My Top 5 Live Albums Turning 50

Three make a charm. Here’s my third and probably last look for now at 1971. Previously, I mused about my top 5 studio records and my top 5 debut albums that appeared during this remarkable year in music. Now it’s time for my top 5 live albums turning 50 this year.

Similar to debuts, narrowing the universe to live albums substantially reduced the choices compared to studio albums. That being said, I was surprised how many live albums appeared in 1971. For the purposes of my fun exercise, I considered 14 live records. Here are my five favorites. This time, I decided to list them according to their release date.

Elton John/17-11-70

This early Elton John album was new to me. Released on April 1, 1971, it was John’s fifth record overall and his first live release – and, boy, what a great album! It captured a live radio broadcast from November 17, 1970 – hence the title. This was an unplanned album, which was triggered by bootlegs. From a strictly commercial perspective, it turned out it didn’t quite work. A 60-minute bootleg, which included 12 more minutes of John’s music than the officially sanctioned live album, is believed to have impacted sales of the latter. An extended 2-LP edition was released for Record Store Day in 2017. Regardless of the original album’s commercial performance, the music is fantastic. Here’s closer Burn Down the Mission, a tune John initially included on his third studio album Tumbleweed Connection from October 1970. As usual, he composed the music while his long-time partner Bernie Taupin provided the lyrics. This is an extended version that incorporates parts of Arthur Crudup’s My Baby Left Me (starting at around 10:30) and The Beatles’ Get Back (starting at about 14:10). At 18 minutes plus, it can compete with prog rock, but listening to John demonstrating his rock piano chops is a lot of fun! BTW, the guy playing that groovy bass is Dee Murray, who was a longtime member of John’s backing band.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young/4 Way Street

4 Way Street, released on April 7, 1971, is the first live album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It includes footage from gigs at Fillmore East (New York), The Forum (Los Angeles) and Auditorium Theatre (Chicago) recorded during CSNY’s 1970 tour. By the time they played these shows, tension between the members had grown to intense levels, and the band dissolved shortly after the double-LP’s appearance – egos in rock! Sides one and two are acoustic and are primarily focused on the individual members, while sides 3 and 4 are electric, featuring the full band playing together. Here’s Ohio, written by Neil Young, and first released as a single by CSNY in June 1970 to protest the Kent State shooting that had occurred on May 4 of the same year.

The Allman Brothers Band/At Fillmore East

At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band is perhaps the ultimate southern and blues rock album and one of the best live albums ever. Released on July 6, 1971, it features music from three of the band’s concerts at the legendary New York City music venue that occurred in March 1971. The Allman Brothers’ third album overall also marked the band’s commercial breakthrough, climbing to no. 13 on the Billboard 200. As of August 1992, At Fillmore East has reached Platinum status. In 2004, it was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress, deemed to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” by the National Recording Registry. Rolling Stone ranked the album at no. 49 in their 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In the list’s latest revision from September 2020, it still came in at a respectable no. 105. Here’s Hot ‘Lanta, an instrumental the Allman Brothers debuted on this live album. It is credited to all members of the band at time: Duane Allman (lead guitar, slide guitar), Gregg Allman (organ, piano, vocals), Dickey Betts (lead guitar), Berry Oakley (bass), Jai Johanny Johanson (drums, congas, timbales) and Butch Trucks (drums, tympani). These harmony guitar parts combined with Greg Allman’s Hammond are just out of this world!

Chicago/Chicago at Carnegie Hall

Chicago’s fourth album overall and their first live release, Chicago at Carnegie Hall, released on October 25, 1971, falls into the band’s early period, which is my favorite. As such, it immediately made my list of live albums I considered for my top picks. The 4-LP set was recorded from shows Chicago played at New York’s prominent concert venue for a week in April 1971 during their supporting tour for Chicago III, the band’s third studio album that had come out in January of the same year. “The reason behind the live record for Carnegie Hall is, we were the first rock ‘n’ roll group to sell out a week at Carnegie Hall, and that was worth rolling up the trucks for, putting the mikes up there, and really chronicling what happened in 1971,” co-founding band member Walter Parazaider told William James Ruhlmann, who wrote the liner notes for the 1991 Chicago compilation Group Portrait. Not all members were happy with the outcome. James Pankow, one of three co-founders who remain in the current line-up of Chicago, felt the venue’s acoustics weren’t made for amplified music, comparing the sound of the brass to kazoos. In 2005, a remastered version of the album with improved sound quality appeared. And earlier this month, Rhino Records announced a 50th anniversary 16-CD box set titled Chicago Live At Carnegie Hall Complete. It’s slated for July 16. Meanwhile, here’s the amazing 25 Or 6 To 4. Written by Robert Lamm, the tune first appeared on Chicago’s eponymous second studio album from January 1970 (also known as Chicago II).

George Harrison & Friends/The Concert for Bangladesh

I trust The Concert for Bangladesh doesn’t need much of an introduction. This 3-LP album captured the pioneering music charity event that had been organized by George Harrison to raise money for war-ravaged and disaster-stricken Bangladesh and took place at New York’s Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971. The two concerts conducted for UNICEF, which raised from than $243,000 at the time, featured an incredible line-up of artists, who in addition to Harrison included Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and Eric Clapton, among others. The event brought Harrison and Starr together on stage for the first time since 1966 when The Beatles had stopped to tour. It also marked Dylan’s first major concert appearance in the U.S. for five years. I recall reading somewhere Harrison literally didn’t know whether Dylan would show up until he walked out on stage. Here’s Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which was first appeared on The Beatles’ White Album from November 1968.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

Neil Young Triumphantly Returns To Boston

“One of my first solo shows was in the Wang Theater, then called the Music Hall,” wrote Neil Young on his website in May, talking about his 2018 solo tour that officially ended last night with the second of two dates at the landmark venue in Boston’s Theatre District. “It’s a real beauty folks – a chapel of soul and music. I hope it still sounds as good as it did then and that I do too!” While I wasn’t around when Young played Music Hall in January 1971, I saw him at Wang Theatre on Wednesday night, the first of his two concerts there, and he surely sounded amazing to me!

View of Wang Theatre auditorium from stage

Young was right. The venue is pretty impressive. Take a closer look at the above photo, and you can see the rich ornaments and decorative painting. In addition to its looks, he certainly also well remembered the Wang Theatre’s acoustic, which was great.

While it must be about 40 years ago that Young entered my radar screen with Heart Of Gold, I had never been to one of his shows. When I read about his solo tour a few months ago and noticed it would bring him to Boston, it didn’t take long for me to decide that seeing him was worth a five-hour drive from my house, especially given the tour only had six dates: Two in each Chicago and Boston, and one in each Detroit and St. Louis.

But before I further get to Young, I’d like to acknowledge William Prince, a folk and country singer-songwriter, who like Young hails from Canada. Punctually at 8:00 PM, he walked on stage with just an acoustic guitar and opened the night. Prince is a member of the Pegius First Nation from Manitoba.

In 2015, he released his debut album Earthly Days, for which he won a Western Canadian Music Award for Aboriginal Artist of the Year in 2016 and the 2017 the Juno Award for  Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. From that album, here’s Breathless. The look and feel of the performance, which apparently was captured in December, is very similar to Wednesday night. I thought his voice and guitar-playing sounded really nice. Visit his website for more information.

And then it was time for Young. To get an idea what to expect, I checked the previous shows from the tour on setlist.fm. I noticed the sets were relatively constant and included a mix of well-known songs and other tunes that at least to me were deeper cuts. A friend of mine, who is a Neil Young connoisseur and the lead vocalist in an excellent Neil Young tribute band, thought it was a selection for longtime fans.

The stage setup looked a little like a music workshop. It featured areas with different instruments, including an array of acoustic guitars, a semi-hollow electric guitar, two grand pianos and two organs. Young also had multiple harmonicas on hand. During the show, he shared anecdotes about most of the instruments. For example, one of the grand pianos was from the 19th century, and the bottom had been burned during a fire. Young maintained this gave it a very unique sound, adding this tour was the first time he took it on the road. He also pointed to guitars that had once been owned by Stephen Stills and Hank Williams.

Time for some music. I tried capturing some of the songs, and while the audio came out okay, the quality of the video varies quite a bit. The latter was due to challenging lighting conditions and my seat up on the balcony in the back of the theater. There was also what looked like an illuminated stripe in the background above the stage. I’m wondering whether this may have been done on purpose to discourage taking videos, which officially was strictly forbidden.

While I get they don’t want flash photography, I generally find these “no video rules” complete nonsense. Unless you walk in with a professional camera that enables you to record footage you could sell, what damage are you going to do with clips taken with a smartphone? On the contrary, in my opinion, taking and posting such clips on Facebook or elsewhere actually helps promote the artist. Okay, I’m stopping going off on a tangent now. The following is a combination of my own clips and footage from other recent solo gigs.

First up: Pocahontas, a song by Young that first appeared on the Rust Never Sleeps live album from July 1979. Initially, he recorded a version of the tune in the mid-70s for Chrome Dreams, a then-planned but unreleased album.

Ohio was the only Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tune Wednesday night and one of two songs Young played on the electric guitar. Written by him in the wake of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, the track was released by CSNY as a single in June that year. It was also included on the band’s 4 Way Street live album from April 1971 and the studio compilation So Far, released in August 1974. The tune also appeared on Young’s solo compilation albums Decade (Oct 1977) and Greatest Hits (Nov 2004).

A highlight of the show and perhaps my favorite moment of the night was After The Gold Rush. Young played the title track of his third studio album from September 1970 on a pipe organ. The church-like sound was just incredible. He slightly updated the lyrics by singing, Look at mother nature on the run in the 21st century/Look at mother nature on the run in the 21st century. The performance was incredibly powerful and gave me the goosebumps!

Among Young’s more recent tunes was Love And War. He recorded the song for his 30th studio album Le Noise, which appeared in September 2010. This clip was captured at his June 28 show in St. Louis.

Young finished his regular set with two gems from Harvest, his fourth studio album released in February 1972: The Needle And The Damage Done and Heart Of Gold. Unfortunately, the following clip of Needle, shot in Chicago on July 1, is cut in the beginning but otherwise 10 times better than my attempt to film it.

Here’s the mighty Heart Of Gold. Young may be getting old (though he sounded great!), but not the song.

Young came back for one encore: Tumbleweed, a tune from the deluxe edition of his 34th studio album Storytone from November 2014. He performed it with a ukulele. This clip is from the above St. Louis clip.

For now, Young’s second gig in Boston last night marked the final show of his solo tour. In September, he is scheduled to perform back-to-back at Farm Aid (Hartfort, Conn., Sep 22) and, together with Promise Of The Real, at another Willie Nelson event (Saratoga, N.Y., Sep 23).

Sources: Wikipedia, Neil Young official website, William Prince official website, setlist.fm, YouTube

 

What I’ve Been Listening To: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young/4 Way Street

As oftentimes seems to happen lately, this post was inspired by a coincidence – earlier this week, I spotted 4 Way Street by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in my Apple Music album suggestions. While I had been aware of the record (and somewhere still must have a taped recording on music cassette!), unlike Déjà Vu, it had pretty much exited my radar screen. But it didn’t even take the 34 seconds of the opener Suite: Judy Blue Eyes to remind me what a killer album it is. As such, it felt appropriate to dedicate the 50th installment of the What I’ve Been Listening To feature to this gem.

Originally released in April 1971 as a double LP, 4 Way Street captured music from a turbulent 1970 U.S. tour CSNY conducted after the release of Déjà Vu in March that year. It includes material from gigs at Fillmore East (New York, June 2-7), The Forum (Los Angeles, June 26-28) and Auditorium Theatre (Chicago, July 5). CSNY were at a peak both artistically and in terms of tensions between them. Unfortunately, the latter proved to be unsustainable, and they broke up right after the recording of the album.

From left to right: Graham Nash, David Crosby, Neil Young and Stephen Stills at Fillmore East, New York, 1970

Of course, CSNY never were a traditional band to begin with, but four exceptional singer-songwriters who ended up playing together, mostly as CSN, with Young becoming an occasional fourth member. Each already had established himself as a member of other prominent bands: Crosby with The Byrds, Stills and Young with Buffalo Springfield, and Nash with The Hollies. Additionally, Crosby had released his first solo album, while the prolific Young already had two solo records out – his eponymous debut and the first album with Crazy Horse.

Given their history and egos, it’s not a surprise that CSNY wasn’t meant to last. But while it was going on, it was sheer magic. Apart from Déjà Vu, I think this live album perfectly illustrates why, so let’s get to some music!

First up: Teach Your Children, undoubtedly one of the best-known CSNY songs, first appeared on the Déjà Vu album. The tune was written by Nash when he was still with The Hollies.

Triad is a song Crosby wrote while working with The Byrds on their fifth studio album The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Although they recorded the song and performed it during a live gig in September 1967, it didn’t make the record. Crosby ended up giving it to Jefferson Airplane, and they included it on their fourth studio album Crown Of Creation from September 1968. Perhaps even more intriguing than the tune is listening to Crosby’s announcement.

Chicago is a song by Nash, which he dedicated to Richard Daley, who was then the city’s powerful mayor. It’s about anti-Vietnam war and counter-cultural protests around the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the ensuing federal charges against eight protesters who became known as the Chicago Eight for conspiracy to incite a riot. Nash also included the tune on his debut solo album Songs For Beginners, which was released in May 1971.

Cowgirl In The Sand is one of Young’s great early songs, which initially appeared on his second studio album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, the first of many he recorded with his backing band Crazy Horse. Songfacts points out the liner notes to Young’s 1977 compilation album Decade explain that he wrote Cowgirl In The Sand, together with Down By The River and Cinnamon Girl in a single afternoon while being sick with a 103-degree temperature – it’s quite amazing what a fever can do!

The last tune on the first LP of 4 Way Street is Still’s Love The One You’re With, which also concludes CSNY’s acoustic set. The song became the lead single to Stills’ eponymous debut album from November 1970. It climbed all the way to no. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his biggest hit single.

The second LP of 4 Way Street captures songs from CSNY’s electric rock-oriented set. Long Time Gone is a tune by Crosby, which was included on CSN’s eponymous studio debut from March 1969. Not that Déjà Vu would have needed any additional strong tunes, but it would have been a perfect fit for that album as well!

Southern Man is another classic by Young, which he included on his third studio album After The Gold Rush released in September 1970. Together with Alabama from his follow-on record Harvest, it triggered a response by Lynyrd Skynyrd with southern rock anthem Sweet Home Alabama. While that tune explicitly tells him to take a hike, the band and Young were actually mutual fans, and there never was a serious feud between them. Young in his 2012 autobiography Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream said his words in Southern Man were “accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue.”

While with so much great material on the album I could easily go on and on calling out tunes, the last track I’d like to highlight is Carry On. Written by Stills, it’s another gem from Déjà Vu. Like Southern Man, the take of Carry On on 4 Way Street is an extended version.

4 Way Street’s musicians include Crosby (vocals, guitar), Stills (vocals, guitar, piano, organ), Nash (vocals, guitar, piano, organ), Young (vocals, guitar), Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels (bass) and Johnny Barbata (drums). The album was produced by CSNY. In June 1992, an expanded CD version appeared, which was produced by Nash and included four solo acoustic performances, one by each artist.

Like Déjà Vu, the record topped the Billboard 200. It was certified Gold by RIAA just a few days after its release. On December 18, 1992, U.S. sales hit 4 million certified units, giving it 4X Multi-Platinum status. Unlike Déjà Vu, interestingly, the album didn’t make Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

Sources: Wikipedia, Songfacts, YouTube