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Greendale
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 54 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 19 August 2003
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock
Summary
Credited to Neil Young & Crazy Horse (expect electric rather than acoustic), this latest offering by the 57-year-old rocker is a 10-song concept album about the lives of the fictitious Green family.
Also By This Artist: Are You Passionate? Chrome Dreams II Dreamin' Man Live '92 Fork In The Road Living With War Prairie Wind Silver & Gold Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 The Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972
Also On Metacritic
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
PopMatters
Not only does Young accomplish his goal of creating a musical storyline that transcends the tedium and self-indulgence of your average concept album, but he's also crafted his finest set of songs since at least Freedom and Ragged Glory.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Greendale has a tattered, buzzing, demolike sound, rude as any Young has put out.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Greendale is a bonkers, utterly headstrong conceit. Let's hope that Neil Young never stops having them. [Sep 2003, p.111]
All Music Guide
It all adds up to a very good record -- one that is interesting, and one that satisfies musically.
Read Full Review >Blender
Quirks and all, it's a consistently absorbing tale from a songwriter who's still pushing himself. [Sep 2003, p.132]
Uncut
The good news is Young has found himself a different kind of voice and some fresh inspiration. [Sep 2003, p.116]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Songcraft occasionally gets sacrificed for the sake of narrative, and some tracks are easier to admire than enjoy, but by and large, Greendale still works as a Neil Young record.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
The problem with Greendale-the-CD is that too many songs rely on simple blues vamps that neither Young nor Crazy Horse manages to rave up into their trademark protogrunge.... But you keep listening because he's created real setting, plot, and character.
Read Full Review >E! Online
While some of it is bitterly brilliant, too many songs veer toward being overdone or naively optimistic.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
Instances of clarity and grace alternate with wodges of unfathomable nonsense that a good editor would have blue-pencilled from the first draft.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
We should laud Young for taking such risks at this stage of his career but 'Greendale' sounds like the sort of small town you spend your whole life running from. Or the place you go to retire.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
Young's nomadic narrative requires its own Cliffs Notes, and the lack of cohesion or focus (which Young pretty much cops to in the liner notes) give the record less heft than the irate rambling of your neighborhood curmudgeon.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
About the time an FBI agent shoots the heroine's cat, prior to a Hair-style love-in finale, you'll know you and Young have weathered his career low point together. [19 Sep 2003, p.86]
Mojo
The story feels thrown together in two seconds, and much of it is irredeemably hokey.... In the end, despite its kooky charms, Greendale is just one more lazy Neil Young album. [Sep 2003, p.96]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 54 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Stephen S gave it a10:
A gut-wrenching emotional disc that grows on one as they listen to the story. The music is typical Neil garage rock (which is not a bad thing), but combined with the simple, dramatic narrative - the whole is much greater than the sum of it's parts. Outstanding!
Seamus S gave it a10:
So I'm a sucker for rock-operas....whatever. And this may not have been the best Neil Young album for me to start out on....again...whatever This album kicked my ass Brillaint
Jay G gave it an8:
His best since "Sleeps With Angels," not top-tier Young but definitely a good album nonetheless. Don't be fooled by the low '20' rating metacritic has for the Austin Chronicle, if you READ that brief review, you'll find that the reviewer hates the CD but LOVES the bonus DVD and actually likes the songs. From that same review: "The bonus DVD, on the other horseshoe...brings to life a sly satire for these Imperialist times, Young's tight-lipped rambling fleshing out the already charmed storybook CD booklet...If his offhand allusion in concert is given any credence, the Greendale DVD may be Young's best-realized song cycle since 1975's masterful Tonight's the Night."
John K gave it a10:
Hey, Mark T: It's SUPPOSED to be amateurish. If you went to a Neil Young concert expecting super-glossy corporate rock, you don't get Neil Young. You must have thought you were going to a Phil Collins concert. This album is magnificent, and live it's even better. However it's bound to have mixed reviews because it's so ambitious, and so many music reviewers are foaming at the mouth to rip into Neil for something. They can't be trusted. Listen to it a few times without thinking too hard and make up your own mind. By the way, Mark T, for a professional writer you sure don't avoid repetition or cliche.
Mark H gave it a 10:
An amazing album.. I sat in stunned silence as thing unwound like a weird, musical snake. Tales of doping and cop killing and a call to revolution....reaches deep down inside ....and grabs you
Tom E gave it a 10:
Both releases are worth the time to listen to and watch. Neil continues to do what he does best....play. But, unfortunately, most people don't understand that Neil wants you to feel his music, not just hear it. Greendale can be felt as much as it can be heard.
Mark T gave it a 2:
I just got back from the performance in LA. All those who gave the album such a high score must have been smoking the ganja that was wafting up to The Shrine rafters. As a professional writer, I can honestly say I have never witnessed a more amateurish production in my many years on this earth. Completely laughable and amateurish. I was with a large group of people and we were all stunned/mystified at how truly bad Greendale Live turned out to be. Maybe we needed the ganja.
