Clips & Pix: Neil Young/Tell Me Why

Neil Young has been on a roll releasing material from his archives. The above clip is from an upcoming album and concert film titled Young Shakespeare. Scheduled for March 26, it captures an acoustic gig at the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Conn. on January 22, 1971. As reported by Ultimate Classic Rock, this is the earliest known footage of Young in concert.

Recorded three days after the famous show at Toronto’s Massey Hall (released as Live at Massey Hall 1971 in March 2007), the footage was taken for German TV. Apparently, it never aired and wasn’t released otherwise until now.

Tell Me Why, written by Young, is the opener of the album and film. It also is the first track of his third studio album After the Gold Rush, which came out in September 1970, only four months prior to the Shakespeare and Massey Hall shows.

While I like many of Neil Young’s electric tunes with Crazy Horse, I think oftentimes he’s even better solo with just his acoustic guitar and harmonica or piano. Notably, Young Shakespeare features various tunes from Harvest, the follow-on to After the Gold Rush, which had not been released at the time. These songs include classics A Man Needs a Maid, Heart of Gold and The Needle and the Damage Done. Following is the official film trailer.

Here’s the track list:

1. Tell Me Why
2. Old Man
3. The Needle and the Damage Done
4. Ohio
5. Dance Dance Dance
6. Cowgirl in the Sand
7. A Man Needs a Maid/Heart of Gold
8. Journey Through the Past
9. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
10. Helpless
11. Down by the River
12. Sugar Mountain

Young Shakespeare will be available on vinyl, CD, DVD and streaming platforms. It comes on the heels of Way Down in the Rust Bucket, another excellent live album Young released on February 26, which I previously covered here.

Sources: Wikipedia; Ultimate Classic Rock; YouTube