Decade (Neil Young album)

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For other albums named Decade, see decade (disambiguation).

Professional reviews
Decade

Compilation album by Neil Young
Released	October 28, 1977
Recorded	1966-1976
Genre	Country rock, Folk rock, Rock
Length	143:40
Label	Reprise
Producer(s)	Neil Young, Tim Mulligan, David Briggs
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A) link
Neil Young chronology
American Stars'n'Bars (1977)	Decade (1977)	Comes a Time (1978)

Decade is a triple album compilation by Neil Young, released in 1977, now available on two compact discs. It contains thirty-five of Young's songs recorded between 1966 and 1976, among them five tracks that had been unreleased up to that point. It peaked at #43 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.

1 History
2 Track listing
- 2.1 Disc one
- 2.2 Disc two
3 External link
4 Charts

[edit] History

Compiled by Young himself, with his hand-written notes about each track, representing every album from his career and various affiliations through 1977 with the exception of Four Way Street and Time Fades Away. Of the previously unreleased songs, "Down to the Wire" features the New Orleans pianist Dr. John with Buffalo Springfield on an item from their shelved Stampede album; "Love Is A Rose" was a minor hit for Linda Ronstadt in 1975; "Winterlong" received a cover by the Pixies on the Neil Young tribute album from 1989, The Bridge; and "Campaigner" is yet another Young song critical of Richard Nixon.

The album has been lauded in many quarters as one of the best examples of a career retrospective for a rock and roll artist. However, in the original article on Young from the first edition of the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, critic Dave Marsh used this album to accuse Young of deliberately manufacturing a self-mythology, arguing that while his highlights could be seen to place him on a level with other greats from his generation like Bob Dylan or The Beatles, the particulars of his catalogue did not bear this out. The magazine has since excised the article from subsequent editions; a somewhat messy transcription of it can be found at the link below.

For many years, Decade was the only Neil Young compilation album available. A 1993 compilation called Lucky Thirteen was released, but it only covered Young's 1982-1988 output. It was not until 2004 that Reprise Records released a single-disc album, simply titled Greatest Hits. Since the 1980s, Young has promised fans a follow up box set, variously referred to as Decade II or Archives. The first release of archival material since Decade and Lucky Thirteen would appear in 2006, Live at the Fillmore East, a live album featuring Crazy Horse with Danny Whitten.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and performed by Neil Young except where noted.

[edit] Disc one

"Down to the Wire" – 2:25 Performed by Buffalo Springfield & Dr. John, previously unreleased.
"Burned" – 2:14 Performed by Buffalo Springfield, the first Neil Young vocal ever recorded, circa late 1966.
"Mr. Soul" – 2:41 Performed by Buffalo Springfield, recorded live in New York City.
"Broken Arrow" – 6:13 Performed by Buffalo Springfield.
"Expecting to Fly" – 3:44 Performed by Buffalo Springfield.
"Sugar Mountain" – 5:43 Home recording made shortly after Young left Buffalo Springfield.
"I Am a Child" – 2:17 Performed by Buffalo Springfield.
"The Loner" – 3:50
"The Old Laughing Lady" – 5:35
"Cinnamon Girl" – 2:59
"Down by the River" – 8:58
"Cowgirl in the Sand" – 10:01
"I Believe in You" – 3:27
"After the Gold Rush" – 3:45
"Southern Man" – 5:31
"Helpless" – 3:34 Performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young