Neil Young's Zuma

Picked up a discounted price CD for a drive I had to make for work - hard to believe but I had never listened to it before - and I love NY.

An excellent album - a great find. :cool:

Huge Neil fan here, but that's one I also came to only fairly recently. I knew Cortez since way back, but most of the others were new to me. My band now plays "Don't Cry No Tears" frequently.

Zuma is great.


Check out Time Fades Away if you get the chance. For some reason it's never been issued on CD, but it's really good. Part of the "Ditch Trilogy"

First NY and CH record I heard. I used to get records from the library and tape them. That was a good one to listen to on headphones.

One of my favorites. Another that's often overlooked: American Stars 'n Bars.

Tim

One of my favorites. Another that's often overlooked: American Stars 'n Bars.

Tim

+1

I've long since memorized Zuma ten times over. Something about Danger Bird.

But American Stars 'n Bars, I put a copy in the other day and realized just how little opportunity I'd had to listen to it before. It is wonderful. And for me, it is this very strange combination of familiarity but only partial. I wonder if someone slipped me a cassette of part of it, tacked on another Neil CD or something.

Zuma was the first Neil Young album I bought. A buddy of mine spoke of it in positively reverent terms. On his advice, I got a copy, and I was indeed blown away.
Lookin' For A Love has a wonderful, aching melody which always makes me want to sing along. Barstool Blues has one of my fave vocals of all time. I love the strain in his voice. And then there's the glacier-slow epics, Danger Bird and Cortez. Those two are positively hypnotic.
Yep, Zuma is awesome...

Zuma is great.

Check out Time Fades Away if you get the chance. For some reason it's never been issued on CD, but it's really good. Part of the "Ditch Trilogy"

I love Neil and yes, Zuma Ida terrific record.

I'll 2nd the Time Fades Away recommendation if you can find it. Your best bet is finding an old vinyl copy, but it won't be terribly cheap. A few years back I did find a digital copy online that was sourced from a proposed cd master that was bring considered for release that Neil later shelved. Incredible album! It certainly has rough edges. It's far from perfect in execution, but the emotional impact is awesome. Like his Tonight's the Night album, which is my favorite of his, that album is all about raw emotion and great songs. Don't Be Denied is one of his greatest songs.

The "Ditch Trilogy" is easily my favorite Neil period. Don't sleep on On the Beach. It's also incredible. Neil was dealing with some awful stuff, but the music those hard times spawned are classics.

A great Album. I have it in Viynl!

Zuma's a good one for sure, and basically you can't go wrong with ANY of the 70's Neil Young stuff. +1 to the Ditch Trilogy, especially.

I love Zuma, Danger Bird is such a great song. There are a lot of really cool deep cuts on this album, plus Cortez.

I must admit I found Time Fades Away not very enjoyable, it felt like a hastily released one-off live show, not at all representative of Neil live

Love it, listened to it loads on vinyl in my teens.

It's a great album which I picked up for £3 in the late 70s. Love every song on it especially Cortez

My very favorite Neil album. Barstool Blues has the best lyrics and vocal performance in his entire discography. I love Danger Bird, Pardon My Heart, Lookin For A Love, Stupid Girl, hell all of them.... and of course Cortez. I also think that this is Neil's all time best guitar work trading solos with Frank Sampedro.

Like others have said make sure you check out On The Beach too if you don't know that one.

I think it's a notch above Zuma but what do I know ?

I also think that compared to those two "Tonight's The Night" is the weakest of that period. Still a real good record just not as phenomenal as all the critics say.

Less than 10 years ago I realized I had (at least) one copy of every Neil Young record ever released.

I had 8 copies (!) of On The Beach.

His stuff was almost always $1 or less used so I would buy every one I ran across - even stuff like "Landing On Water" and similar stinkers...:lol:

We wore out Zuma in art school, my band played Dont Cry No Tears, Danger Bird and Cortez. I've never been able to fully understand what Danger Bird is about lyrically... theres a mystical creature in Mayan or Aztec mythology called Moan, or Muwan, the bearer of bad news, a zodiac creature. Probably a stretch but I often wondered.....

Yes, I am also a huge Neil Young fan. His stuff can be very vitriolic but in a very pleasing way.

Like others have said make sure you check out On The Beach too if you don't know that one.

I think it's a notch above Zuma but what do I know ?

I also think that compared to those two "Tonight's The Night" is the weakest of that period. Still a real good record just not as phenomenal as all the critics say.

Less than 10 years ago I realized I had (at least) one copy of every Neil Young record ever released.

I had 8 copies (!) of On The Beach.
His stuff was almost always $1 or less used so I would buy every one I ran across - even stuff like "Landing On Water" and similar stinkers...:lol:

:lol:

Love Zuma....

Amusing, today, to see the direction this eventually took, over time.

I remember the Carpenters type people looking down their noses at me as I bought album with the ugly cover that was so dirty and homeless next to what they wanted Neil to be about, i.e., Harvest. 1975 was a kind of rotten year for music, next to something like 1969 and you have to go back and find the gems. There weren't so many of them, about that time.

It's funny you say that, Boris. I love the album cover

It's funny you say that, Boris. I love the album cover

I'm torn as to it, but a lot of people I remember disliked it a lot. One knew right away, the artist wasn't catering to the Perma-Prest set.

Sometimes I don't mind an album cover that backs it down. But, for instance, when Poco released "Picking Up the Pieces", that album's photos and art were a disaster. The portrait on the front looks like they whited the original Ritchie Furay out and tried to convert the image of Meisner into Ritchie. Incoherent, conflicting images of the members, mismatched styles, slapped together; just stupid. And IMO it (and other similar things) eventually get us to Jim leaving the band and downhill from there.

No, the Zuma art mostly meant, me and a few folks could have Neil to ourselves, and I guess I miss those days but the world is probably better off, the more people we have out there listening to Neil Young.

I love Neil and yes, Zuma Ida terrific record.

I'll 2nd the Time Fades Away recommendation if you can find it.
The "Ditch Trilogy" is easily my favorite Neil period. Don't sleep on On the Beach. It's also incredible. Neil was dealing with some awful stuff, but the music those hard times spawned are classics.
3rd recommendation for Time Fades Away. My LP copy is very scratchy but I've found a nice MP3 copy. MP me if you want it.
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Probably my fav NY album. I've learned most of the tunes on that album 'cause I like to play to myself and when were sittin' around the fire.

This is what I love about this forum. I come by and I'm reminded of an album I haven't heard in years. Of course I have to buy a copy of Zuma now.

I waited forever for that album to come out. Neil did a song or two at the SNACK Concert (with Dylan and part of the Band). I wanted to learn "Lookin' For a Love." So I had to wait for Zuma to come out.