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Neil Young<\/a> is one of rock’s most brilliant, confounding, defiant and frustrating artists.<\/p>\n His long career as a solo act \u2014 which\u00a0began in 1968 after he left Buffalo Springfield<\/a> \u2014 is defined by\u00a0alternately\u00a0fascinating and infuriating records.\u00a0The list below of Neil Young Albums Ranked reveals that\u00a0his three dozen or so LPs can be neatly divided down the middle between records you should hear and records you can probably skip.<\/p>\n Starting early on, Young has never played by the rules. A huge chunk of his albums has been pieced together from leftover sessions. Some of his best and most defining works (including the landmark After the Gold Rush<\/a><\/em>) started life as something entirely different. More than any other artist in history, except for maybe Bob Dylan<\/a>, Young has nearly single-handedly killed his career on more than one occasion before rebounding with an era-encapsulating work.<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Young has remained one of rock’s most influential artists, a guitar icon who also creates breathtakingly beautiful and stripped-down music. Whether working on his own or with longtime backing band Crazy Horse, or any of the various pickup groups assembled over the years, Young has been a singular, and often polarizing, artist.<\/p>\n He’s restless, aggravating, trailblazing and baffling. He’s never followed trends, and his diverse and extensive list of albums over the past four decades\u00a0and counting is worth celebrating, no matter\u00a0their context. (Note: Studio albums released as part of Young’s Archives series \u2014 like Hitchhiker<\/a><\/em> and Chrome Dreams<\/em><\/a> \u2014 have been left off the list.)<\/p>\n He’s one of rock’s most brilliant, confounding, defiant and frustrating artists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNeil Young Albums Ranked <\/h2>\n