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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.
Neil Young Concert Reviews - Milwaukee, WI July 29, 2010
38 second capsule review by the Rock and Roll Guru. Neil Young will be performing tonight at the Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Special guest Bert Jansch will open concert.
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As if you could possibly get sick of Double Rainbow parodies, Jimmy Fallon broke out his amazing Neil Young impression again last night to perform a sweet ballad to our favorite Internet phenomenon of the year (so far). Pulling out all the heart-wrenching stops, a costumed Fallon debuted an original song to celebrate Paul Vasquez' amazement at the sight of two full rainbows. We'd say it was hilarious, but the topic is so close to our hearts that it was also pretty moving. Maybe not as moving as, say, a double rainbow, but you get the idea.
We had no idea what this double rainbow viral video was all about, but here it is. It is pretty funny...
Unfortunately the proceedings came grinding to a halt once more when Young decided to deconstruct one of his best-loved tunes, 'Cortez the Killer,' into a fractured and glacial tone poem. It's the kind of daring move Young fanatics routinely cite as what makes Young cool - and it probably would have been if it had come within the context of a sharper show featuring a stronger set of songs. Nearing the close of this particular night, it just came off as sloppy.
Ben Keith: 1937 - 2010 Bridge Benefit Concert 2008 Photo by Craig Abaya
UPDATE: From official Neil Young website N Y Times:
BEN KEITH
On the full moon, the Thunder moon, the world lost one of the greatest musicians of all time. Ben was 73 years old the night he died on Broken Arrow Ranch in California, his happy home for the last years of his life. Ben played with Patsy Cline, Faron Young, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Ian Tyson and many other music greats. A great American, the quiet giant, he moved gently through the world, with kindness and grace.
My wife Pegi was lucky to share his last performance a few weeks back in San Francisco, where Ben was playing in her band, supporting her and lending his spirit to her every word as she sang her songs for us.
Of course, in Nashville Ben Keith is legendary, one of the last of the original country greats, the man behind the song. No one will ever fill his shoes. He has countless friends and admirers. They all miss him as much as I do. I will miss him every time I look to my side, remembering him, my brother and fellow traveler.
Thankfully, Ben's masterful playing can be seen and heard in two Johnathon Demme pictures: 'Heart of Gold' and 'Trunk Show,' as well as countless great recordings over the last 50 years. We are so fortunate to have these as memories and lasting documents of his greatness and grace. He started out on a homemade steel guitar he fashioned himself from a piece of wood and left over parts. He loved his music and his life and cherished his many friends and soul mates.
He leaves behind his wonderful daughter Heidi, and his grandchildren who he loved so much, DJ, Rachel, James, Meredith, Aubrey, Fletcher and Caroline.
May he rest in Peace.
Neil Young
Ben Keith as "Grandpa" in Greendale as filmed by Neil Young - 2002 (Eric Johnson as "Jed", center)
Ben Keith, Neil Young's long time band mate and dear friend, has passed away. Ben was 73.
Ben Keith, was a multi-talented musician who Neil Young first met in Nashville in February 1971 when Neil was recording the multi-platinum LP Harvest. Legend has it that Neil asked bassist Tim Drummond if he knew any pedal-steel players in town. Tim contacted Ben, who lived in town and off he went to the studio: "I didn't know who anyone was, so I asked, who's that guy over there?" and was told "that's Neil Young".
"They were already recording [Harvest] at the time," Keith said in the 2005 concert movie Heart of Gold. "I set up my steel and kind of snuck in there and started playing and we did five songs before we ever stopped and introduced ourselves."
Speaking to Uncut.co.uk - News in March 2009, Keith remembered his first meeting with Young.
“He wanted a steel guitar player and I lived a couple of blocks from the studio. He’d already started the sessions, and I slipped in as quiet as I could and started playing along, and we cut five songs before I really met him. I didn’t even know who he was. I’d heard of CSNY, but I didn’t know he was doing a solo LP. He seemed like a good guy, as he did music like I do it – spontaneously.”
Neil Young often referred to Ben Keith as "Brother Ben".
In an interview with Director Jonathan Demme in Los Angeles Times by Randy Lewis, Demme said that Keith died of a heart attack.
"Demme called Keith “an elegant, beautiful dude, and obviously a genius. He could play every instrument. He was literally the bandleader on any of that stuff… Neil has all the confidence in the world, but with Ben on board, there were no limits. Neil has a fair measure of the greatness of his music, but he knew he was even better when Ben was there.”
“Ben and I developed the style during those sessions,” Young told The Tennessean in 2005. “When we did ‘Old Man’ and talked about what he could play, I said, ‘Try to play those single notes and make it sound doubled. Just ride those babies all the way through there, that’s a great sound.”
Ben Keith is an American pedal steel guitarist, from Bowling Green, Kentucky. He worked as a session musician in Nashville in the late 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his work with Neil Young, both in stage shows and on albums such as Harvest, "Journey Through The Past", "Time Fades Away", "On The Beach", Tonight's the Night, "American Stars 'n' Bars", Comes A Time, "Hawks 'n' Doves", "Old Ways", "Freedom",Harvest Moon, "Silver and Gold", Prairie Wind, "Chrome Dreams II", and the live albums "Unplugged" and "Road Rock Vol. 1".
He played the role of "Grandpa Green" in the Neil Young feature length movie Greendale, released on DVD.
He has also worked with Terry Reid, Todd Rundgren, Lonnie Mack, The Band, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Paul Butterfield, J. J. Cale, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Ian and Sylvia, Hungry Chuck, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Anne Murray and Ringo Starr.
He is also known as the producer of Jewel's debut album Pieces of You and as a solo recording artist. He toured with Crosby Stills Nash & Young on their 2006 Freedom of Speech tour.
Ben Keith with Faron Young and band (via Rock Town Hall)
Keith's career dated back to playing on Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces."
Rick Rosas & Ben Keith @ Cutting Room, NYC, NY 07-19-2007 Photo by Johnny Marr
Ben Keith’s pedal steel playing, typified on the opening track “Out On The Weekend,” was the perfect counterpoint to Young’s compositions. Bassist Tim Drummond once compared Keith’s playing to the fingers of fog that creep in over San Francisco Bay.
Ben Keith is interviewed by Pauline Stroosnijder for Culttv, outside the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam, June 2009. Seems like some translation sync issues on interview.
"'As a producer, I hope what I bring to an artist is sensitivity,' says Keith. 'And maybe a sense of overview. I've always loved a lot of different kinds of music, and I've seen and heard a lot—I listened to a good bit of R&B in the early days, and I'm sure that influenced me in a big way. And growing up in Kentucky, so close to Nashville, that gave me some country roots. I was also really lucky to get to work with some great producers—Chet Atkins, for example. That's given me a lot to go on, and I don't believe the producer's role has changed all that much over the years. The technology, now that's a different story—that's changed tenfold. Sometimes the most exciting moments come out of the biggest challenges, like on the live tracks on Jewel's album. The place was very small, and it was hard to get a good sound with all the crowd noise and everything. For one song, Jewel came into the studio and overdubbed her last guitar chord, and we blended it in with the live track. Finding the little sweetening touches like that is really satisfying.'
UPDATE: Per Tabloid Daze: Neil acknowledged Ben's death at his Winnipeg concert tonight. Appearing somewhat sombre before the first song of his encore, Old Man, Young said, "This is for Ben Keith. His spirit will live on. The Earth has taken him."
"When steel player Bennett Keith Schaeufele joined the Nashville musician’s union in 1956, the secretary said, “Oh! You’re not going to use that name, are you? Why don’t you use Ben Keith? People will remember it better.” So he became Ben Keith. The following year he signed on as one of Faron Young’s Country Deputies, joining Tom Pritchard on upright bass and Odell Martin on guitar. By 1960, the Deputies were Ben, Odell, Darrell McCall, and Roger Miller. Ben left the band in 1963, did demos and session work for awhile, and some producing. My sister and I visited him at his Gallatin home in 2000. By then he had toured for years with Neil Young. He told me he produced CDs for Jewel but didn’t mention her debut CD, Pieces of You, sold more than ten million units. It is still one of the best-selling albums of all time by a female artist."
For Jewel, though, Keith will always be the man who helmed her breakthrough, Pieces Of You, an album that sold more than 10 million copies.
"I was signed to Atlantic Records, completely ignorant about the music business," Jewel said. "I met with maybe 50 different producers, and a lot of them wanted to change what I did. Ben was the first who made me feel comfortable with who and what I was. He had the mentality of, 'Let the musician be the musician,' and he believed in me when I didn't know how to believe in myself."
"He was a champion of the song and the songwriter, no matter what," she said. "He was a defender, and he helped give me confidence. He wanted to pay homage to the song, with no over-singing and no over-playing. He produced that album, and so we both hit the frickin' goldmine.
Song Grid Chart - 2nd Leg of Neil Young's Twisted Road Tour by Sugar Mountain
Much is often made about Neil Young's setlist variation -- as in there is very little variation whatsoever from night to night.
There are some who feel that for the price they paid for a ticket, that the sets should vary more from night to night. Although this seems to matter only to those who attend more than one show. Which makes it odd given that they have a problem with the ticket price but yet attend multiple nights?
The world has truly changed thanks to the Internet.
I'm sure Neil never thought his set lists would be compared to each other nightly, but he's certainly aware of this fact now and maybe this is his reaction to that. If you notice, since 1999 hes pretty much stuck to the same set lists (not that he didn't before but there was a little more variation). I think a live performer is kinda screwed by this because people are watching for variation and for rarities to be played. I like looking at set lists as much as the next fan but really, what is to be gained? Its not like you can be at every show. Say Neil decided to play half of tonight's the night at the show after the one you just went to? Wouldn't you feel a bit burned? But we complain that he plays the the same set list every night. Its a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.
As far as playing new songs?
Come on now... Are we REALLY STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS? Its such a ridiculous statement to say "Neil is playing too many NEW songs! What? Listen, I'm not a fan of music that is popular today. I'm just not. And yes I put on the Beatles, Hendrix, even Devo and the Replacements, from time to time, but that doesn't mean I don't LOVE hearing new songs from an artist I love. Who doesn't like fresh music? Christ, songs played on the radio today are completely forgotten in a month so obviously most people like new music too.
Neil is still ALIVE man. He's still a musician, He's not some pale imitation of his 24 year old self! Neil grows, Neil changes, He challenges. I think Neil refuses to acknowledge that his best days are behind him, and I agree with that sentiment. We should all have that attitude about ourselves and stop trying to relive a mythologized youth.
Neil is a writer, first and foremost! Without his song writing abilities he wouldn't be NEIL YOUNG as we know him. Like AG says this is what Neil has always done, and I am damn glad for it. He's right...go see a retro act if that's your bag.
Neil is still writing great songs, and they will be classics in a few years. I think the day Neil stops writing new songs and performing them is the day he hangs up Old Black and sits back and relaxes with Pegi on the ranch for the rest of his days. As fans, lets hope it never happens.
I love Neil's old songs....the classic albums. I also love his 90's stuff. His 80's stuff, I knew it all well, but its only now that I'm starting to really get what he was doing. I'm into it. Neil's stuff from the 80's is among a very small, select amount of music from that decade that doesn't sound dated now, no matter how much synth he used. The more music Neil makes the better.
I'm sure there will be years to come of more music to love, either right now in the moment, when its fresh or years later, you can re-discover some great tune and finally get it. In my opinion, when all is said and done, it will never be enough. I hope Neil is still rockin' out writing new tunes and confounding fans well into his 90s.
Rock on NEIL!
"Ain't a day goes by I don't burn a little bit of my soul"
ShittyHorse
Thanks SH!
And -- as we mentioned in our review -- the setlist itself tells a story and revolves around a theme, therefore to tamper with the mix and flow would be to alter the message itself. As Stringman noted, this tour is an "opera".
Archives Volume #2 Update & NYA Special Release Series
Homegrown - Unreleased Neil Young Album
Some rather hugely significant Neil Young news announced over on N Y Times concerning Archives Volume #2 and the NYA Special Release Series.
The NYA team, headed by Will Mitchell and Hannah Johnson, is digging through material supplied by numerous sources, including newspapers, writers, fans, bootleg audio collectors and photographers (special thanks to photographer/collector Joel Bernstein). Much work has been done and there is much left to do. Using the template designed by the late Larry Johnson, the whole team is pushing forward.
Special thanks to audio engineers John Nowland, Tim Mulligan and the team at Redwood Digital for the unbelievable amount of work that has been accomplished so far. Volume 2 promises even more content than Volume 1, with many unreleased tracks.
Four unreleased albums from this period are being rebuilt and will be available in the NYA Special Release Series. Chrome Dreams, Homegrown and Oceanside-Countryside are the three unreleased studio albums. Also from this period is the unreleased Odeon-Budokan live recording produced by David Briggs and Tim Mulligan.
These albums initially will be released in vinyl from analog masters as they originally were created for that format. So now is the time to get your new phonograph player. The new players, built with today's technology, are exceptionally good.
Vinyl Kills MP3's
While the unreleased Chrome Dreams and Homegrown albums are fairly well documented, the Oceanside-Countryside sounds intriguing. And the unreleased Odeon-Budokan live recording looks to be a particularly fine period of vintage Crazy Horse.
The news also raises some interesting questions regarding investments in vinyl playback technology. Note the news has no mention of Blu-Ray format.
Lastly, no mention of a Time Fades Away re-release. :( Maybe some one should start a petition or something....
Thanks Because Sound Matters!
Chrome Dreams - Unreleased Neil Young Album
Homegrown 1. "Homegrown" 2. "Vacancy" 3. "Homefires" 4. "Try" 5. "Star of Bethlehem" 6. "Little Wing" 7. "The Old Homestead" 8. "Pardon My Heart" 9. "Love Art Blues" 10. "Separate Ways" 11. "Deep Forbidden Lake" 12. "Love is a Rose" 13. "Daughters" 14. "We Don't Smoke It" 15. "White Line" 16. "Give Me Strength" 17. Frozen Man 18. Tie Plate Yodle #3
Chrome Dreams I Side one
1. "Pocahontas" – 3:24 2. "Will to Love" – 7:11 3. "Star of Bethlehem" – 2:42 4. "Like a Hurricane" – 8:14 5. "Too Far Gone" – 2:41
Side two
1. "Hold Back the Tears" – 5:16 2. "Homegrown" – 2:20 3. "Captain Kennedy" – 2:55 4. "Stringman" – 3:32 5. "Sedan Delivery" – 5:22 6. "Powderfinger" – 3:23 7. "Look Out for My Love" – 4:06
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Human Highway
Concert Review of the Moment
This Land is My Land
FREEDOM In A New Year
*Thanks Neil!*
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.thrasherswheat.org/gifs/free-speech.gif)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Neil Young
Pardon My Heart
"We're The Ones 
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