Comment of the Moment: 'Sleeps With Angels" Film Now Playing on #3 | Neil Young Archives

"Sleeps With Angels" Documentary Film by Larry "L.A." Johnson
via Subscriber News | NYA

Much, much excitement in the Rust community over the latest NYA Subscriber News and the premiere of a work in progress documentary of the making of the album Sleeps With Angels by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

Primarily, the enthusiasm centers around watching the late David Briggs -- Neil Young's long time associate and Producer -- collaborate in the studio. Our Comment of the Moment in on the post 'Sleeps With Angels" Film Now Playing on #3 | Neil Young Archives by David R.:

Nice to see.

Pity all the music seems to be the same as the final studio versions. Great to see Neil with short hair and at one point even no sideburns. Cool to see him on the flute and playing distorted harmonica. Made me wonder if the characters in Trans Am are the start of the sort of thinking that led to Greendale.

I loved this record at the time and listening back I am still astonished by how good it is. Personally I think it might be Neil's best. I never thought about how different the sound is to Ragged Glory though it is true it is on a different planet. There is something of David Lynch to it, it would work as a soundtrack to one of his films, and I recall alongside grunge that was a major cinematic line art followed in the early 90s. Listening again I can feel Neil really tapping into that here and it is notable and logical that he then followed it with Dead Man.

I know a lot has been said about how Neil might have lost part of his muse when he lost Briggs, though sadly that is also clear listening again. Ever since Neil I feel has relied too much and too often on the just plug in and play approach that was first tested ironically here with Piece of Crap. Sleeps with Angels is very much so a studio record and feels and sounds like the product of one of those long experimental spells in the studio that started with The Beatles in the 60s and maybe ended with Radiohead at the millennium. The timing for Neil was perfect too, it was late enough after the 80s to not go over the top with studio sounds, drum machines, synths etc, and still early enough to have the enormous music industry support that allowed bands to really indulge themselves making a record.

I guess that is it, Neil has always blown with the wind of his own muse, though back then there was also an entire industry and experienced team that in this prime of his life blew behind him too.

Much thanks for sharing your thoughts here David!

The late David Briggs was Neil Young's producer on several key albums including Tonight's The Night, Zuma and Ragged Glory. Briggs' influence on the recording process has been lauded as a major contributing factor to Neil Young's recording success bringing a unique "discipline" to the process.

Neil Young and Producer David Briggs, 1995
Photo by Pegi Young

"How Survivals, Grief and Legacies Unfold in American Music"
by Caryn Rose @ 2019 Pop Conference at MoPop - Seattle

See David Briggs and Neil Young: "How Survivals, Grief and Legacies Unfold in American Music".

Also, see:

• Friends of Neil: David Briggs
• Comment of the Moment: Producer David Briggs and Neil Young
• David Briggs in Memorium
• David Briggs Obituary - NY Times, 12/3/95
• Interview with Elliot Roberts on working with David Briggs

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NEW SCREEN ADDED: 'Sleeps With Angels" Film Now Playing on #3 | Neil Young Archives

Sleeps With Angels - Directed by LA Johnson
via Subscriber News | NYA

That Neil. He just keeps giving and giving.

Yet another theater has been added to Neil Young Archives -- bringing the total to 3 screens -- a virtual multi-plex, if you will. The latest development on Subscriber News | NYA is the film Sleeps With Angels, directed by LA Johnson and running about 31 minutes.

Neil writes:

This is a document of that album I want to share with NYA Subscribers to show my thanks for all your support. More Subscriber Features will be coming soon.

Enjoy!

The documentary film is a work progress left uncompleted by the sudden death of LA Johnson in 2010.

Sleeps With Angels

Directed by LA Johnson

On The New Subscriber Features Screen in the Hearse Theater

This is a document of that album I want to share with NYA Subscribers to show my thanks for all your support. More Subscriber Features will be coming soon.

Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/O0uNWZcvUY

— Neil Young Archives (@NeilYoungNYA) July 10, 2020

Larry "L.A." Johnson: 1947 - 2010

Neil Young and Producer David Briggs, 1995
Photo by Pegi Young
(Click photo to enlarge)(See David Briggs and Neil Young: "How Survivals, Grief and Legacies Unfold in American Music")

Sleeps With Angels: Neil Young, Crazy Horse
(See Neil Young Album Reviews:
Sleeps With Angels + Preview Tracks)
all of which is "too late, too soon" ...

He Sleeps With Angels

Kurt Cobain and Neil Young

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RUST BUCKET VIDEO PREMIERE: "SEDAN DELIVERY" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals Video

"SEDAN DELIVERY"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives

As we have been sharing here @ TW for the past months, last year, Neil Young announced a major Archives discovery titled "RUST BUCKET". So, every Friday, another song from the 3 set "RUST BUCKET" concert is being screened on Hearse Theater Screen #2 | NYA. This Friday's feature song is "SEDAN DELIVERY".

Neil writes on NYA:

Typical great Crazy Horse. Billy is on fire here! These ‘Rust Bucket songs are so cool. A great gift to share with all of you!
n

"Cinnamon Girl"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET VIDEO PREMIERE TODAY: "Cinnamon Girl" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals Video | NYA )

The complete concert setlist is 20 songs with a running in total of 3 hours. (See Sugar Mtn for more details). The RUST BUCKET tapes have been called "the missing link between Ragged Glory and Weld".

WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET
via Subscriber News | NYA

As noted earlier, a complete multi-camera video (6 cameras?!) was discovered in the NYA vaults. Produced and Directed by the late LA Johnson, the Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert was filmed on November 11, 1990 at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, California. (See Sugar Mtn for more details). Consisting of 3 sets, plus encore, the video is titled WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET.

Here's an update from Audio Engineer John Hanlon on the earlier announced Archives discovery of Neil Young "unearthing" a major 1990 Crazy Horse concert.

Also, check Comment of the Moment: RUST BUCKET PREMIERE NOW PLAYING: "Country Home" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 WELD Rehearsals | NYA .

Here's a review from Broken Arrow Gig Reviews - 11.13.1990 - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California By Rick Zeek, Issue #42, Feb 1991.

Broken Arrow Gig Reviews
- 11.13.1990 - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California By Rick Zeek, Issue #42, Feb 1991

"Dangerbird"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(See RUST BUCKET VIDEO PREMIERE: "Dangerbird" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals Video | NYA + J. Hanlon's Notebook on CITS

"COWGIRL IN THE SAND"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990
(see more @ RUST BUCKET VIDEO PREMIERE TODAY: "COWGIRL IN THE SAND" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals Video | NYA

J. Hanlon's Notebook | NYA
(See J. Hanlon's Notebook on CITS

"Bite The Bullet"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET PREMIERE TODAY: "Bite The Bullet" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals | NYA )

"Days That Used To Be"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET PREMIERE TODAY: "Days That Used To Be" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals | NYA )

"Love To Burn"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET PREMIERE TODAY: "Love To Burn" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals | NYA )

"Surfer Joe And Mo(e) The Sleaze"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET PREMIERE TODAY: "Surfer Joe And Mo(e) The Sleaze" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals | NYA )

"Country Home"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET PREMIERE TODAY: "Country Home" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals | NYA )

Ragged Glory: A Perfect Summer Soundtrack By Neil Young & Crazy Horse
See https://t.co/1wsBhri8P8
☮️♥️@NeilYoungNYA @CrazyHorse4HOF pic.twitter.com/ujpNwHfe7D

— ThrashersWheat (@ThrashersWheat) June 10, 2020

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The Mystery of Neil Young's "Florida" Finally Solved

"Tonight's the Night" Album Liner Notes w/ "Florida" Story
w/ "On The Beach" Overlay + Roy Orbison Photo

Now, with the recent release of Neil Young's "lost '70's" album "Homegrown", one of the biggest mysteries of it's replacement -- "Tonight's the Night" -- is beginning to finally be resolved with the "Florida" track.

"Homegrown: Never Known to Fail" by Neil Young
(See reviews @ 1st THOUGHTS: Neil Young's New Album 'Homegrown')
Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy -- consisting of the mid 1970's albums "Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night" & "On the Beach" -- is well documented as containing the "missing link" to the Rosetta Stone of understanding his entire body of work over the decades.

And now -- at long last -- Neil Young's unreleased album "Homegrown" -- which was recorded in 1974 and 1975 -- is the "one that got away", Neil writes on NYA. At the time, Neil considered "Homegrown" to be "too personal and frank" to be released and chose to release the album "Tonight's The Night", instead.

"Florida" Lyrics by Neil Young

First, one of the most bizarre aspects of the "Tonight's the Night" album is the liner insert (see top image). The cryptically strange "On The Beach" album overlay has the story of a Florida town - presumably Miami Beach - and some odd happenings. Along with a photo of Roy Orbison, the meaning and significance of the story has long remained a mystery to Neil fans -- and the subject of much idle speculation. (Here is a transcription of the "Tonight's The Night" album liner notes.)

"Florida" is like a stream of consciousness fever dream/nightmare. And after reading the TTN liner notes for 45 years now, we had no idea what was going on other than "Man, Neil must've been really stoned. Or he's a very vivid dreamer. Or both."

Gliders?
Tall buildings?
A couple?
A baby in a red blanket?
A photo of Roy Orbinson?

Roy Orbinson
Detail of "Tonight's the Night" Album Liner Notes w/ "Florida" Story

But "Florida" all now makes sense in the context of its placement between the songs "Mexico" and "Kansas" on the album "Homegrown". Essentially, the song's lyrics analysis of "Florida" is that the song/poem/spoken word track is indirectly about Neil, Carrie Snodgress, and their son Zeke.

Carrie Snodgress
(See more on Carrie & Neil)

Snodgress was perhaps best-known for her role as a frustrated homemaker caught between a domineering husband and a self-absorbed lover in 1970's "Diary of a Mad Housewife." She was nominated for an Academy Award and won two Golden Globe awards for best leading actress and new star of the year.

Despite critical acclaim for her role in "Housewife," Snodgress turned her back on Hollywood in 1971 to live with boyfriend Neil Young on his northern California 15,000-acre ranch called "Broken Arrow" and care for their son, Zeke, who was born with cerebral palsy.

Neil Young recorded several songs which reference Snodgress. The most well song is "A Man Needs A Maid" from the album "Harvest" containing the lines:

"I fell in love with the actress She was playing a part I could understand"

Back to the "Florida"/"Tonight's the Night" album liner notes mystery. Again, the couple with the baby are Carrie and Neil with Zeke. And Carrie wants custody of Zeke so she takes the baby and says "he's mine". And Neil protests.

In the context of "Florida"'s placement between the songs "Mexico" and "Kansas" on the album "Homegrown", Neil sings "Daddy is a travelin' man" as the coda on song "Mexico" as a response to Zeke being better off with his mother rather than a musician on the road.

Then we look at the lyrics for the song "Kansas":

Kansas
"I feel like I just woke up
From a bad dream
...

Hold on, baby, hold on
We can go gliding through the air
Far from the tears you've cried"

In "Kansas", Neil wakes up from a "bad dream". Then, the lyrics of "gliding" references back to the glider soaring around between buildings, plus the 'baby'.

So, we'll stop here without digging any deeper in the symbolism and metaphors and leave that for another day.

w/ Zeke Young
2015 Bridge School Benefit Concerts

Also, see the Dutch translation of the other liner notes on the "Tonight's The Night" album.

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UPDATE

"Florida"
via Letters To Editor| NYA

In yet another one of those stunning snychronicities that have followed us all our lifetimes, no sooner than we posted this analysis last night then a comment appears below letting us know that the above letter was just published on "Florida" where Neil confirms our dream thesis analysis. (Thanks Greyrider!)

boom, drop the mic. well, future proves past, yet again ... just sayin' ...

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Neil Young's Golden Decade | Trouser Press - April 1980, #49

Neil Young's Golden Decade
Trouser Press - April 1980, #49

The entire library of Trouser Press magazine is now online, including the Neil Young from April 1980, issue #49.

The cover article "Neil Young's Diamonds and Rust: A Man For All Seasons" by Jon Young, is largely a re-hash of what was known about Neil Young at the time of what was to become essentially his career peak in the late 1970's.

It begins somewhat ominously -- yet amusingly in retrospect -- as follows:

Ask ten people to describe Neil Young and you'll probably get ten different responses.

To some, he's one of the dregs of the '60s, a purveyor of stale hippie sentiments and, at worst, interchangeable with Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash. Others, who have not forgotten (or forgiven) 1972's Harvest and its attendant hit single, "Heart of Gold," charge him with responsibility for the touchy-feelie narcissism of the singer-songwriter boom.

Anyone who's heard the despair of On the Beach or Time Fades Away and sensed the frightening emptiness at the core of both records may regard Young as a terminally depressed candidate for the obituary page. You can also call him a rock 'n' roller; one image that resurfaces throughout his career is the wild-man hell-bent on tearing every last note out of his electric guitar, singing with an urgency best suited for the end of the world.

Since his debut as a solo artist in 1969, Young has come across as eccentric, undependable, maybe a drug case, and perhaps too trapped in his own orbit to have any relevance to the world at large.

By the end, the article has covered the already vast career arc of Neil Young with the following quote:

Neil Young: "I can relate to Rust Never Sleeps.

It relates to my career.

The longer I keep going, the more I have to fight this corrosion. Now it's gotten to be like the World Series for me. The competition's there, whether I will corrode and eventually not be able to move anymore and just repeat my self, or whether I will be able to expand and keep the corrosion down a little."

Read full article @ Neil Young's Golden Decade | Trouser Press - April 1980, #49, "Neil Young's Diamonds and Rust: A Man For All Seasons" by Jon Young.

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Neil Young's Open Letter To President Trump

A Letter To President Trump
via Neil Young Archives

In the ongoing contretemps and escalating between Neil Young and U.S. President Donald Trump,Neil has posted an open letter to President Trump on Neil Young Archives.

A Letter To President Trump

7-6-20

Dear Mr. President:

Although I have repeatedly asked you to please not use my music because it indicates that I support your agenda, you have always played my songs anyway at your gatherings, with no regard for my rights, even calling me names on twitter.

I did notice that you played my music at your latest rally in Dakota despite my previous requests.

Because you are in charge of the Covid 19 response here in the USA, I will not sue you, (as certainly is my right) potentially distracting from your important work at hand protecting and saving American lives. With the enormous power you wield on our behalf, I wish you all the best in your critical battle to save American souls from this threat. I know you will do your best for all Americans, regardless of political leanings. I give you my encouragement in your efforts to Unify America.

I suggest you listen to my song ‘Looking For a Leader 2020,” available on my website, neilyoungarchives.com as part of a work I recently completed with my wife- ‘The Porch Episode,’ as I believe it would be an interesting addition to your next rally.

With respect for your office,
Neil Young

On July 3, 2020, Donald Trump used 3 Neil Young songs at the Mount Rushmore Event: “Rockin In The Free World” (2X, before and after), “Like a Hurricane”and “Cowgirl in the Sand”.

And -- again -- Neil Young has expressed his strong opposition to Donald Trump's use of his music, tweeting: “This is NOT ok with me…” (More details, footage and commentary here.)

All of which -- naturally -- created much angst and drama across the lands.

Last week, Young criticized Trump‘s leadership of the U.S. in a lyrical rewrite of his 2006 track “Lookin’ for a Leader” during Porch Session earlier this week.

"Lookin' for a Leader"

“Lookin’ for a Leader” - new lyrics

“We had Barack Obama and we really need him now.
The man who stood behind him now has to take his place somehow
America has a leader building walls around our house
Don’t know Black Lives Matter and we gotta vote him out.

We got our election but corruption has a chance
We got to have a big win to regain confidence
America is beautiful/But she has an ugly side

We’re looking for a leader for this country far and wide
Just like his big new fence
This president’s going down
America is moving forward
You can feel it in every town
Scared of his own shadow
building walls around our house
He’s hiding in his bunker
Something else to lie about.”

What will be next in this 4 year battle of ever escalating tensions?

DEVELOPING

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