CSNY 1974 Tour Box Set - UPDATE #2

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
1974-08-23, Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Photo Gallery by John Gellman Photography

Earlier this summer, we reported that a box set of CSNY's 1974 tour was in the works.

The news set off quite a reaction with numerous comments on memories from CSNY's 1974 tour. In many ways, the tour marked the end of an era as well as the beginning of a new era. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1974 summer tour was unprecedented in many ways -- not the least of which was a pioneering mega huge sound system able to blast tens of thousands at outdoor stadiums. The Bill Graham produced spectacle went on to usher in the massive rock and roll extravaganzas that so many other acts would later follow.

The latest update is from Billboard.com:

[Graham Nash] hopes to put the finishing touches on a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album from the quartet's legendary 1974 tour for a hoped-for spring 2011 release. Nash and archivist Joel Bernstein are putting the set together from multi-track recordings of nine concerts, and listening to them has shown Nash that 'we were really a fine band. It's very obvious when you play the tracks that we're listening to each other, not stepping on each other's toes, not overblowing. It's really, really good.'

Nash adds that Neil Young, himself an exacting archivist, has 'give me basically carte blanche' to put the set together. 'He knows me. He trusts me. He feels I can do this. He will be very involved, of course, because I'm not mixing anything finally until Neil's heard it and approves -- the same with David [Crosby] and Stephen.'

After the '74 show is done, Nash plans on to move to a 1970 CSNY show from the Fillmore East in New York city, as well as Crosby Nash shows from 1970 and 1993. He's also waiting for final permissions from some famous musical friends for a Crosby Nash collaborative album to benefit the Children's Defense Fund, which he hopes will come out in 2011 as well.

(Merci Jacques-Eric !)

Previously, David Crosby had this to say on the box set in The Columbian by Alan Sculley:

“This CSNY thing is going to eclipse almost everything else,” David Crosby said. “I think it’s going to be just pretty much beyond belief. What I’ve heard, I was just stunned.”

“When you really hear them now, it’s just astounding,” he said. “The stuff that they’ve played me, I can’t even believe how … good it is.”

Stephen Stills and Neil Young
CSNY Concert: 1974-08-23, Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Photo Gallery by John Gellman Photography

Some memories from 1974....

From JoeRay Skrha:

Hi Gang,

I saw CSNY in Buffalo 8-11-1974 and Cleveland 8-31-1974... Both days were in the top 10 of concerts I ever attended. Buffalo was at the newly opened Rich Stadium, sunny warm day, great sound and Jesse Colin Young, Santana and CSNY. Cleveland was at Municipal Stadium, 88,000 people, great sound, Jesse Colin Young, The Band, Santana and CSNY. Bill Graham who ran the tour was at he very best. Rock and Roll was young, raw and alive.

This was the tour I wish I could experience again. It took a rap for being the Doom Tour... I disagree... Perhaps some musicians over did it but for those of us in attendance (always sat 20 feet back on Neils side), I was simply blown away. Neil recorded each concert in 8-16 or 24 track. Perhaps the archives BD-Live will allow more than one concert to be released. Even most of the audience recordings from this tour sounded good without much echo or distortion.

The sound was clear and alive.

Peace,
Joe Ray Skrha

From MARIAN M.:

My first time seeing Neil live (at the tender age of 19) was CSNY Reunion Tour 1974 @ Atlantic City Race Track (August 9)...standing for hours in the RAIN (rain, rain, rain, and still more rain), standing because there was nowhere to sit (all mud)! It was still all worth it to see Neil and the rest of the guys!

I loved seeing David Crosby walking out on stage holding up the newspaper with the headline in HUGE letters, 'Nixon Resigns'; this was met with a thunderous roar from the audience. This whole show was a glorious celebration!

The only songs I'm sure about (36 years later) being played were 'Don't Be Denied' and 'Pushed It Over the End,' which I LOVED! I have never seen a set list for this concert.

Is there anybody out there that can supply more information?

Even the possibility of a box set being released for this 1974 tour thrills my heart!!!!!!!

I sure hope this is true!!!!

Marian M.

Rolling Stone - August 15th, 1974
More on the reunion tour of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1974.

More commentary on CSNY's 1974 Tour Box Set here and here.

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HARVEST: A Celebration of Abundance Set to the Music of Neil Young

From Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Portland Oregon):

Join Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for a Eucharistic celebration of harvest and abundance set to the music of the man recently named "the second most influential living songwriter," Neil Young.

All are welcome. It's free. The offering will go to Trinity's food ministries, which served nearly 20,000 meals in 2009 and is on track to exceed that this year. If "rust never sleeps," then neither should our fight against hunger.

A full set of Neil songs, from "Helpless" to "The Way," will echo through the Cathedral as Trinity’s Alt.Liturgy Band and Children’s Choirs lead us in worship set to the music of a legendary singer, songwriter, and prophet.

September 18 @ 6:00pm @ Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland Oregon.

For additional information, please e-mail josephr@trinity-epicopal.org or call 503-816-8576. Also, see Facebook | HARVEST: A Celebration of Abundance Set to the Music of Neil Young to RSVP.

Coordinated with approval from Lookout Management.



Us? Hiding behind haybales while assessing the impact of "When God Made Me" and pondering "did he give me the gift of voice so some could silence me?"

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Dead Man Soundtrack: Preview of Le Noise?

With so much discussion and speculation on the sonics of
Neil Young's upcoming Le Noise album produced by Daniel Lanois, it seemed like a good time to rewind back to another electric solo adventure: the Dead Man soundtrack.

This also revisits discussion back in 2007 of Neil having a new tone on the Chrome Dreams II tour and the followup on some of the technical details on his signature style made us consider one his most distinctive and evocative sonic creations for the 1995 film Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch.

From an interview with Neil Young on FRESH AIR (25 March 2004) by Terry Gross:

GROSS: You did the score for the Jim Jarmusch movie "Dead Man." Did you--did that teach you anything about the interaction between music and what's on the screen?

Mr. YOUNG: Well, there are some similarities between "Greendale" and "Dead Man" because the approach that I took to the--they're kind of off-the-wall similarities, but they are nonetheless--the approach that I took to doing the score to "Dead Man" was I went back to--the concept was that "Dead Man" was basically a silent movie and that, you know, in the old days, in the '20s and stuff, when they had theaters, there'd be an organist or a piano player who would play along with the film, and that--and you'd get subtitles and the live music and that was it. So when I did the score for "Dead Man," I had the film projected on TV screens, and I had, like, about 20 TVs all around me, big ones, little ones, tiny little portables, and wide screens and everything hanging from the ceiling in a big semicircle all the way around me. No, in full circle. And then I had my instruments inside the circle.

So the instruments were always close enough for me to go from one to another, and they were all set up and the levels were all set, and everything was recording. So the film started, and I started playing the instruments. So I watched the show--I watched the film go through, and I played all the way through live. I'd put my guitar down and walk over and play the piano in the bar when there's a bar scene. I played the tack piano. Then when that scene was over, I'd walk over from the piano and go play the organ for another scene and then--a little pump organ I have, and then I'd pick up the electric guitar again and get all my distorted sounds out of that to go with the Indian drums and the things that were happening in the film. And basically, it was all a real-time experience.

Also, see more on the film Dead Man and an interview with director Jim Jarmusch on making the soundtrack with Neil Young. Also, see "Jim Jarmusch on working with Neil Young and use of music in film.

And if you can't wait for Le Noise, you may want to check out the Dead Man soundtrack, in the meantime if you haven't already.



Pre-order Le Noise by Neil Young on Amazon.com. (Thanks! You'll be supporting Thrasher's Wheat. NOTE: International readers, use country "flagged" Amazon links in right sidebar to ensure credit to TW.)

FWIW, pre-orders for Le Noise by Neil Young is already ranked has #40 #38 on Amazon.com Bestseller listing.

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Randomly Blogged: Ben Keith, Bert Jansch, Crowded House, Jim Jarmusch, Greendale

Ben Keith

From What Makes a Legend: Ben Keith | Crawdaddy! by Denise Sullivan:

It’s hard to imagine “Out on the Weekend”, “Are You Ready for the Country”, “Heart of Gold”, “Alabama”, “Words (Between the Lines of Age)”, and the album’s title song without Keith’s graceful guitar echoing Young’s own crying tones. Keith left a giant footprint not only on Harvest but on Tonight’s the Night, Comes a Time, On the Beach, and Young’s mid-life masterpiece Harvest Moon as well. In later years he was involved in literally all of Young’s recording and touring projects, from Silver & Gold to Chrome Dreams II.

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'Old Man' with Liam Finn & Lawrence Arabia @ Ruth Eckerd Hall from Crowded House on Vimeo.

Crowded House and Liam Finn cover Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’ (In Tribute to Ben Keith) in Clearwater, Fla., 7/28/10

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Bert Jansch
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

From Bert Jansch's cancer comeback | Music | The Guardian by Will Hodgkinson:

"Neil and I had dinner," says Jansch. "He told me I should be playing to a lot more people. Half of me was saying no to that, because it was terrifying to go from my normal gigs of 400 people in a concert hall to auditoriums of 4,000, but actually it was a godsend. From the end of last year to the beginning of this one, it was nothing but hospitals. I got the call from Neil's manager just after the chemotherapy and it gave me something positive to focus on."

Young has been a fan ever since he heard Bert Jansch, as his 1965 debut LP was called. "That first record is epic," says Young, of the album that was recorded for £100 in a kitchen. "I was especially taken with Needle of Death, such a beautiful and angry song."

Jansch isn't famous in America. How did fans react to him co-headlining with Young? "The people who knew Bert were overjoyed to see him play with such passion," says Elliot Roberts, Young's manager. "And young people who hadn't heard him before all said the same thing: 'This is the real shit.'"

More on Bert Jansch and Neil Young.

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Jim Jarmusch on working with Neil Young

More on Jim Jarmusch and Neil Young.

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-- From t r u t h o u t | Vampire Blues: Suckin' Blood From the Earth by Chris Genovali:

When Neil Young recorded the anti-Big Oil "Vampire Blues" for his brilliant album On the Beach in the mid-1970s, who could have known that the song would end up even more relevant a quarter century later? Speculation abounds on fan sites that Neil, who is currently on tour, believes the time is right to perform "Vampire Blues" once again, particularly given the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

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-- From Comic Riffs - The 'Riffs Interview: Comic artist CLIFF CHIANG offers an insider's tour of Neil Young's 'Greendale':

CLIFF CHIANG: First, it's hard to take a very heartfelt story about coming of age and [about] finding your voice and finding the strength to have confidence in your beliefs. It's also a trickier thing with the politics. With Neil's politics, you can't dillute them. But we didn't want the story to focus so much on that that it would be strident and brash. We wanted to keep the appeal broad enough. ... If some [readers] didn't share the political views, we wanted them to appreciate the real humanity of the characters. And the message: No matter what you believe, you can't remain quiet.

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-- Greendale News of the Moment:

From Arctic sea ice volume heads toward record low as Northwest Passage melts free fourth year in a row « Climate Progress:

The Northwest and Northeast Passages are open
The Northwest Passage–the legendary shipping route through ice-choked Canadian waters at the top of the world–melted free of ice last week, and is now open for navigation, according to satellite mosaics available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center and The University of Illinois Cryosphere Today. This summer marks the fourth consecutive year–and fourth time in recorded history–that the fabled passage has opened for navigation. Over the past four days, warm temperatures and southerly winds over Siberia have also led to intermittent opening of the Northeast Passage, the shipping route along the north coast of Russia through the Arctic Ocean. It is now possible to completely circumnavigate the Arctic Ocean in ice-free waters, and this will probably be the case for at least a month. This year marks the third consecutive year–and the third time in recorded history–that both the Northwest Passage and Northeast Passage have melted free, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The Northeast Passage opened for the first time in recorded history in 2005, and the Northwest Passage in 2007. It now appears that the opening of one or both of these northern passages is the new norm, and business interests are taking note–commercial shipping in the Arctic is on the increase, and there is increasing interest in oil drilling. The great polar explorers of past centuries would be astounded at how the Arctic has changed in the 21st century.

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Neil Young's Le Noise: "Just a man on a stool"

Le Noise by Neil Young
(Click to Zoom Cover)
Release Date: September 28, 2010

Anticipation continues to mount as the buzz on Neil Young News: Neil Young's New Album 'Le Noise' builds to the September 28 release.

From a press release today a few choice quotes and new details:

Recorded in Lanois' home in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, Le Noise features Young on acoustic and electric guitars with Lanois adding his trademark sonic textures, creating one of the most sonically arresting albums Young has ever recorded. No band, no overdubs, just "a man on a stool and me doing a nice job on the recording," as Lanois puts it.

"Neil was so appreciative of the sonics that we presented to him," Lanois says. "He walked in the door and I put an acoustic guitar into his hands -- one that I had been working on to build a new sound. That's the multi-layered acoustic sound that you hear on the songs 'Love and War' and 'Peaceful Valley Boulevard.' I wanted him to understand that I've spent years dedicated to the sonics in my home and that I wanted to give him something he'd never heard before.

He picked up that instrument, which had everything -- an acoustic sound, electronica, bass sounds -- and he knew as soon as he played it that we had taken the acoustic guitar to a new level. It's hard to come up with a new sound at the back end of 50 years of rock and roll, but I think we did it."

Le Noise will be released in several formats, including standard CD, vinyl, digital download, and as a deluxe CD/DVD. The DVD portion, shot by cinematographer Adam Vollick, will feature eight black and white films of Young performing each song solo on acoustic and electric guitar live in the studio. In November, Reprise will also release a Blu-Ray edition, featuring Lanois and Vollick's beautifully shot films of Young.

More on Neil Young's New Album 'Le Noise'.

Pre-order Le Noise by Neil Young on Amazon.com. (Thanks! You'll be supporting Thrasher's Wheat. NOTE: International readers, use country "flagged" Amazon links in right sidebar to ensure credit to TW.)

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Comment of the Moment: "The beauty of silence at a Neil Young Concert"

Neil Young @ Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI - July 30, 2010
Photo Gallery by CJ Foeckler | Facebook

There's been a bit of commentary during the past tour legs regarding Neil Young's interaction with the audience. Or -- more to the point - the lack thereof aside from the music itself. Which, of course, is perfectly OK by many.

Which brings us to the Comment of the Moment from a review "The beauty of silence” - Neil Young in Minneapolis where the blogger just marveled at how wonderous it all truly was. Whereupon Mr Henry responded:

During the Greendale tour, Neil had a lot to say between songs...at least when he first started this tour. It was great to just sit back and listen to him set the table for each song, then listen to the songs and watch the show.

By the time the Greendale tour was winding down, he pretty much just let the songs and the performances speak for themselves. The last time I saw Greendale, Neil's introduction was 'These songs used to be new, and now they're not'. Start to finish, lasted only about 90 minutes; first time I saw Greendale, was around 2 1/2 hours. So we must have had about an hour of hearing Neil describe his songs and what they meant. That's probably as much as I've heard in all of the other shows I've seen combined...which is what made it so incredibly unique and beautiful.

The tradeoff was in the encore set, which was brief for the longer Greendale performances and really a whole other set for the shorter ones. So again here, I think that Neil was rewarding his fans, those who were willing to be patient and walk with him through something new. And of course, maybe he felt like he's already said what he needed to and was feeling to urge to move on.

I do know that when he is talkative before a song (on those rare occasions), it is very meaningful and poignant (e.g. intro to Daddy Went Walking at Farm Aid '99; Old King intro during '92 solo tour; dedicating Old Man to Ben....). And when he hardly says a word, well he's communicating all he needs to with his voice, guitar and band. And also just with the silences and with his presence and calm.

I saw Steve Earle and Hot Tuna this past Saturday night. Both performances were wonderful, and both had just the right amount of intro and audience talk and interaction. Steve opened with Christmas in Washington and got the audience singing along w/in thirty seconds. He told us about his new son, his nephew's return from Irag, how he hates what's happened in the Gulf...all heartfelt and not a word was extraneous. I had an eye lock with him for about 30 seconds during My Old Friend The Blues...that was some pretty heavy communication too!! During the Hot Tuna set, Jorma mostly did the talking between songs (his voice is still amazing!) and that was kept pretty short and sweet. But the communication between him and Jack Cassidy when they played really said it all, and there were sometimes two other guitars as well (including G.E. Smith) or another guitar and electric mandolin, so they were saying all they needed to there. Jorma did say this was the last show of the tour and he was really psyched to get back to Athens for the Demolition Derby. Oh, and they brought Steve out for the encore...Steve said 'this was a total gas and I would love to do it again' (meaning the tour) to which Jorma replied 'Any time, brother!'.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some shows in the upcoming third leg of Twisted Road where Neil does talk more. When the time is right, he'll probably talk some about LA and Ben, what they meant to his music and still mean to him. But if he doesn't, then really he's already telling us so much with what he plays and what he doesn't say.

"If you ask me 'Where is the moon?', look where I am pointing, don't look at my finger."
~~Zen Proverb

Thanks Mr. Henry!

More on "The beauty of silence” at a Neil Young concert.

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