Lost Neil Young, Joni Mitchell Concert Recordings From 1968 Unearthed | Rolling Stone

Joni Mitchell and Neil Young

Rare concert recordings of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell from 1968 have recently been discovered.

From Rolling Stone by Daniel Kreps:

Live performances by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, recorded at a student ministry on the University of Michigan campus in 1968, were among the professional-quality recordings unearthed by the Michigan History Project.

Seven-inch reel-to-reel audio tapes featuring concerts by Tim Buckley, Odetta, David Ackles and Dave Van Ronk were also among the recordings made at the Canterbury House, an Ann Arbor, Michigan venue that hosted counterculture events in the mid to late-Sixties.

The Michigan History Project recently acquired the recordings, with the non-profit organization now seeking a record label interested in releasing the concerts.

“We learned of the existence of the tapes about six years ago,” Michigan History Project president Alan Glenn said in a statement. “They were in the possession of a private collector. Then they disappeared, and we were afraid they were gone for good. But a few weeks ago they resurfaced, much to our surprise and relief. Now our first priority will be to get them transferred to a digital format, then make sure that the original analog tapes are safely archived.”

All of the recordings were made with the consent of the performing artist, the Michigan History Project added.

Michigan-based mastering engineer Chris Goosman added of the recordings, “These from Canterbury House aren’t audience-recorded bootlegs but first-rate soundboard captures made on professional equipment. It’s an amazing collection with the rare combination of being well-recorded and also well-preserved, and that makes it even more historically significant.”

Young performed three concerts, November 8th through 10th, 1968, at the Canterbury House, with the November 9th and 10th concerts featuring prominently on the archival release Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968; the November 8th concert remains unreleased. It’s unclear which date(s) the Michigan History Project is in possession of.

From NPR's All Songs Considered on Canterbury House recordings in 2008:

Neil Young was horribly nervous before the performance and had to be coaxed from his hotel room by his manager Elliot Roberts and the minister of Canterbury House, Dan Burke. Burke tells NPR Music he remembers Neil Young huddled in Young's hotel room bed, too scared to perform. He told Burke no one would want to hear the Buffalo Springfield tunes or his new tunes. Young was afraid he didn't have enough material. But he was eventually persuaded to take the small stage.

Here's more on the Canterbury House series of shows in Ann Arbor, Michigan from comments by Jim McKelvey:

Here is hoping the next "huge drop" is another recording from Ann Arbor, Michigan done in 1969. It is my hope this "huge drop" would be everything played on October 16th, 1969, warts and all. The "second" Canterbury House series of shows in Ann Arbor, Michigan was a "one off" solo show during a six week break for the debut of CSNY as a live band.

The Canterbury House show was the only public appearance by Neil Young from September 20, 1969 to November 9, 1969.

Would be curious about the details of this second booking in Ann Arbor since Neil Young's booking guarantee would have been much higher after joining CSNY and the high profile Woodstock appearance. Relatively unknown for the first appearance but this second one his star was clearly on the rise. At the time of the second appearance the songs "Cowgirl In The Sand" and "Down By The River" were major underground hits on FM radio, in Michigan anyway where I was listening, the summer of 1969.

Like the Bernstein tape I think we have early and late sets but doing "Country Girl" three times leads me to believe if it was one day there might have been an afternoon show, too?

In the archives under "Country Girl" from "Deja Vu" there is a little minute video snippet from this second Canterbury House appearance explaining how "Country Girl" was written in sort of a timeline fashion.

https://neilyoungarchives.com/#/video?id=1Hzl5c3MRx8&_k=jc4mck

Clearly from listening to this archival tape it is a pristine recording that I hope is considered for a spin in the archives sometime soon because of its historical significance in terms of Neil Young's live shows.

Where the first appearance in Ann Arbor would draw songs from the Buffalo Springfield and his first solo record the second appearance had those songs "plus" maybe the live debut of his songs on Deja Vu (released 3/10/70), Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (released 5/14/69) and After The Gold Rush (released 9/19/70). Some of tunes played for the second appearance didn't see the light of day for a long time but this was the time period when they were freshly written (i.e. 'Everybody's Alone,' 'Wonderin', 'Dance, Dance, Dance') . There is even a Mynah Birds tune called "It's My Time" played that might be the only time he ever played that tune.


https://neilyoungarchives.com/#/info-card?track=t1966_0000_01&_k=527oqf

It will be interesting to find out if this was all acoustic guitar or if there was a piano or banjo for this second Canterbury House show?

1969-10-16, The Canterbury House, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Solo
On The Way Home / Helpless / Dance Dance Dance / I've Loved Her So Long / Down By The River / I Am A Child / Everybody's Alone / Wonderin' / Oh, Lonesome Me / Flying On The Ground Is Wrong / Country Girl // On The Way Home / Helpless / Cinnamon Girl>The Loner / Birds / I Am A Child / Everybody's Alone / Dance Dance Dance / The 1956 Bubblegum Disaster>It's My Time / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / The Old Laughing Lady / I've Been Waiting For You / Here We Are In The Years / Wonderin' / Down By The River / Country Girl // Down To The Wire / On The Way Home / Helpless / Flying On The Ground Is Wrong / Dance Dance Dance / Birds / The Loner / Everybody's Alone / I Am A Child / I've Been Waiting For You / Country Girl

Set list courtesy of Ghosts On The Road

1968-11-09, The Canterbury House, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Solo
On The Way Home / The Old Laughing Lady / Mr. Soul / Expecting To Fly / The Last Trip To Tulsa // The Loner / I Am A Child / I've Been Waiting For You / Broken Arrow / Birds / The Last Trip To Tulsa // Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing / Out Of My Mind / I Am A Child / If I Could Have Her Tonight / Flying On The Ground Is Wrong

Did I get this all right because it is such a surprise to see this show in the Sugar Mountain archives?

Also, historical records on the Canterbury House and Ann Arbor for context:

• https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-0648?view=text
• http://borntolisten.com/2017/11/09/november-9-10-neil-young-sugar-mountain-live-at-canterbury-house-1968/
• https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/2015/01/27/ark-ann-arbor-th/22440665/
• https://aadl.org/freeingjohnsinclair/essays/hidden_history_of_ann_arbor

Thanks Jim!


Sugar Mountain Live: 1968
Performance Series by Neil Young - 2008

My favorite thing about writing this post about newly discovered concert tapes from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Sun Ra, etc., at Canterbury House is discovering this kicker to a Michigan Daily live review of Young in 1969.https://t.co/xUMZ7RBVWY
cc: @tywilc pic.twitter.com/YpwLrA7Pgz

— Christopher Porter (@ChrisPorter) July 31, 2018

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