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An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
'Thanks for being here, it’s like a deja vu experience. We had a good time last time and we’ll try and do it a little differently for you tonight,' Young told the crowd after opening with a tune unheard in November, When You Dance, I Can Really Love, and a spirited Are You Ready for the Country, with Ben Keith’s lap steel guitar floating over his fearless leader’s pounding on a battered upright piano.
There were other, fresher treats in store, like a stripped-down version of Pocahontas, marked by Chad Cromwell’s tribal drumbeat, and a raggedy Barstoon Blues, which provided a moment of levity when the band started one song and Young another.
'Well, what do you want to do?' he shrugged at Cromwell with a note of mock exasperation. 'Well, OK, we’ll do both of ’em.
'This is like rehearsals for retirement, only we don’t want to get it down,' Young told the crowd, which was cheering with encouragement. 'We always don’t want to be ready for that.
'Some of these songs we’ve never played, you’d never believe it.'
Neil Young will be performing tonight at Metro Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Got a report? Drop a comment below. No registration required.
I'm still in awe over the St. John's shows...wow! Neil and his band were simply amazing and inspiring. It's an incredible thing to have listened to the genius of his music on his albums, and its sheer range of emotion, and then see it unfold in person for the very first time.
Lost in Space was a gift...Spirit Road was drool-worthy. Everything just gelled, including the newer songs which stand comfortably alongside his best, in my opinion.
The ultimate highlight for me: Change Your Mind. That song acted as a portal for me into the rest of Neil's catalogue when I first heard it back in '94. At the time, it was like a musical band-aid for the strange feelings so many of my generation had following Kurt Cobain's death a few months earlier. It was gripping to hear it performed live at this point in my life--it gave reference to the past, and somehow put everything I'm doing now in context.
I hope Neil enjoyed his time here in Newfoundland...we were truly honoured by his presence, humour, wit...and timeless music.
Jonathan Goodwin, of H-Line Conversions, modified Neil Young’s ’59 Lincoln into an environmental wonder.
Young’s Lincoln has been converted into an electric car that now gets 100 miles or more to the gallon.
Now, Neil Young has written a song called “Johnny Magic”, referring to Goodwin.
It all started when someone in the shop referred to Goodwin as “Johnny Magic.”
“And somehow that stuck in Neil’s head. And the next thing I know, he’s running around with the guitar for a couple of weeks playing out different parts of the song,” Goodwin says.
Neil Young’s new music video shows Young driving his converted “LincVolt” through Wichita.
"Launching his 2009 Continental Tour in Newfoundland and Labrador, Young and his electric band (Ben Keith, Chad Cromwell, Rick Rosas, Pegi Young, and Anthony Crawford) performed what not only shaped up to be as electrifying a show as their reputation predicates, but they played a few 'bonus tracks,' in the words of Young himself."
Neil Young will be performing tonight at Mile One Centre, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Got a report? Drop a comment below. No registration required.
NEW "GET AROUND" LONG-FORM VIDEO COMING SOON! By Scoop Asphalt
The Video premiere of GET AROUND, featuring ALL the music of "Fork in the Road" will be available at 12:01 AM PST Tuesday April 7, worldwide. This long-form video runs 43 minutes and was shot on a Texas Highway between La Grange and Austin shortly before "South By Southwest" extravaganza began in Austin.
GET AROUND will not be available anywhere else because of its long running time exceeding the capabilities of most major outlets. The long form video also will be available with High Definition Sound as part of a new Blu-Ray currently in post-production at Shakey Pictures.
The new GET AROUND Blu-Ray includes all of the videos made for Fork. Shakey Pictures hopes you enjoy taking a ride in Lincvolt with Neil as he sings the entire "Fork in the Road" album plus the additional bonus track, "Get Around."
Rick Rosas & Ben Keith @ Cutting Room, NYC, NY 07-19-2007 Photo by Johnny Marr
Here's a nice photo by Johnny Marr of Rick Rosas and Ben Keith at The Cutting Room, New York City, NY on 07-19-2007. Photo taken on a break with the Pegi Young Band.
We'll start by going back to 2006's blisteringly negative "Living with War" reviews and reactions. The album was roundly panned and we've long maintained critics were not going negative over the music but the message. Singing "Let's Impeach The President" doesn't exactly make for a lot of friends in the mainstream media. But here we are three years later and Spain wants to arrest George W. Bush for war crimes.
We could point to a host of observations from Greendale that seemed a bit far-fetched then but now seem quite prescient. But we'll just point out this Greendale post where we referenced the impending collapse of Antarctica's Wilkins ice shelf. And as you see in the above video, Antarctica's Wilkins ice shelf has indeed collapsed.
So down the road when we're all driving electric cars, just remember 2009's silly little car album "Fork In The Road".
Our dear friends in The 4% Club are sharpening their knives in anticipation of the release on Tuesday of Neil Young's "Fork In The Road".
Just witness the reaction of The 4% Club to the semi-positive review by UNCUT of FITR. (WARNING: The comments section is filled with the unhinged rantings of The 4% Club.)
Over the years, longtime Neil Young fan Mike "Expecting To Fly" has periodically gone back into his collection and conducted a chronologically review of Neil Young's entire body of work. The result has been the Neil Young Album's In Order series which we proudly host here on Thrasher's Wheat.
So here's the latest installment with 2007's Chrome Dreams II while we're on the cusp of yet another Neil release of "Fork In The Road" on Tuesday.
One of the fortunate privileges I've had over my years as a fan of Neil Young is to be present at the inaugural live performances of new songs never heard by a paying audience. The latest experience like this was in Boise, Idaho (review) which is just a few miles down the road from where I first discovered Neil Young. The four new songs were Dirty Old Man, Spirit Road, The Believer, and the epic No Hidden Path. The concert was fantastic for many reasons but I'm thankful to be present when new songs are played in public for the first time.
Chrome Dreams II came out just a few days after that show. It was comprised of seven new songs, a couple of old unreleased songs re-recorded with the current band and one bona fide museum piece. I thought that the two re-recorded tunes Beautiful Bluebird and Boxcar fit in well with the remainder of the new songs. There are some really wonderful moments in the album too. The lead guitar part in Shining Light takes me back to 1967 Buffalo Springfield; it sounds as if it came right out of those sessions. Spirit Road is spirited. I heard Ever After playing at a Starbucks I was walking past and it sounded so great to hear it in this unexpected setting. The Way features a boys choir; the song reminds me of something Brian Wilson might come up with.
The item that discomforts me in the album is the inclusion of a 19 year old recording of Ordinary People in the album. It doesn't fit for me. Perhaps if he had rerecorded this one with perhaps a new verse or two and left this track for the Archives...oh well. Neil Young of course can do whatever he wants with his own music but I can't shake the feeling this was a mistake. Had he not included it, the album would have been left with 9 songs and 48 minutes, plenty long.
Thankfully, he did include a new classic, No Hidden Path. I remember reading some sort of quote I think in Thrasher's Wheat in which Neil said in an article that he thinks he has another "Hurricane" in him. This could be it, it's that good in my opinion. And wow, I was there the first time he played it in public.
I very much enjoyed listening to Chrome Dreams II today.
Mike Expecting To Fly
More of Mike "Expecting To Fly"'s Album's In Order Neil Young reviews.
On Tuesday, April 7, a listening party chat session will be held for the release of Neil Young's "Fork In The Road" (initial reaction commentary).
Two listening parties will be held to accommodate different time zones. The first will be at 3:00 PM, EST, and another at 9:00 PM EST. Listen to the album together. Chat. Discuss. This may sound somewhat silly but it is actually quite fun.
The Streamland chat room is not exclusively a rustie chat room. It evolved out of the LV chat and is certainly a chat room where we discuss all things neil young, but all are welcome, one does not have to be a rustie to come by. We will in the future be discussing some of my other obsessions, namely Ryan Adams, and Keith Haman and Grizzly Circus, and having more listening parties accordingly.