A CSNY Reunion? Neil Young is "Looking Forward" and Says "For the common good! Anything is possible."

"Looking Forward" by Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Album of the Week | NYA

Today, an announcement was made on NYA of "Looking Forward" by Crosby Stills Nash & Young (1999) as the Album of the Week.

And, so?

Backing up, a recent letter on CSNY | LTE | NYA asked about the "common good" for a CSNY reunion.

CSNY | LTE | NYA

Neil Young responded to the heartfelt plea: "For the common good! Anything is possible."

However, we also just published the report that Neil Young Says No 2020 Concert Tour Plans: "I am taking care of my music" | NYA .

Neil Young Says No 2020 Concert Tour Plans: "I am taking care of my music" | NYA
Details @ https://t.co/ZOBgU77GBq
Letters to the Editor + "Homegrown" in April, 2020 + "Greendale Live" in July, 2020
---@NeilYoungNYA @CrazyHorse4HoF #CrazyHorse4HOF pic.twitter.com/i5EDTizPhp

— ThrashersWheat (@ThrashersWheat) February 17, 2020

While we are in pure speculation territory here (where we normally do not tread without some very good intel), most CSNY fans feel that a CSNY reunion or tour will never, ever happen because of the vast amount of "bad blood" between the players, in particular David Crosby. From PODCAST: David Crosby Talks Neil Young & More | ‘Freak Flag Flying’ published in January 2020 where Crosby discusses Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash:

David Crosby: “I don’t think it’s going to happen.

The thing to do is be grateful for what there was. There was a period of time there when we really did make some very good music together and I’m grateful for it. I think everybody has to deal with their life as it comes to them and if those guys are stuck where they are, they’re stuck where they are.

I’m trying real hard not to be.”

So that would seem to settle matter that a CSNY reunion ain't happening in our lifetimes. Or maybe not so fast???

Here's where it gets interesting.

Earlier this week, a comment was posted here on Thrasher's Wheat on Neil Young Says No 2020 Concert Tour Plans: "I am taking care of my music" | NYA | TW by Acoustic FeedBack saying: "I predict CSNY 2020 this Summer and Fall."

CSNY 2020?
Comment on Neil Young Says No 2020 Concert Tour Plans: "I am taking care of my music" | NYA | TW

OK, Acoustic FeedBack, we heard here on TW 1st and we're buying beers if this happens.

So now today with the "Looking Forward" Album of the Week on NYA, along with Neil's comments on Crosby, maybe the idea of a CSNY 2020 concert reunion and/or tour isn't so far-fetched?

Here's what Neil writes about "Looking Forward" by Crosby Stills Nash & Young: "My favorite song from this album is "Stand And Be Counted", one of Crosby's great songs."

"Looking Forward" by Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Album of the Week | NYA

Album of the Week: Looking Forward - CSNY

This record was made with CSNY. We have made some incredible music together and felt like giving it another round. There’s nothing like the first time. There are a lot of beautiful parts to this record and I am glad we got to make it. pic.twitter.com/XpEM5kClSG

— Neil Young Archives (@NeilYoungNYA) February 19, 2020

Neil Young & David Crosby - ~2015

"Stand And Be Counted"
by: David Crosby and James Raymond

There was a peace of a song I heard the other day
Some words I heard this singer say
Something in me loved the way that it sounded
When he said how he wanted to stand
Stand and be counted

Now, sometimes I talk to myself in the early dawn
Before all the fragments of my dreams are gone
Things you don't know why your mind held on to
Or else sometimes you know more than you want to

Stand an be counted, stand on the truth
Stand on your honor, stand and be counted

And I wonder who that kid was standing brave and trim
And I hear myself breathe and I know that I was him
Defender of the poor and those who cannot speak
I thought I'd be standing by the dam trying to stop the leak

So concerned with matters of the heart
And knowing the millenium was just about to start
And knowing that somehow we could make a difference

I want to stand alone in front of the world and that oncoming tank
Like that Chinese boy that we all have to thank
He showed us in a picture that I have mounted
Exactly what it means to stand and be counted

So what might David Crosby think about all of this speculation as Campaign 2020 heats up? "Tell him [Neil] ... I'm ready."

if Bernie is what finally brings David Crosby and Neil Young back together I will cry real tears pic.twitter.com/1pbb8UNbFs

— pussy cheney (@__rigsby) February 16, 2020

And if Campaign 2020 can't heat up even more, Neil Young has now posted a "Open Letter to Donald Trump" on Times Contrarian | NYA saying: ‘You Are a Disgrace to My Country’.

New in the Times Contrarian: An Open Letter To Donald J Trump

"Every time “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World” or one of my songs is played at your rallies, I hope you hear my voice...”

Page 2, Column 2 of the Times Contrarian pic.twitter.com/cfaeyaYYaH

— Neil Young Archives (@NeilYoungNYA) February 19, 2020

Since we're all playing Nostradamus lately, here's what we posted on Twitter on Feb 1, 2020:

“Helplessly Hoping” – by Steven Stills w/ Graham Nash, Neil Young & David Crosby - CSNY
Thrashers Wheat | Twitter

So, as Acoustic FeedBack said: "Remember you hear it here first," because that's the way it is.

And, so will CSNY reunite yet again (Lineup #9)?

Will David Crosby and Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young ever be friends again?

Will the mutual support of Bernie Sanders be the bridge between David Crosby and Neil Young?

Stay tuned to the never ending CSNY soap opera of the band that Bill Graham once called "America's Beatles".

Will Acoustic FeedBack and TW be buying beers this summer?! One can only hope and be a dreamin' man...

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 2006
(Click photo to enlarge)
Also, see from 2015, David Crosby Apologizes to Neil Young.

Also, more on Crosby Stills Nash & Young, David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Stephen Stills.

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Neil Young Says No 2020 Concert Tour Plans: "I am taking care of my music" | NYA

"I am taking care of my music" - N
"Taking Care" | LTE | NYA

In response to a Letters to the Editor on NYA asking about 2020 concert tour plans, (see "Taking Care" | LTE | NYA), Neil Young writes that it's not happening and "Don't expect anything. I'm not focused on playing. I am taking care of my music".

Without his long-time manager Elliot Roberts to guide, it isn't totally surprising that concert tour plans have been unable to gel.

In response to other Letters to the Editor, Neil Young confirmed the release of "Homegrown" for April, 2020 (more details at Test Pressing of "Homegrown" by Neil Young ). In July, 2020, "Greendale Live" will be released as an album and a movie (more details at Premiere: RETURN TO GREENDALE by Neil Young & Crazy Horse @ Balboa Theater, San Francisco, CA - Jan 28, 2020).

In other recent, Neil Young news, the 'Archives Release Survey Results' have now been posted. See analysis and commentary on Neil Young Fans Have Spoken and They Want Pearl Jam?! Archives Survey Results Posted.

Neil Young Fans Have Spoken and They Want Pearl Jam?! Archives Survey Results Posted

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Neil Young Fans Have Spoken and They Want Pearl Jam?! Archives Survey Results Posted

Pearl Jam & Neil Young
Toronto - September 11, 2011
Neil Young fans have spoken and --surprisingly -- they want Pearl Jam?!

Specifically, fans voting in the NYA "In The Can" survey voted "MIRROR BALL LIVE‚ DUBLIN with friends from PEARL JAM, 1995" as the #1 and #3 choice, per The Can: Survey Results | NYA.

Earlier this month, Neil Young Archives opened the polls to allow fans to vote on the New Releases Survey. And fans definitely voted with their conscience. Or did they?

In looking at the results, many are astonished that MIRROR BALL LIVE‚ DUBLIN with friends from PEARL JAM, 1995" was voted as the #1 and #3 top choices. "EARLY DAZE—Crazy Horse, 1960's" was the #2 choice.

Some have questioned whether there was some sort of Pearl Jam block voting/ballot stuffing initiative operating out of Dublin, Ireland. (See comment by Dionys -- obviously, conspiratorially minded ... j/k)

(UPDATE: More discussion on survey methodology, results and comments by Tom on Sugar Mountain below in COMMENTS.)

The Can: Survey Results | NYA

Other highly voted choices included:

• BOARDING HOUSE—SOLO, 1978
• TOAST—Crazy Horse, 2001
• OCEANSIDE COUNTRYSIDE—Original Studio Album, 1976-77
• FILLMORE EAST—CSNY Live Band + SOLO, 1970
• HARVEST TIME—Film of the making of Harvest, 1971
• RAGGED GLORY—CRAZY HORSE Extended Version w extra songs

3,011 votes were tallied in the survey. Some are surprised that only 3K of 25K subscribers voted, but the survey was never prominently tagged on NYA, thus low participation rate.

The other question on the NYA survey involved paying extra for exclusive video access. About 37% said they would be ok with a small fee for "on demand" access.

Here is a complete list of the nominees:

• YOUNG SHAKESPEARE—Stratford Shakespeare Theater, SOLO, 1971, FILM + LP
• RETURN TO GREENDALE—Crazy Horse Stage Production, 2003, FILM + LP
• GREENDALE at VICAR STREET —SOLO, 2003, FILM + LP
• TOAST—Crazy Horse, 2001, LP
• WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET—Crazy Horse Live at the Catalyst, 1990, FILM + LP
• ALCHEMY—Crazy Horse, 2012/2013, FILM + LP
• BOTTOM LINE—SOLO, 1974, LP
• OVER THE RAINBOW—Tonight's The Night Live at the Rainbow Club, London, 1973, LP
• ODEON BUDAKON—Odeon Hammersmith, London/Budakon, Tokyo, 1976, DOCUMENTARY FILM + LP
• EARLY DAZE—Crazy Horse, 1960's, LP
• HARVEST TIME—Film of the making of Harvest, 1971, FILM + LP
• MIRROR BALL LIVE‚ DUBLIN with friends from PEARL JAM, 1995, FILM + LP
• MONSANTO YEARS—Promise Of The Real DOCUMENTARY with recording session, 2014, FILM + LP
• TRUNK SHOW—Directed by Jonathan Demme, 2009, FILM
• LINCVOLT CHRONICLES—1-5 DOCUMENTARY SERIES
• THE TOWER—Philadelphia SOLO, 2018, LIVE FILM + LP
• POLAR VORTEX—Solo Acoustic, 2019, FILM + LP
• CHROME DREAMS—Original Studio Album, 1977, LP
• BERLIN—TRANS BAND, 1982, FILM & LP
• OCEANSIDE COUNTRYSIDE—Original Studio Album, 1976-77, LP
• BOARDING HOUSE—SOLO, 1978, FILM + LP
• ISLAND IN THE SUN— 1982, LP
• TRANS 2020—Animated TRANS FILM, 2020, FILM + EP
• DUCKS LIVE IN SANTA CRUZ—1977, LP
• FILLMORE EAST—CSNY Live Band + SOLO, 1970, FILM + LP
• RAGGED GLORY—CRAZY HORSE Extended Version w extra songs, LP

So what happened? No Ducks with unheard live recordings? No "Island In The Sun" or "Homefires" with unreleased songs?

More on fans voting on releases that are "In The Can" on Neil Young Archives.


Pearl Jam & Neil Young
Toronto - September 11, 2011
More on Mirror Ball - Neil Young Album Reviews and Pearl Jam and Neil Young.

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STREAMING THIS WEEKEND: "In A Rusted Out Garage" Concert by Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 1986 | NYA #CrazyHorse4HOF

Neil Young & Crazy Horse:
"3rd Best Garage Band in the World"
~~Bill Graham
(See @ ~~1:26:30)

During the intermission of the final stop of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's 1986 Rusted Out Garage tour, Bill Graham said that Crazy Horse is "the 3rd Best Garage Band in the World". (See @ ~~1:26:30)

This weekend, the concert video of "In A Rusted Out Garage" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be streaming on Hearse Theater | NYA.

The "In A Rusted Out Garage" concert was originally simulcast on HBO's Pay-Per-View and radio from the final night of the tour at The Cow Palace in Daly City, California, on Nov. 21, 1986. The concert features a cameo from the late comedian Sam Kinison as Young’s annoyed neighbor by the band's volume. The concert captures tracks from Crazy Horse’s then-forthcoming 1987 LP Life such as “Mideast Vacation” and “Prisoners of Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

Neil Young & Poncho - 1986
Photo by DAVID PLASTIK

Tour Program: Rusted Out Garage by Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 1986

From "In A Rusted Out Garage Tour Program" by Bud Scoppa, September 1986, Everybody Knows This is a Rusted Out Garage:

For this 1986 concert foray, which he calls (with tongue only partly in cheek) the "Neil Young & Crazy Horse in a Rusted Out Garage" tour, the artist has called upon his longtime rock & roll cohorts Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, and Frank Sampedro, known collectively as...you guessed it.

Young's storied association with Crazy Horse dates back to 1969, but NY&CH haven't been out on the road together since the "Live Rust" tour seven years back (resulting in a film directed by Young's alter ego, Bernard Shakey, the pizza baron). There's no question that the reunion bodes well for the true rock & rollers in the audience. But exactly what sort of rock & roll will the entity known as Neil Young & Crazy Horse purvey in late 1986? Will it be akin to the loping, elongated sagas of their classic initial collaboration, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, wherein Neil guitar-rumbled with the late, great Danny Whitten, the Horses's original leader? Will it be the shimmering meditations of the epic Zuma ('75), which introduced Sampedro, Whitten's long-sought replacement? Will it be the chopped and channeled R&R of the punk inspired Rust Never Sleeps? The wall-shaking sonics of the truly boffo Live Rust (as glorious a concert LP as you're likely to hear anytime, anywhere)? The rapid-transit psychodrama of Re-act-or? Or something entirely different and unexpected?

Whatever shape(s) this performance takes, one thing's for sure: It'll be anchored with yeomanlike crunch and precision by drummer Molina and bassist Talbot, who are as unified and spot-on as a rock rhythm section can be. For Young, Crazy Horse has always been synonymous with rhythm, which is musical reason he was so devastated by the loss of Whitten (he hardly picked up an electric guitar between Whitten's death and Sampedro's arrival several years later), and subsequently so reinspired when Frank came around. Make no mistakes about it - Neil Young & Crazy Horse is one of THE great rock & roll bands, a fact that shall be made abundantly clear when the house lights go down this evening. Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen.

Setlist via Sugar Mountain:

1986-11-21 Cow Palace, Daly City, California, USA

1. Mr. Soul
2. Cinnamon Girl
3. When You Dance, I Can Really Love
4. Down By The River
5. Too Lonely
6. Heart Of Gold
7. After The Gold Rush
8. Inca Queen
9. Drive Back
10. Opera Star
11. Cortez The Killer
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12. Sample And Hold
13. Computer Age
14. Violent Side
15. Mideast Vacation
16. Long Walk Home
17. The Needle And The Damage Done
18. When Your Lonely Heart Breaks
19. Around The World
20. Powderfinger
21. Like A Hurricane
22. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
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23. Prisoners Of Rock 'n' Roll

Poster via Sugar Mountain

From interview "YOUNG AND HIS ‘GARAGE ROCK'--KEEPING THE FLAME BURNING" | Los Angeles Times by ROBERT HILBURN (Nov. 16, 1986):

“This tour is like a rebirth of something that’s real,” Neil Young said.

“I haven’t played straight rock ‘n’ roll since 1978, except for a little bit on ‘Reactor.’ I held back everything for so long. Now I have the energy. It’s like you’ve (stored it) and suddenly have this massive impulse to release it.

I always knew it would come back. I just didn’t know when.”

From interview "YOUNG AND HIS ‘GARAGE ROCK'--KEEPING THE FLAME BURNING" | Los Angeles Times by ROBERT HILBURN (Nov. 16, 1986):

What’s behind the garage band concept?

Neil Young: I just feel that Crazy Horse is like a garage band and I was talking to some deejay and I said, “Listen, I don’t want to brag but I think Crazy Horse is the third-best garage band in the world.” That’s really where I like to be. Let someone else be No. 1 and No. 2. We make too many mistakes to be No. 1 and nobody wants to be No. 2, so we’re No. 3.

We rehearsed for 2 1/2 months for this tour . . . longer than I have ever rehearsed for anything with any band. I usually rehearse for three days, but I wanted the band to be in shape so they could keep up with me. We’ve been recording every show of the tour for the album. This is how we recorded “Rust Never Sleeps.”

I’ve got six new songs in the show. I’ll record these mothers until I get them right and then I’ll take the crowd (noise) off and do some overdubs and it will sound like a million bucks.

"Neighbor" Sam Kinison (left)
via Hearse Theater | NYA

Tour Dates - USA - In A Rusted Out Garage Sep/Oct/Nov 1986
via Broken Arrow Magazine - NYAS (#25, p. 32)

Review via Sugar Mountain

Poncho and Neil
via Hearse Theater | NYA

T-Shirt from "In A Rusted Out Garage" Concert Tour by Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 1986
via Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland, OH | My Concert Memories

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Jack Nitzsche , Neil Young's producer/arranger on the masterpiece "Broken Arrow", has stated that Crazy Horse was the American equivalent of The Rolling Stones. IOHO, Crazy Horse is to Neil Young what The Band was to Bob Dylan. As perfect a complement as tequila and salt.

In tribute to Crazy Horse, the "3rd Best Garage Band in the World", here's a look back at some highlights:

• EXCLUSIVE: Crazy Horse Drummer Ralph Molina Interview
• Year of the Horse Film Review and Interviews on the making with Crazy Horse, Neil and Director Jim Jarmusch
• Year of the Horse - Interview in France's Les Inrockuptibles, July 1997
• Year of the Horse - Film Review
• Crazy Horse Biography - Reprise Records, 1997
• Frank Sampedro Interview - Torhout Festival, 1996
• Poncho Interview - Halifax Daily News, 11/1/96
• Interview: Crazy Horse and Neil Young Maintain Special Relationship, by Barry Gutman, Music Wire, ~9/96
• Billy Talbot Interview - Rip it Up, ~8/96  
• Crazy Horse Album Reviews- by Robert Christgau
• Years of the Horse

Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
#CrazyHorse4HOF

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A Very Happy Valentine's Day To All of Our Hearts of Gold: "We Love You!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been roughly 45+ years now since Neil Young's immortal song "Heart of Gold" entered our lives, and we'd like to wish that every day could be Valentine's Day.

And no Neil Young song seems to say Happy Valentine's Day more than "Harvest Moon" it would seem by gauging the song's popularity as a "First Dance" song.

So there comes a time for a delightfully heart-warming little love story or ...Understanding Neil Young's Music.

Love And Only Love
(Via Rusted Moon)

Often, we've found ourselves trying to explain Neil Young's music to others with varying degrees of success. In the end, we find that his music isn't really something that can be explained.

While we've expended quite a few words on this blog making an attempt, it really is the stories of others which transcend the gap much better.


Art by Susan Farrington
So Happy Valentine's Day to all of the hearts of gold out there.


"Dreamin Man" by Neil Young

FOUND: "Heart of Gold" ... Literally | The New England Journal of Medicine

Here's a very rare performance of Neil Young's "Love in Mind" at Carnegie Hall, NYC on 1/9/14. As everybody knows, "Love in Mind" -- from Time Fades Away -- is only available on vinyl*. (* As everybody knows, "Love in Mind" also is on the "Live at Massey Hall" CD, same tour as the TFA version, different date)

And Happy Valentine's Day to our Heart of Gold, Thrashette. I love you!

FOUND: A Heart of Gold
An Island in the Sun Under a Rainbow

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Also, see Top 10 Neil Young Love Songs.

"Heart Of Gold", NYA Song of the Day, 2/14/19.

LOVE IS SUCH A GIFT.
NYA Song of the Day

Love & only LOVE
New York City, NY - January 2014

thrashers
☮️♥️
Farm Aid 2019

Neil Young - Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 2019-02-04 | NYA

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