Neil Young: All Studio Albums Ranked | The Good, the Bad & the Ugly 

Wow, that was amazing. I grew up on Neil Young and I've never heard anyone comb through a catalogue as vast as his with such pointed accuracy. In fact, every video that I've seen of yours has been deep and remarkably thorough . I don't know how you do it but please keep on keepin' on.

It was pretty depressing to realize how many of these albums I purchased, played once or twice, shelved, and have never listened to again. David Briggs is definitely missed.

Monumental task to rate Uncle Neils catalogue...bravo! great job. I definitely would have Mirror Ball in his top 10 and agree that Psychedelic Pill is a latter day masterpiece.

My Top 10: 1. On the Beach 2. Zuma 3. Rust Never Sleeps 4. After the Gold Rush 5. Comes a Time 6. Harvest 7. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere 8. Sleeps with Angels 9. Neil Young 1st Album 10. Tonight’s the Night

I'm glad to see Ragged Glory so high. That's a great album. Only time I saw Neil Young and Crazy Horse live. Personally I think Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere should be top 3 but that's mho.

I like that he just keeps doing different stuff and has given us a giant catalog of whatever he wants. Keep cranking em out Neil.

I love your reviews, always engaging and with a great sense of subtle humour. Easy to enjoy chilling with one of your long discography retrospectives. This one I was looking forward to and it delivered! Great work!

That's a lot of listening! Another American channel, Tastes Like Music, (formerly known as Listogrophy) did a survey of Young's albums and one of the three guys said basically that after that experience he didn't want to hear another Neil Young album for probably another couple of years. Your listing is a fair and balanced one. I've loved Neil Young's writing since Buffalo Springfield, but I agree that in the last couple of decades, he really needed an edit function - and then a buff and a polish. Instead of 20 mediocre to bad albums he could have ten amazing ones. I think you're also correct that losing David Briggs as another set of ears he trusted was a big loss for Young. Excellent survey!

This was awesome! Thanks for taking on such a daunting task. Very succinct and thoughtful breakdown. I largely track with most of your evaluations, give or take a few titles, of course. And the dry wit always an added bonus. Love the channel 🤘🏼😎

Excellent work. Neil is so frustrating but is truly one of the best of all when he is on form. What a mammoth task. I will be checking out some of the more recent ones on the back of this. Your top ten was pretty much perfect. Keep up the amazing work.

As a fan of Gold Rush and Harvest, and a much lesser fan of the rest, I think you did a remarkable analysis. The terms "churning them out" and "lo-fi" was spot on for the majority of his catalog, IMHO. The fact that you put yourself through this ordeal is very impressive. Nice job.

Thank you for all these pointers! Never knew where to go with Neil Young after the well known ones. This makes me want to dig in again and your analysis here will really help guide to the good stuff.

Did I miss "Time Fades Away"? Or was that not included because it was live? I'd have included it since it was all new material. Even though Neil apparently doesn't like it I think it's top 10.

I love "Time Fades Away" so much. Great list. Thx

So glad that ‘After The Gold Rush’ made number 1. Loved this album since it first came out.

Amazing video. Great work as usual. I missed the album covers for an easy identification of some albums I’m not so familiar with.

Awesome job, he was all over the map in a stellar career, but I so loved him with Crazy Horse, saw that combo a bunch of times, amongst the best jamming hard rock shows I ever saw. Great stuff and very nice list, about halfway through all those albums are worth a listen and many classic works. Another forever musician, Peace! 🎵🎸🎤🎹🎶

Brilliant work, Barry, with spot on descriptions, some very funny. Neil Young is my favourite artist and I found this very enjoyable and entertaining, thank you!

Neil the Legend! Huge fan here! Cheers from Canada great video as always

Such a great video to wake up to this morning! Thank you for the great shows.

Hello, good countdown amd a beautiful Grateful Dead shirt!

New subscriber, and watched a few of the worst to best videos and they all been very interesting and informative. This one takes the cake though as Neil has been churning albums for decades and you knew all 43 studio albums. Great effort.👍

Great video/review, as always. Even with the misses and medicorities, Neil Young's catalogue and prolific output is astounding. Not even including the massive high quality material that was unreleased at the time.

Well done sir ! A daunting task indeed. The run that he had from his debut album up to and including Zuma was remarkable. He had a lot of undeserved bad reviews for the post Harvest releases of Time Fades Away, On The Beach and Tonight's The Night. They were and still are right up there as some of his best.

Thanks for that very interesting critique and hats off for tackling such a body of work 👏

Well done. I can't comment on your rankings in their totality, as I have never undertaken the task of listening to Neil's complete catalog. I commend you for that achievement, as well. The brisk, concise, and inciteful performance is remarkable. (FWIW, my favorite Neil Young album is Rust Never Sleeps).

This is an extremely difficult task to accomplish - well done! I'm surprised "Are You Passionate" ended up so low and the debut within the top 10. I remember, I liked "Are you Passionate" pretty much when it came out, but I must confess - didn't listen to it for some years. Some of my favorites are: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Zuma, On the Beach and from the later ones - Psychedelic Pill.

I agree whole heartedly with your rankings. Very nice work!!

Good job on a tough assignment. Pretty much agree with the rankings at least for the albums I know. Though I would have put Harvest Moon up in the top ten however. Nice job!

Great video. Thanks, Barry.

Well done Barry. Great list if a tad harsh on some of my very favourite albums. Of coarse we all have different ears. Ragged Glory is my personal favourite but I absolutely love Mirror Ball. The one album that people are always surprised is in my top ten Young albums is This notes for you! I know, I can’t help it I just adore it and the double live album from it. Glad you like Psychedelic Pill though, when it was released I left it on the turntable for months.

Nice job! That was a huge catalog to tackle. Always interesting to see your take on a catalog. Been a fan since the Buffalo Springfield days. All his albums are worthy of a listen, although as he’s aged, the quality of his output has declined imo. Still, when I put on a NY record I feel like I’m sitting with an old friend who has walked with me through almost all my life. He immediately makes me feel good, even listening to his mediocre albums.

Your a brave man to take on that discography. .... well done 👏 Only comment from my side is that I would rank Trans a lot higher. It's certainly intriguing, risk-taking and has more than a few gems!

Churns out a album in less time than it does us mere mortals to crimp out a turd ! Absolutely spot on . Great undertaking to tackle all his albums …..Well done 😎👍Cheers

Great video, I was a little surprised by the low placement of this note's for you however. I always thought it was much better than most of his other 80s output and I'd rank it closer to freedom and ragged glory.

A brave effort. Neil’s guitar tones on ‘are you passionate’ are wonderful, just turn it up a bit

I thought this was a great half hour run-down of Neil's exceptional career. I particularly enjoyed seeing the love given to Ragged Glory, which on certain days is my favorite NY album.

Impressive job as always. I don’t agree on every point, but what fun would that be, lol. I do agree with the majority of your top 10 picks, though, not necessarily in that order, with my top 10 showing up all near the top of the list. You do the “album critic” thing better than so many before you imo.👨🏻

Terrific capsule summaries. Thanks.

So glad you put On the Beach high up on the list. I remember hearing that as a 17 yo kid....blew me away then, still great now...mellow, haunting at times....so well written.

Thanks for this excellent video, always a pleasure. I'd love to hear a more detailed follow-up on the top 5, and mostly why Zuma is so high and above Harvest. Loved your thoughts on Change your Mind, but I thought you were a bit severe with Silver and Gold, Buffalo Springfield Again is a great tune. Now let's talk CSN and CSNY!! I wanna hear your thoughts on Daylight Again and American Dream 😅

What a legend you are for doing this in just half an hour while still saying something meaningful about each record.

Well done sir, that was excellent

That couldn't have been easy to complete! Thank you!

Great list and comments, as always. Placing Hawks & Doves would be difficult for me: I absolutely love Side 1, and often skip Side 2. As an aside: I highly recommend Neil's Bottom Line 1974 concert (if you can track it down).

Great video!

I don't agree with all of your rankings but I love your opinions nonetheless. You make me go back and listen to these albums again, and with that, I thank you. Love the channel.

Not played NY for while so this will be a listening task seeing I own 14 of the albums featured ( glad I own all 3 of your top 3, and further 3 in your top 10)

An excellent breakdown and ranking of Neil’s discography. Not an easy task considering the depth of it. And there are several of those I’m unfamiliar with but I’ve really grown to love that “ Mirrorball “ piece of 1995. A perfectly fitting collaboration with PJ. However like most, I do prefer his older material. So your top is tough to argue with. Thanks for the awesome review of this walking, living legend.

Thank you for so much work! To put Trans over Landing on Water and This Notes for You is a suprise to say the least. The lovely Homegrown, the biographically important A journey through the past, the hypnotic Dead Man and the great Eldorado are missing. Time fades away is not a mere livealbum, for all the songs on it were new (similar to Rust never sleeps). In my opinion his best record, that has grown a lot over the years.

I'm impressed you could get through the entire oeuvre! We agree on much, but I love his first "ornate" album. I wish he had a few more of these approaches in his gigantic catalog. It's still the songs that make this enjoyable listening -- I don't feel they get overwhelmed by the backing. I guess I'm probably one of the few who also loves James Taylor's Apple album for the same reasons. The songs are strong regardless of all the filigrees attached to them!

This review/analysis is better than about 2/3 of Neil Young's catalog. I own 7 of his records (2 are live), play them often, and think he's a genius. I have completely forgotten that most of these records exist (I'm 72) but loved listening to you dissect them. Bravo!

Very good! Now I know where to start since I've never bought any of his albums before and didn't know where to go. Have you ever done a review of the albums of Elvis Costello?

Cool video. I broadly agree with your ranking, however i would have put Broken Arrow, Silver and Gold and Prairie Wind in my top 20. And On The Beach would be my No 1. Its interesting you have rated the latest 3 albums so high. I will have to give them another go to see if im missing something. Btw did you forget to mention Time Fades Away? Maybe i just missed that one. Anyways thanks, an interesting watch! Stuart

Your comments on Landing on Water are spot on. So many 60s and 70s artist were trying to fit in with 80s productions. These albums often contain good songs but it's hard to listen to them. It reminded me of when these artist were trying disco in the late 70s It makes them look desperate I heard Neil perform some of the Landing tracks on concert with basic instruments and they were pretty damn good

Another great review,just wish you could have shown the album covers (so we know which ones to avoid - only joking !) Thanks again for another great show !

Well done! I would move Greendale & This Notes for You in the Top 20. Same albums in the Top 5. Slightly different order, but that changes weekly!

On the beach,rust never sleeps,zuma,tonight’s the night,harvest. My top 5

Good video ... nice and snappy (too many ranking videos are far too long and lose the viewer) ... Neil's latter day material is pretty uninspiring ... but his catalogue has some wonderful / spectacular material in it ... Zuma near the top gets a big tick ... my "go to" for NY is actually Live Rust 'cause it brings so many classics together - albeit in a live setting ... love side 1 of Rust Never Sleeps + Powderfinger ... only quibble (for mr anyway) re list is that I have This Note's For You as another "go to" ... just works for me ... the live shows with the Blue Notes are a blast ... Thanks again ... CMcG, Aberdeen, Scotland

Enjoyed that and I agree with most of your rankings except that I would rate “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” much higher. I grew up with that album, “Goldrush”, “Harvest” and I love it - The Euphoiric “Cinnamon Girl”, the dark “Down By The River” and the wonderful meandering “Cowgirl In The Sand” are still some of his best songs. What a musician.

I enjoyed your reviews of the albums, some I agree with, some I don't, but all in all I think you have a pretty good understanding of the artist and this was an enjoyable listen.

Great video thanks

Great rundown of his massive discography. Not that it matters much but was Time Fades Away mentioned? Perhaps it is considered a live album. Once again a bang-up job

Enjoyed this rundown. There is a lot to digest here and a hundred reviewers would come up with a hundred different lists. I used to buy every release when they came out but then in the 00's I fell off the train after a few in a row that I didn't care for. I went to a concert where he played a lot of "Tonight's the Night" and it's about the only show I've left early at. I know lots of fans love it but it's just too dark and brooding for me. This coming from someone who quite liked "Sleeps With Angels", which you compared it to. I would have ranked "Harvest Moon" higher. I think it's a gorgeous album with a lot of well written songs. Agree with your assessment of "Chrome Dreams II" but "Ordinary People" is a killer track. I have a soft spot for "Old Ways" for personal reasons. My favorite track on that is "Misfits", which may be IMHO one of the weirdest songs he's ever released. Interesting that you rate several of his very recent releases pretty high. I've heard some of that material but will have to go back and listen more. Thank you for doing this!

Nicely done! Agree with all, but might have adjusted the final few to (last one my fav): NY (1st), Life, Live Rust, After the Gold..., Everybody Knows..., Zuma, & Harvest.

Excellent work, loved this video. But hell no, Ragged Glory is surely #1 😅

Great list, I agree with most of it. It is interesting that some of the newer records that I haven't heard come up high. But one thing I strongly disagree with, "Are You Passionate" is actually a very good album. I've never understood why this gets dragged down the drain, it's in my top fifteen albums for sure.

Great overview! I'm not a big Neil Young fan (especially his later stuff) but I certainly agree with your #1 pick. After The Gold Rush" is not just the best of Neil's albums, It's one of the best albums of all time in my opinion. "Birds" is so hauntingly beautiful. Sad, but beautiful.

I saw Neil with the international harvesters in 83. It was an awesome show. Did alot of acoustic country stuff then kicked into electric with an awesome lengthy Down bt the River.

Excellent undertaking. I'd move Sleeps with Angels into the Top 5, though.

Well done sir!

Neil! Love the man

Listening to 43 Neil Young albums critically sure sounds like work to me. And an exercise in patience and forbearance given his self righteousness. Although Time Fades Away was recorded live, it was an album of new songs and think it could’ve been included in the rankings. Tonight’s the Night is my fave. I would’ve ranked Everybody Knows higher, Harvest lower. I enjoyed the video and appreciate the time and effort put into it and will check out Psychedelic Pill. Cheers

i had no idea he has so many freaking albums…i could always take or leave him, his voice grates on me and after two or three songs i’m usually done & i don’t think i’ve heard a note of anything he’s done past the 70’s (also his catalog is not available on Spotify so that doesn’t help). as usual though your video is interesting and very well done.

I don't even like classic rock much but love your reviews, more of a punk guy. I always find them entertaining though and I've actually listened to a good few albums you have said are worth a listen ha.

Great video, Barry!! I have to be honest... I have not heard a majority of his albums. I have "Harvest", "Harvest Moon" and "Silver & Gold" on vinyl, as well as "Decade" on CD, but sadly, that's it. It's not that I don't like Neil; the problem is that I like too many genres. I occasionally go down a huge Progressive Rock rabbit hole, and by the time I come up for air, many non-prog albums have passed me by. For a while I got heavily into Electronic Music (e.g., Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Tomita, Vangelis, and the like) and again... many great albums, and artists for that matter, passed me by. The good news is, I don't much care for too many contemporary bands, so I'm using this time of life to circle back and give the artists that passed me by, a completely new investigation. This has been far more rewarding than spending hours upon hours, week after week, trudging through heaping mounds of excremental refuge, only to 'potentially' find 1 album or 1 artist of any real excitement. It's very difficult, if not seemingly impossible, to get as excited for music coming out now vs. what was released back in our school-days... but I try. Neil is definitely someone that I used to really enjoy, and your ranking video (which I reproduced your order), will serve as an ideal guide to the sequence to which I will begin my new NY journey! Thanks, Barry!!!

A summary of his archive releases plus his collaborations (e.g. Noise & Flowers and International Harvesters) and film soundtracks, such as Paradox would be interesting. I love albums such as Live at Massey Hall.

Brilliant hard to argue with any of your placings except for his latest crazy horse offerings. Only because I haven't given them much attention but I will now. Thank you

A fair assessment of his catalog. I rate a things a bit different but that is purely down to personal taste. The top 15 are all worth listening to, and hte bottom 25 all have moments worth hearing. Neil is relentless. When he is gone we will have a wide catalog to revisit and admire.

I enjoy This Notes...more than most. It might be because I saw Neil and the horns perform it live. There is an existing live album from that tour that is worth checking out.

Wish we’d gotten a full length follow up of Neil backed up by Rosas and Cromwell. I think El Dorado is A++++

I would have put ZUMA and MIRROR BALL higher in the ranking. But it's always great to hear about all these great records ! Thanks!

I never agreed with a commentator more. Brief as the assessments were he was articulate & accurate. I was never a huge Neil Young fan but I listened to his material & for me, the majority of his best material was early on. As time went by the first listen to new stuff dwindled. Neil saturates his output & seems oblivious to good marketing. These reviews were thorough, fair & well done. One suggestion for Neil from a former entertainment PR person -- don't alienate your audience if they pay for tickets & CDs. That's your livelihood & you're getting older. Play the music & leave the politics at home. You are a musician first, not a lecturer or a pundit. It's really rather simple.

Brilliant! I agree with the top ten (more or less), albeit in a slightly different order.

Barn and Colordo are I think very underrated. I enjoyed the Visitor very much too - Earth with PotR is a damn fine live set and very funny.

Rust never sleeps my pick.Such a raw sound on the electric side.Hey hey reminds me a bit of Rory Gallagers "Bad Penny" in its pure rawness of guitar.

Just got back into neil young and starting collecting his vinyls found this very interesting

A solid ranking, but I put "Everybodys Rockin' " in my top 5 lol. I'm surprised you included Rust Never Sleeps but not Time Fades Away.

Good stuff. I'd rank "Chrome Dreams II" higher, but that's my only quibble.

I agree with other comments that Time Fades Away should be considered. If you were to include it in your list, where would you rank it? Great list overall.

Mirrorball... there's an EP which accompanies this album, called Merkinball. It's by Pearl Jam and Neil Young, only two songs but it has the brilliant I Got ID. with Neil doing lead guitar and Eddie Vedder doing rhythm guitar. I wonder if Pearl Jam ever does this live because it is so cool.

Funny thing: Neil Young is absolutely one of my favorite artists ever, but I’m pretty unfamiliar with a good chunk of his catalog. I’ve listened to some of it, but it it doesn’t stick in my head. I’m talking about a lot of the 80’s and newer stuff, I just don’t have the patience to weed through all the mediocre stuff to get to the good stuff. Now 60’s and 70’s Neil, that’s a whole other story…some of the greatest albums of all time, barely a misstep with any of those. His first album and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere are way higher for me than the rankings here…Nowhere is easily my #1, the debut might be my #2. Last Trip Tulsa is easily one of the greatest songs he ever wrote, look deeply into those (at face value) cryptic lyrics for the devastating meaning.

Great ranking and a large undertaking. I agree with....some of it. I'm sure we all have our own order and favorites. But what about Time Fades Away? I know, I know. It's technically a "live" album, but it is all new material that wasn't recorded before or since. I think it deserves to be included. If it were, where would you put it. Me: sonically: awful; musically: one of his best.

Wow that was a great effort. I rather liked Mirror Ball. It would be in the top 15 for me. His 21st century stuff I’m not huge on. I believe Neil’s comeback started with American Dream w/CSN which then led to the Freedom album.

You have great taste... The same number one as I'd choose!

As I listened to your list, the tension grew. Would you get the number one right?? And my relief, you did! I bought that album as a 20-year-old and it had a huge impact. I agree with all of your top 10. But strangely your bottom two ranked albums I actually quite like, and occasionally play. As the Americans say "go figure"

Well done,👍

Ragged Glory is my favorite Neil Young record

Nice one, can't really argue with that although I guess we'd all do it slightly differently. Much as I love it I always felt Ragged Glory was to some extent a triumph of style over substance, although arguably that is what NY&CH are partly about. I'd drop it down a bit and definitely not rank it above Freedom, which for me is a much classier album. I'd put Sleeps With Angels up a lot higher, and for all its quality Harvest drops down for being a tad too mellow in parts for my taste. Although a compilation, Lucky 13 collects the best of the worst from the Geffen period into a decent album. Thanks for the shout out to Psychedelic Pill, I gave up on his recent stuff a while back, but a decent price second hand persuaded me. Back in my vinyl days I just had After The Goldrush and Harvest and had him pegged as mostly an acoustic singer/songwriter type.Quite an eyeopener when. I went back and discovered his other stuff.

For me, Trans is a top-10 Neil album, and Silver & Gold is in my top 5. That's what I love about artists like Neil who have huge catalogs. One thing's for sure: I gotta check out some of those more recent Neil albums that you've ranked pretty highly here. 'Barn,' for one, sounds intriguing -- I've never heard that one!