'Rust Never Sleeps' & 'Ragged Glory'

By my count, this is the final two Neil Young albums on the 1,001 list. Which means I'm finished.

Certainly, my horizons have expanded by watching all these films and listening to all of these records. Young might be the best example of an artist that I cared so little for and knew so little about that I found out I liked a lot.

These are two of his later albums included on the list, Ragged Glory released in 1990 and Rust Never Sleeps, a partial live album, released in 1979. There was about a five-year stint where, according to whoever comes up with this list, Young wasn't putting out very good albums.

Granted, artistically and commercially, this was a dry spot for Young. I guess through five decades you are bound to have one or two.

I think both albums are pretty good. Early in his career, I felt he could do no wrong. That caught up with him. Still, it's all very good.

'Fun House' & 'Raw Power'

With Raw Power, never had you cared about a mix of an album in the history of rock and roll.

It's the third album from the incarnation of The Stooges, at this point they were Iggy and the Stooges, following Fun House and The Stooges. In my opinion, it's better than those other two. A lot more rawer. Listening to The Stooges, you realize just how much modern "alternative" bands owe to them. Some of today's rock songs are almost direct rip offs of Stooges songs. And to be honest with you, I doubt today's bands are ripping The Stooges off as much as they're ripping off The Clash, Nirvana or the Sex Pistols.

As for the mix on Raw Power, Iggy Pop initially did mix using just three of the 24 channels available, putting guitars on one, vocals on another and drums on the third. The record company refused to release it. So, David Bowie was brought in and he remixed seven of the eight songs in a day on an extremely old board. He added what he could talking over the changes with Iggy and putting out one of the most influential albums of all time.

As it is, Iggy is complementary of the mix and the apparent members of the group don't like it all. In 1996, Pop was invited to do a remix, which he did, and everyone hated it. Maybe we should learn that when David Bowie does you a favor, you just accept it.

What I find most humorous about the band disliking the initial Bowie mix was that they were all either heroin addicts or alcoholics and the musical chairs that was the line-up, they had zero room to really complain. The "band" lasted about five years, they broke up once, fired any number of guitarists and were lucky to probably make two albums like Raw Power and Fun House.

'The Adventures Of Augie March'

One detail that Saul Bellow never includes (at least, I overlooked it) is Augie March's age.

There's a broad and varying amount of happenings for March as he comes of age and, yet, we really don't know how old he was when he was stealing books, training an eagle to catch lizards in Mexico, working for a union, working for the Einhorns or volunteering for the Merchant Marines during World War II.

There are hints throughout how much time elapses. We can gather relatively accurately how much time elapses between stages in March's life. We just don't know how old he is, and I think that's important. Chances are, it was entirely on purpose: Age maybe not putting March's personal philosophy in the right context. However, a 21-year-old March running down to Mexico is different than a 29-year-old March running down to Mexico. I think.

Really good book. The fact that all these women are falling over themselves for Augie March makes it a perfect fiction.