After a few years of coming and going with Buffalo Springfield, the "first American supergroup," Neil Young parted ways for good in 1967 with his band. In 1968, with Crazy Horse pianist Jack Nietsche arrangement, Young's self-titled debut was unleashed. Out of all his following albums, "Neil Young" is the most cohesive, mainly because Nietsche helped keep the budding artist on track. It probably has more overdubs than anything that Young did with the Springfield, and certainly everything since Granpa Crispy struck out on his own. The album starts off, ironically, with one of Nietsche's own compositions, "The Emperor of Wyoming," a nice, pleasant country instrumental. "The Loner" follows, and now we are clearly in Neil's world of angst and paranoia. "The Old Laughing Lady" is a great track, with female background vocals reminiscent of anything done for Motown, despite the fact the song is clearly not a Motown product. Besides the aforementioned, Neil's other songs of longing, like "If I Could Have Her Tonight" and "What Did You Do to My Life," make this a thrilling ride. The final track, "The Last Trip to Tulsa," is Young accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. The track is about nine minutes long, with the most arcane, non-sensical lyrics I have ever heard. The crazier the song become lyrically, the harder Young strums his guitar, until you think the strings will crack under the strain. With Nietsche's brilliant arranging, "Neil Young" is a fine start to a long, storied career.

This album is Neil Young at his very best and is in my top ten of classic albums. it has everything, Neil's perfect voice, perfect timing,outstandingly beautiful guitar playing by Neil. The album begins with 'The emperor of Wyoming' a pretty piece of music that is quite relaxing to listen too, the next song is a real classic, 'The Loner' Neil vocals on this song is really exciting to listen too as he delivers a smooth, emotional song about a man who has not and cannot get over his lover who has left him. The next 2 song 'If I Could Have Her Tonight', 'I've Been Waiting for You' are a really wonderful and he delivers them in a sensitive and uniquley beautiful way, that only he can, each song is like diamonds and pearls, gems or contemporary jewelr, truly solid gold. The following song 'The Old Laughing Lady' is a very pretty song with beautiful background music, he sings it so wonderfully. 'String Quartet from Whiskey' is a nice song, and like the others it has Neils unique style written all over it. The following three songs 'Here We Are in the Years', 'What Did You Do to My Life?' and 'I've Loved Her So Long' are stunningly beautiful and so delicatly sung, these songs are diamond cut perfection from Neil. And now to the last but never yhe least song 'The Last Trip to Tulsa' this song is exceptionally sensitive, so emotional, perfect guitar playing from Neil, it like a diamonds, rubies and emeralds all in on cluster, it is among the most beautiful songs that I have ever listened too, it just makes you drift to that place called paradise. This ablum is like gold, and the lyrics are so delicatly beautiful. Yes, I love it.

Neil was at the height of his powers when he wrote the songs on this CD. There are no klunkers here, every song has a strong melody and intriguing lyrics.

I find this album compares favorably with the more famous Beach Boys or Beatles albums that came out at the same time. Like the Beach Boys and the Beatles, the rich melodies are the primary appeal of the album. Every song is good, though they are almost all sad, with lots of sweet, heartfelt chords and notes.

The production of this album is a source of frequent comment. In my opinion, the CD is better mixed than the original vinyl. I'll have to confess however, that when I was listening to this album as a teenager, I had a poor stereo. It may simply be that the great sonic equipment we can buy now does justice to an album that couldn't be heard properly on a cheap stereo. Certainly it seems to me that Neil's voice is louder in this mix than the way I remember it from my youth. Also the songs seem to have more of an edge to them, so that the rockers come out with a bit more punch. Some of the instruments seem to stand out more clearly now.

The melodies from this album are so strong that I would compare it favorably against many other good records from any point in rock history. However, you have to understand that this is Neil Young, and the album is moody, a bit introverted, even quite dark at times. But I listen to it for the lush production, the warm bittersweet chords, and the beautiful melodies. Plus, I like Neil's youthful melancholy. It rings true to me.

This album is good, but only if you have it on vinyl. The song "What did you do to my life" is mixed very badly on the cd, with that sort of droning incredibly irritating organ sound. This is only one instance of the poor transfer to digital that occured with this cd. It is on one of the best songs on the album, but just sounds horrible on the cd. I don't think they put this one out on vinyl since the early eighties, I was lucky to get it from an old neighbor. On LP, "what did you do to my life," without the bad electronic noises, gives the album a cohesion that it otherwise lacks. Does anyone else out there know what I'm talking about? The rest of the album lacks the rich production level of the LP. It's almost like it's a completely different album. I know--this is Neil Young minutia, but I just can't get over how bad this album sounds on cd.

Neil Young's moving and breathtaking debut. Every time I listen to this record I become more and more certain that it's Neil Young's finest. The tracks "The Loner", "If I Could Have Her Tonight", and "The Old Laughing Lady" are all very good, but the best track is definitely the deeply moving "I've Been Waiting For You". A must for any fan of great music, and an absolute necessity for any Neil Young fan. Buy it!