Neil Young News: A RUST TRILOGY: The Alchemy Tour of Neil Young & Crazy Horse

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Friday, October 05, 2012

A RUST TRILOGY: The Alchemy Tour of Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Some pleasingly surprising news announced yesterday on Neil Young's official website Neil Young Times:

A RUST TRILOGY

October 3, 2012

The third episode of A Rust Trilogy, which began with Rust Never Sleeps in 1978, and continued with Weld in 1990, now concludes with Alchemy in 2012. Things have changed, yet they stay the same. Alchemy, like Rust and Weld, finds the boys at another stage of life's journey. Time has taken its toll, yet the spirit seems unstoppable.

We've long regarded the Rust Never Sleeps tour as the pinnacle -- not withstanding it was the only time we ever heard Neil play "Thrasher" live on acoustic. So RNS will always have its special place.

And when the Weld tour happened in 1990/1, we were thrilled to see those old stage props like big roadcases, that we thought we'd never see again.

And deja vu all over again.

The 2012 Neil Young & Crazy Horse now is The Alchemy Tour and revisits familiar themes and new songs. Our take on "alchemy" is that it's a turn on the phrase "rust". Turning either from or to rust -- literally or artistically.

Alchemy Tour Stage Setup
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Windsor, Ontario, Oct. 3

And others? From Bad News Beat, an open letter to Neil reacting to the latest development:

.... on the heels of Waging Heavy Peace?

Concludes?? The above is as sad as the book. You're killing *us*, Neil. Us Rusties.

One can only hope that this becomes a four album trilogy (a la' Hitchhiker's Guide.)

And then this.....

Pinned Image Pinned Image

Really? We have a choice?

The answer is clear.

al·che·my n
(Chemistry / Alchemy) the pseudoscientific predecessor of chemistry that sought a method of transmuting base metals into gold, an elixir to prolong life indefinitely, a panacea or universal remedy.

We find it all to be good. A trilogy of Rust?!

Folks, this is for us. Savor the moment.

See you on the rail on the Alchemy Tour road!

Labels: crazy horse, neil young, rust

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18 Comments:

At 10/05/2012 09:11:00 AM, Dominic Holdem said...: rns, weld, and then alchemy. obviously this refers to another live concert film. there were camera men on stage the other night. live rust was the live album from the rns tour.
At 10/05/2012 09:54:00 AM, SONY said...: This'll be great, but I have to agree with some of the naysayers, why can't Neil play the old stuff. You know, like Oh!Susannah, Clementine, Angry World, I'm just a believer, Light a candle........

HAH! Bring on the Pill!!!
At 10/05/2012 09:59:00 AM, SD said...: RNS 1978?
Weld 1990?
Alchemy 2012?

12 years between each?
At 10/05/2012 10:00:00 AM, SONY said...: that's a bit closer to 22 there, but who's countin'?
At 10/05/2012 10:42:00 AM, asg said...: "as sad as the book" the book is sad? hmm...okay...
At 10/05/2012 11:01:00 AM, SD said...: SONY,

Massive WHOA on my part there!

But I don't mind admitting a mistake. :)
At 10/05/2012 11:26:00 AM, no one said...: Not trying to be critical here, just trying to figure this out-
Neil is on tour behind a new album that has yet to be released
AND
He's already announcing a live album based on the tour?
Not that it's bad news- I'm sure everyone who visits this site will eagerly snap up both albums,
But as a business decision, where the general audience will buy the album first and then go to the show and then buy the live album as a souvenir, does the timing of any of this make sense?
At 10/05/2012 11:33:00 AM, Dan1 said...: I think this is an outgrowth of how ecstatic Neil is now having reunited with the Horse. Two years ago they were put out to pasture and the future for such a reunion looked bleak ... the (sad) passing of Ben Keith among other things opened up a window for a reunion ... note the differing reaction Neil's had to this reunion vs. Springfield which (sadly) but not unexpectedly was less appealing to Neil ... you see Neil out there with the Horse and he hasn't seen so happy in years ... these guys are playing epic new songs, it just seems like its given a new life to Neil and the Horse and has shown Neil a way forward in a world where Ben is no longer, LA is no longer, Briggs is no longer, Danny is no longer, but The Horse lives on, Lanois helped Neil produce a huge album, PP seems poised to become a new epic CH album ... Demme has become a staple in Neil's life ... the old guys are irreplaceable clearly, there will never be another Briggs, another Ben Keith, ect... but the force of Neil and his operation lives on ... the reunion with CH and the productivity of the new songs, and the sheer force of the live shows is GIGANTIC ... like a new chapter in this 50 year story ... Neil's basically done it again ... his willingness to link this to RNS in a trilogy is, IMHO, his way of saying the energy and creative power of this reunion is huge ... Neil's ability for renewal is legendary and probably unparalleled in rock and roll ... but each time he does it again its a wonder, a miracle, a cause for celebration ... never to be taken for granted ... he's been taking us down a long, long twisted road and frankly, the productivity of the past 5 years is mind-blowing ... I'm basking in this light, huge time to be a Neil fan ... grateful for his longevity, there's no-one this good!
At 10/05/2012 11:44:00 AM, Anonymous said...: As far as the short distance between studio and live releases goes it´s been done before.

Rust Never Sleeps was released 6/22/79 The movie was released on 8/15/79 less than two months later and Live Rust 11/14/79 a good five months later. I think that was okay.

Ragged Glory was released 9/9/90 and Weld on 10/22/91 a year later (can´t find any info on when the Weld VHS was released probably around the same time as the album).

As of now Psychedelic Pill comes out in late october, and the live album and video (Theatrical or DTV? We don´t know as of yet) are probably being produced as we speak (maybe during the current Canadian dates). I wouldn´t guess that Alchemy comes out before 2013, so in comparison to 1979 and 90/91 ther will be not much new in 2012/13 in terms of distance between releases I´d guess. It all follows a pattern (more or less).

I think it´ll be a good thing, just like in the past (and all those releases from the late 70s and early 90s have proven to be sucessful haven´t they?)

Mhhhh maybe rusties will refer to themselves from now on as "alchemists"?
At 10/05/2012 12:20:00 PM, Dmitri Karamazov said...: I can only say, over and over again:
God Bless Neil Young. Today, tomorrow, forever.

I hope that Man knows how much he is loved by all if us!

Dumb question: will there be a “live” alchemy album? Hope so!
At 10/05/2012 12:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: As a straight dude, I must admit that I am seriously about to bust a nut upon hearing this news !!!
I cannot wait until next Saturday when I will be Rockin' In The Live Music Capitol of The World at Austin City Limits !!!
HORSE BACK, AMERICANA, PSYCHEDELIC PILL, JOURNEYS, WAGING HEAVY PEACE and the whole idea of a(hopefully audio- and video-documented)relic of this incredible, totally unpredicted chapter, just makes my 44-year-old heart just about have an infarction !!!
The uphoria is only tempered by the fact that NY is obviously aware of his mortality and doing everything he possibly can to mend fences and renew old friendships... Lost friends are gone, very sadly, but the only topper could possibly be an imminent reunion with CS&N...
This is a real nice time to be a true-blooded Rustie.

PEACE & LOVE

-- Eric
At 10/05/2012 01:12:00 PM, Matthew L. said...: I wonder why there are two Alchemy posters - one with the red circle with a line through it, and one without. What is the significance of the two?

The one without, I think, is fantastic looking, much better than the cover art for Psychedelic Pill, and among the best cover art I've seen from Neil in a long time.
At 10/05/2012 01:40:00 PM, Mr Henry said...: "...her muzzle grayed, she slowed sometimes to a stop on walks. I saw her frustrations, her resignations, her impulses pursued or abandoned. I saw her considerations, her control, her calm. But when I looked at her face, and into her eyes, she was a puppy again."
--Alexandra Horowitz from Inside Of A Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, And Know

"To see is to experience the world as it is, to remember is to experience the world as it was, but to imagine--ah, to imagine is to experience the world as it isn't and has never been, but as it might be. The greatest achievement of the human brain is its ability to imagine objects and episodes that do not exist in the realm of the real, and it is this ability that allows us to think about the future."
--Daniel Gilbert from Stumbling on Happiness
At 10/05/2012 02:08:00 PM, Thrasher Wheat said...: @Matthew - our hunch is that it means the option is to rust or not to rust. That is the question.

@Mr H - have we finally discovered Mr Young's ghostwriter???
At 10/05/2012 02:15:00 PM, Mr Henry said...: This comment has been removed by the author.
At 10/05/2012 03:27:00 PM, setlistthief said...: @Dan1: You're on to something. In the book, Neil frets (did ya see what I did there?) about the ability to write new songs while straight. We haven't heard all the songs on PP yet, but those we have certainly stack up against the best RNS and Weld material.

Certainly, the term "alchemy" makes sense: rust to gold, darkness to light. Magically.

That darkness of the last couple of years has lifted, it's truly wonderful to see Neil Young taking stock of his life, admitting mistakes, making amends, and having fun! Definitely a great time to be a fan.
At 10/05/2012 07:26:00 PM, peter d. said...: Guess: there"s alchemy between neil and the horse, there's no alchemy between neil and several 'substances' from the past...
At 10/13/2012 02:42:00 PM, Johan said...: The title Alchemy instantly referenced a great verse on Greendale for me too, This must, too, be told, some people have taken pure bullshit and turned it into gold. It feels so good to see Crazy Horse burn out rather than just fade away.

I was listening to TNT on Year of the Horse this morning and I sure to disagree with the Rust Trilogy marketing campaign that NY is kicking off though. YOTH from 1997 was the absolute apex peak of the Horse's power and of his singing and songwriting and the songs off Broken Arrow are just transcendental done live. For him to forget and ignore those records now is a real shame. -Johan

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