So today I picked up a pair of tickets to see Neil Young & Crazy Horse with opening act Patti Smith at the new Barclays Center that just opened up in Brooklyn. :-)

Here's the thing: I know they're both legendary, but I'm not familiar with either's music. I bought the tickets to surprise my girlfriend who's a big fan. Of course, I want to get myself up to speed before the show in December, but I can't ask her to turn me on to their stuff for fear she'd suspect something.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? They each have extensive catalogs. Thanks. :-)
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Cowgirl in the sand,early Neil a great song I still listen to it often.
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Check out the early stuff. After the Gold Rush, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, etc.
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Pick up Neil Young Decade (mine is 2 discs, but I think there is a single disc version) also check out Neil Young Unplugged.

Enjoy, I love me some Mr. Young
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One of the greatest lyricists of all time, IMHO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0t0EW6z8a0

Neil Young is an acquired taste for some. But, then, it hits you... And you totally get it.
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Good recommendations above.
As to Patti, I loved her stuff from late 70's. I have no idea what she's doing nowadays, though. Early favorites: Dancing Barefoot, Because the Night, Frederick. I wore out my vinyl copy of Wave back in the day....disclaimer: I was stoned for that entire period, however, so my judgement may have been a bit off. I need to revisit. Come to think of it, Neil Young was always best after a couple joints, too. Crap, maybe they both suck. I need to put Live Rust on tonight when I get home and see.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQOSqKrpInU

have fun!
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Great ticket......The Neiler is gonna please you no matter what you know about him, and Patti Smith was
perfectly present in time for what she did in music in the punk and post-punk era. She has a cover CD out now
where she covers a ton of great rock tunes, and if a little uneven, it still satisfies. Neil Young was always on-again,
off-again with Crazy Horse, kind of a Yankees/Billy Martin kind of scenario. Enjoy it. You can go to LastFM dot com
and plug their names into a search bar and get some of both of their music, but it soon goes to bands LIKE the
artist you searched. Most of the Crazy Horse tunes are a hard-edged pre-Grunge Grunge with the iconic voice that
you definitely needed a forgiving ear to love back then, now with even more road miles on it, it makes for a very
poignant sound to the modern Neil shows. But still going STRONG after ~50 years, I vote yes.
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Thanks for all the great input! Yesterday afternoon I picked up a copy of Decade on vinyl for $12 at a used-record store in my neighborhood. It's three LPs! That'll keep me busy for awhile. :-)
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Is that the name of basketball stadium near Fort Greene?
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Have fun! Totally jealous.
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