Ragged Glory

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Ragged Glory
Raggedglory.jpg
Studio album by
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
ReleasedSeptember 9, 1990 (1990-09-09)[1]
RecordedApril 1990
StudioPlywood Digital, Woodside, CA (except "Mother Earth": The Hoosier Dome)
GenreGarage rock,[2] grunge[3]
Length62:43
LabelReprise
ProducerNeil Young, David Briggs
Neil Young chronology
Freedom
(1989) 		Ragged Glory
(1990) 		Weld
(1991)
Crazy Horse chronology
Left for Dead
(1989) 		Ragged Glory
(1990) 		Weld
(1991)

Ragged Glory is the 18th studio album by Canadian / American singer-songwriter Neil Young, and his sixth album with the band Crazy Horse. It was released by Reprise Records on September 9, 1990.

Recording[]

The Ragged Glory sessions took place in April 1990 at Young's Broken Arrow Ranch. The band played a set of songs twice a day for a couple of weeks (never repeating the same songs in a set), then went back, listened and chose the best takes. According to Young, this approach "took 'analysis' out of the game during the sessions, allowing the Horse to not think".[4]

Music and lyrics[]

The album revisits the hard-rock style previously explored on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Zuma. The first two tracks, "Country Home" and "White Line" are songs Young and Crazy Horse originally wrote and performed live in the 1970s (the original recording of "White Line", made for an aborted Homegrown album would finally see release in 2020). "Farmer John" is a cover of a 1960s song, written and performed by R&B duo Don and Dewey and also performed by British Invasion group The Searchers as well as garage band The Premiers.[5] Young revealed that the song "Days that Used to Be" is inspired by Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages". The album features many extended guitar jams, with two songs stretching out to more than ten minutes.

The closing track, "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)", uses the melody of the folk song "The Water Is Wide".

Reception and legacy[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[6]
Chicago Tribune4/4 stars[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music3/5 stars[8]
Entertainment WeeklyA–[9]
Los Angeles Times4/5 stars[10]
MusicHound Rock4/5[11]
Rolling Stone4.5/5 stars[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide5/5 stars[12]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[13]
The Village VoiceA–[14]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Kurt Loder hailed Ragged Glory as "a monument to the spirit of the garage - to the pursuit of passion over precision" and calling it "a great one".[5] In the Los Angeles Times, John D'Agostino deemed the record "garage rock" and "impressive primitivism coming from a 45-year-old rock icon",[2] while Village Voice critic Robert Christgau called it "an atavistic garage stomp" that "makes good on several potent fantasies--eternal renewal, the garage as underground, the guitar as shibboleth and idea."[15] It was voted album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll,[16] and in 2010 it was selected by Rolling Stone as the 77th best album of the 1990s.[17] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[18]

The CD single culled from the album, "Mansion on the Hill", included the otherwise unreleased song "Don't Spook the Horse" (7:36). "F*!#in' Up" (pronounced "Fuckin' Up") is frequently covered by Pearl Jam live (see Category:Pearl Jam Official Bootlegs for recordings), and was performed by Bush in their headlining set at Woodstock 1999. Toronto-based band Constantines recorded a version of "F*!#in' Up" in Winnipeg,[19] which surfaced as the b-side to their "Our Age" 7"[20] in November 2008. Scottish heavy metal band The Almighty recorded the song and included it as a B-side (with an uncensored title) to their "Out of Season" single in 1992. An outtake from the sessions for the album, "Interstate," was released on the vinyl version of the 1996 album Broken Arrow and on the CD single for the track "Big Time."[citation needed] UK Americana band The Whybirds frequently covered the song live.[21]

Smell the Horse[]

In December 2018 Young revealed in a post on his Archives website that during the process of remastering the album, engineer John Hanlon discovered 38 minutes of unreleased music from the recording sessions (featuring "five songs, with two versions of one, and one long extended take of another"). The expanded set, named Ragged Glory II, was expected to be released on CD, vinyl and Hi-Res audio in 2020 but was delayed.[4] In February 2021, the album was again announced, now titled Smell the Horse, containing all of Ragged Glory as well as "four added tracks", and is set for release later that year.[22]

Track listing[]

All songs written by Neil Young except as noted.[23]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Country Home" 7:05
2."White Line" 2:57
3."Fuckin' Up"Neil Young, Frank "Poncho" Sampedro5:54
4."Over and Over" 8:28
5."Love to Burn" 10:00
6."Farmer John"Don Harris, Dewey Terry4:14
7."Mansion on the Hill" 4:48
8."Days That Used to Be" 3:42
9."Love and Only Love" 10:18
10."Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" 5:11

B-sides[]

Song Single
"Don't Spook the Horse" "Mansion on the Hill"[24]
"Interstate" "Big Time"

Personnel[]

  • Neil Young - guitar, vocals
Crazy Horse

Charts[]

Album

Year Chart Peak Position
1990 The Billboard U.S. 200 31 [25]

Single

Year Single Chart Peak Position
1990 "Mansion on the Hill" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 3 [26]
"Over and Over" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 33 [26]

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2015-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b D'Agostino, John (April 23, 1991). "COMMENTARY : Colorful Chameleon : Music: Fans that have stuck by as Neil Young changed from one style to another are finally rewarded with his newest effort. He plays the Sports Arena tonight". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  3. ^ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-greatest-grunge-albums-798851/stooges-fun-house-1970-798900/
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Ragged Glory : Massive Discoveries in the vault!". Neil Young Archives. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Loder, Kurt (September 20, 1990). "Neil Young's Guitar Ecstasy". Rolling Stone (587). p. 99.
  6. ^ Ruhlmann, William. Ragged Glory at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 January 2006.
  7. ^ Kot, Greg (September 6, 1990). "3 To Watch Out For". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  8. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Neil Young". Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  9. ^ Sandow, Greg (September 14, 1990). "Ragged Glory". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  10. ^ Hilburn, Robert (September 16, 1990). "Neil Young's 'Ragged Glory' Touches on Faded Ideals". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  11. ^ Graff, Gary (1996). "Neil Young". In Graff, Gary (ed.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 0787610372.
  12. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). "Neil Young". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Portions posted at "Neil Young > Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  13. ^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Neil Young". Spin Alternative Record Guide. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  14. ^ Christgau, Robert (October 23, 1990). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  15. ^ Christgau, Robert (March 5, 1991). "Hard News in a Soft Year". The Village Voice. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  16. ^ "The 1990 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. March 5, 1991. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  17. ^ "100 Best Albums of the Nineties: Neil Young and Crazy Horse, 'Ragged Glory' | Rolling Stone | Lists". Rolling Stone. 2011-05-22. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  18. ^ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (7 February 2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.
  19. ^ "Constantines: Celebrating 10 Years". Arts-crafts.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  20. ^ "Arts & Crafts - Constantines - Our Age - Arts & Crafts - Music Stream". Arts-crafts.ca. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  21. ^ "The Whybirds Fuckin' Up". youtube.com. 2010-02-03. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  22. ^ "ORS 5". Neil Young Archives. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  23. ^ Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Ragged Glory (Reprise Records, 1991).
  24. ^ Neil Young And Crazy Horse - Mansion On The Hill (Edit), retrieved 2020-02-15
  25. ^ Ragged Glory - Neil Young & Crazy Horse > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums at AllMusic. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b Ragged Glory - Neil Young & Crazy Horse > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
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