Neil Young’s Carnegie Hall 1970 is Another Early Live Gem

Neil Young keeps cranking out new albums. Just a little over six months after his latest archives release Young Shakespeare, the 75-year-old Canadian-American singer-songwriter issued Carnegie Hall 1970 last Friday (October 1), the first of six releases in a new official bootleg series. And just like Young Shakespeare, Carnegie Hall 1970 is a true live gem featuring solo renditions of early Young tunes on acoustic guitar and piano.

As Young notes on his Neil Young Archives website, the album captures a performance at New York City’s famous concert venue from December 4, 1970. Young makes it a point to specify that it is the early show, given there is a released bootleg for the midnight show. Not only is this a previously unreleased solo concert, but it is based on mixes made from the multi-track recording that was made by sound engineer Henry Lewy that night. The quality is superb and far superior to your usual bootleg.

Let’s get to some music. Here’s the first track Down by the River. The tune initially appeared on Young’s sophomore album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere from May 1969. This is a great stripped back version of what originally is an electric rock-oriented tune.

I Am a Child is a song Young first recorded with Buffalo Springfield for the band’s third and final album Last Time Around that appeared in July 1968. Love this version!

Next up: Southern Man, another great acoustic rendition of a tune that originally was recorded as an electric rock song. It first appeared on Young’s third studio album After the Gold Rush, which at the time of the Carnegie show was his new album that had come out in September 1970.

One of my favorite early Neil Young tunes is Sugar Mountain, a song he composed on November 12, 1964, his 19th birthday. It was first formally released as the B-side to Young’s 1969 single The Loner in the form of a live recording that been captured during a November 1968 performance. What I love about the Carnegie version are Young’s attempts to involve the audience. Since it doesn’t work, he keeps starting over, getting a bit frustrated in the process. You really can picture it!

Let’s do a tune Young performed on piano: After the Gold Rush. The title track of the above noted album is another of my all-time favorite Young songs. Some of the notes he hits sound a bit peculiar. I think Young was still in his early years of learning the piano. Nevertheless, it’s a great rendition.

I could go on and on here, but all things must pass. The final track I’d like to call out is Bad Fog of Loneliness, then a new tune that had not been released at the time of the show. In fact, it had not even been recorded yet. Young would do so in 1971 but not release the song until 2007 on the album Live at Massey Hall 1971.

Here is the album’s full track list:

  1. Down By The River

  2. Cinnamon Girl

  3. I Am A Child

  4. Expecting To Fly

  5. The Loner

  6. Wonderin’

  7. Helpless

  8. Southern Man

  9. Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing

10. Sugar Mountain

11. On The Way Home

12. Tell Me Why

13. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

14. Old Man

15. After The Gold Rush

16. Flying On The Ground

17. Cowgirl In The Sand

18. Don’t Let It Bring You Down

19. Birds

20. Bad Fog Of Lonliness

21. Ohio

22. See The Sky About To Rain

23. Dance Dance Dance

Originally, Young had planned to launch his official bootleg series in April 2021 with the release of six albums. Then things changed. “But you know what happened…Fires and floods, Covid…”, he wrote on his website. Upcoming releases in the bootleg series include Royce Hall. January 30, 1971, Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Feb 1, 1971, Under the Rainbow. Nov 3, 1973, The Bottom Line. Citizen Kane Jr. Blues’ May 16, 1974 and The Ducks – ‘Trick of Disaster’ August 1977.

“Of the six releases still coming at you [now five – CMM], four [now three – CMM] are our own multi track masters, so they will sound amazing – much better than the original bootlegs you may have heard,” Young further wrote. “One of the other two is the original tape it was recorded on. We remastered it.” Sounds like Neil Young fans have much they can look forward to.

Sources: Wikipedia; Neil Young Archives website; YouTube

Neil Young Releases Another Live Gem From His Archives

Since I first had learned about it a few weeks ago, I had been looking forward to the latest release by Neil Young, which came out Friday, March 26. Not only is Young Shakespeare a brilliant title, but it’s yet another highlight from Young’s archives. The live album and concert film comes only four weeks after Way Down in the Rust Bucket, which captures a terrific November 1990 live performance with Crazy Horse I previously reviewed here, and four months following the massive box set Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976.

Young Shakespeare documents an acoustic solo concert at the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Conn. on January 22, 1971. Neil Young was 25 years old at the time and had just entered what arguably is the best period of his solo career. Only four months earlier, he had released After the Gold Rush. Harvest, On the Beach and Tonight’s the Night were still about one, three and four years into the future, respectively.

Part of Young’s Journey Through the Past solo tour, the Shakespeare gig happened only three days after the famous Massey Hall show in Toronto Canada. The latter concert was captured on Live at Massey Hall 1971, which came out in March 2007 as the second release from Young’s Archives Performance Series. A vast amount of additional albums have since appeared in the series. If I see this correctly, Young Shakespeare is the second release of Volume 03, even though it’s registered as Volume 03.5. Well, I’m not an archivist.

As reported by NME, initially, video footage of the concert was filmed by German television at the time, but it never aired. Only bits and pieces recorded by visitors that night had been floating around among Young fans. Young considers the gig as superior to the Massey Hall show, calling it “a more calm performance, without the celebratory atmosphere of Massey Hall” on his archives website last year. “Young Shakespeare’ is a very special event,” he added. “To my fans, I say this is the best ever. ‘Young Shakespeare’ is the performance of that era. Personal and emotional, for me, it defines that time.”

I think Young may be right. The true magic of Young Shakespeare isn’t the set list. Neil Young fans have heard these songs a million times before. What I find fascinating are his announcements that illustrate what went through his mind at the time. They also convey Young’s great sense of humor. The entire gig comes across as very intimate. It’s almost like you’re in the same room with Young, and he’s chatting and cracking jokes while tuning his guitar for the next song. How about some music?

The first tune I’d like to call out is one of my all-time favorites: The Needle and the Damage Done. Mind you, when Young performed the song that night, it had not been recorded yet. I was included on his fourth studio album Harvest released in February 1972.

Dance Dance Dance is a track from Crazy Horse’s eponymous debut album that came out in February 1971. At the time of the Shakespeare gig, it was another yet-to-be-released tune. Young cheerfully calls it hoedown music.

Here’s a medley of A Man Needs a Maid and Heart of Gold, performed on the piano. Young introduces it by saying he hasn’t played the piano for a long time and usually screws it up. He cheerfully adds, “But you’ve never heard it before anyway, so you probably think that’s the way it is, and it’ll be alright.” Obviously, Young was correct. Both songs would appear on Harvest.

In addition to yet-to-be released songs at the time, Young played some old tunes. After all, his solo tour was titled Journey Through the Past. Here’s one of them, Down by the River, a song from his second album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere released in May 1969.

The last track I’d like to highlight is the album’s closer Sugar Mountain. Young wrote this song on November 12, 1964, which was his 19th birthday. The tune’s first official release was a live version, which became the b-side of Young’s first solo single The Loner from February 1969. It’s always been on of my favorite Neil tunes. It also cracks me up when Young says, “If you don’t know the words…just, you know, you’re all university students. Just memorize them after the first time!”

Here’s the full 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

NME notes Young Shakespeare is only predated by footage from Young’s gigs at New York’s Café Feenjon in June 1970, and the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert at Fillmore East in March 1970. Obviously, there’s also the aforementioned Live at Massey Hall 1971, so I assume NME referred to video recordings. The new release is available on CD, vinyl and major streaming platforms. The DVD is available exclusively in Young’s own store.

Sources: Wikipedia; NME; YouTube

“Live Rust” At 40 Remains Free Of Corrosion

On November 14, 1979, Neil Young and Crazy Horse released Live Rust, which was my introduction to Young. I heard this live album for the first time as a 13 or 14-year-old back in Germany, after my best friend had gotten it as a double LP. With Young’s 74th birthday (November 12) and the 40th anniversary of Live Rust being just around the corner, I thought this would be a opportune moment to celebrate one of my favorite live albums by one of my longtime favorite music artists.

Before getting to this, I have to give credit where credit is due. This post was inspired by a great “Life Rust” show I saw Friday night at a local Jersey theatre. Decade, a top notch band around Neil Young tribute artist John Hathaway, played the album in its entirety and recreated scences from the companion movie Rust Never Sleeps – it was a pretty cool experience! For more on Decade and their upcoming gigs, you can check out their Facebook page. I also got a sample clip from the above show at the end of the post.

Live Rust captured footage from various concerts Neil Young and Crazy Horse played in the fall of 1978 during their Rust Never Sleeps tour. Venues included Cow Palace, Daly City, Calif.; Boston Garden, Boston; Civic Center, St. Paul, Minn.; Chicago Stadium, Chicago; and McNichols Arena, Denver. Weirdly, the album features a stage announcement recorded at Woodstock following the start of a rainstorm. Young had performed at the festival as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

The companion film Rust Never Sleeps captured the band’s October 22, 1978 concert at Cow Palace. It was released on July 2, 1979 by Young under the pseudonym “Bernard Shakey.” There is also an album with the same title, which appeared ahead of the movie on June 22. While it is based on material recorded at Boarding House in San Francisco, the record is not a true live album, in my opinion. In addition to added overdubs, most audience noise was removed later in the studio. Time for some music from Live Rust!

I’d like to kick it off with Sugar Mountain, which like most tracks on the album was written by Young. He composed the tune on his 19th birthday (November 12, 1964) in a hotel room in Ontario after a gig with The Squires, one of his first bands. The song was initially released in February 1969 as the B-side to Young’s single The Loner.

The acoustic My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) and its grungy counterpart Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) are among the many highlights on Live Rust. Both tunes were co-written by Young and Jeff Blackburn and first appeared on the Rust Never Sleeps album. Here’s the acoustic take.

Moving on to the record’s rock section, Powderfinger is one of my favorite electric songs by Young. Like My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) and Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black), the tune was intially released as part of the Rust Never Sleeps album.

Like a Hurricane is another electric tune by Young I’ve always dug. It was first included on his eighth studio album American Stars ‘n Bars from May 1977.

As noted above, the last clip for this post shall belong to Decade and their rendition of Tonight’s The Night, the final track on Live Rust. Young first recorded the tune as the title song to his sixth studio album. It’s a tribute to first Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and Bruce Berry, a Young roadie. Both died from heroin overdoses.

Neil Young is still highly productive and going strong. My thoughts on his most recent album Colorado are here.

Sources: Wikipedia; Ultimate Classic Rock; YouTube

Neil Young Shines On New Live Album With Strong Solo Acoustic Performances

Neil Young on Friday released Songs For Judy from his archives, a compelling collection of live recordings from the solo acoustic sets of his November 1976 tour with his longtime backing band Crazy Horse. It is based on recordings of the shows made at the time by photographer Joel Bernstein, who was accompanied by Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe.

After the tour, Bernstein and Crowe created the selection of 23 tracks. Initially, the mix was leaked and became available as a bootleg known as The Bernstein Tapes. While the material on the new release is almost identical to the bootleg, the quality of the sound has been improved.

“Joel and Cameron chose these songs and did a great job,” Young said on his archives website, as reported by Rock Cellar Magazine. “The album is quite unique and I think the period was very well captured in the sound and performances. It was a moment in time, and it’s easy to tell why it’s called Songs For Judy.”

Following are some clips. Here is No One Seems To Know. While according to Setlist.fm, Young first performed the song live in March 1976, the inclusion on Songs For Judy marks the first time it is being released on an album.

After The Gold Rush, the title track of Young’s third studio album from September 1970, is one of my longtime favorites. It still gives me goosebumps when listening to it.

My next pick is Mr. Soul, a tune Young wrote during his time with Buffalo Springfield, which appeared on their second studio album Buffalo Springfield Again, released in November 1967. During the announcement of the song, he alludes to his then-recent 31st birthday.

A Man Needs A Maid is a song from Harvest, Young’s fourth studio release from February 1972. While when announcing the tune Young says he has played it many times, he starts out by teasing another, then-unknown song, which would become one of his best known tunes: Like A Hurricane. Check it out!

Another gem from Harvest that beautifully shines on the new collection is The Needle And The Damage Done. The moving tune, which describes the destructive impact of heroin, was inspired by Young’s grief over the related death of his friend and former Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten.

The last song I’d like to call out is the final track of this excellent collection: Sugar Mountain. Young composed the song on his 19th birthday (November 12, 1964) at a hotel in Fort William, a town in Ontario his band at the time The Squires had visited for a local gig. The first formal release of the tune was a live version that became the B-side to Young’s debut solo single The Loner from February 1969.

I dig many of Neil Young’s crunchy live rockers with Crazy Horse. But the more I listen to solo live performances like the ones on this collection, the more I come to the conclusion that he is oftentimes most powerful when playing all by himself.

Sources: Wikipedia, Setlist.fm, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Rock Cellar Magazine, YouTube