow of any US Coast Guard ship.

I suppose "Powderfinger" is Neil Young's poignant way of portraying the futility of the War on Drugs, as well as just telling the story of a young drug runner who had no choice in the matter when he became involved in this "war."

When first released on vinyl, Young treated fans to an acoustic/electric melding of haunting music, and some of his finest live work!

Taken as a whole, this is a daunting work that remains fresh and riveting!

Often called Neil Young's best record, "Rust Never Sleeps" was recorded live with the audience track subsequently removed (which is why it doesn't sound like a live album - no cheering or clapping or singing along).

The acoustic set, which made up the first side of the original LP, opens with the classic "My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)", probably the most concise and knowing description of the entertainment industry ever written.
And that song is reprised later on as a tough electric rocker, "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)" with slightly altered lyrics and raw, crunchy electric guitars courtesy of Crazy Horse, Young's legendary backing band.

In between you have the folkish acoustic "Pocahontas", a country-tinged lament about the mistreatment of the Native Americans, but also a love song, and a powerful tale of travelling through time.
And there is the superbly melodious country ballad "Sail Away", wonderfully arranged and with subtle harmony vocals by the late Nicolette Larson, and the thoughful, meditative and very personal "Thrasher".

The electric half is highlighted by the magnificent "Powderfinger", Neil Young's best electric rock song, capturing Crazy Horse in full electric stride, and featuring two superb, grinding solos from Young and a simple, yet memorable two-string riff which serves as a "chorus" of sorts after each verse.

If everything else on "Rust" was trash, it would still be a must-have for any Neil Young fan just for this one song, which captures all of Young's strenghts as a composer, a writer and a musician.

4 1/2 stars. Highly recommended.

I consider this album an essential Neil Young masterpiece. Someone here suggested "Live Rust" as a better choice, which is also a great album to listen to, but in the perspective of Neil's entire oeuvre, this has the edge over it as a solid collection of original-release material. "Live Rust" is certainly an excellent single-purchase starting point for new fans, and both albums are vital documents of Neil's talent.

However, I am curious as to the setting of "Powderfinger". Someone here claims it's about a Native American defending his home, but it isn't clear to me from the lyrics that the protagonist is Native American. "Big John" and "Emmy Lou" don't sound like typical Native American names to me, though anything's possible. The song certainly suggests 19th century America, but it's not clear why the young man's home is being attacked. It could as easily be about an obscure Civil War incident, or even a backwoods moonshiner bust. There is a detailed discussion over this song on the HyperRust fan website, and apparently Neil himself has little to contribute regarding the exact meaning of the lyrics, admitting it just "came to him". Ah well, that's the nature of true artistic inspiration!