The Comment of the Moment is from the yesterday's post on "Songs For Judy" Cover + Tracklist: Next Neil Young Album by Mike/Expecting To Fly:
The Joel/Cameron article in NYA Times-Contrarian brings me back to the very first time I saw Neil Young in concert during that November 1976 tour with Crazy Horse.Thanks so much for the memories by Mike/Expecting To Fly! That's really so cool that you were there for the November 1976 concerts. It's sounding like we're in for an acoustic Christmas with "Songs For Judy"!
By 1976, my enduring admiration for Neil Young had already been firmly established. I started in 1970 with After The Goldrush, my first Neil Young album purchase. I quickly after that got all of the previous solo albums, Buffalo Springfield, and CSNY. Acquiring Harvest, the Journey Through The Past movie soundtrack (plus watching the movie in a theater), then on to the thrilling experiences of listening to Time Fades Away, On The Beach, Tonight’s The Night, and Zuma. What a ride that was. I was deeply into all of those albums. I had heard some things that gave me some idea of what Neil was like live. I had Four Way Street and cassette copies of the 1971 bootlegs Live at the BBC and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion show. But I had never seen Neil live. That changed on November 6, 1976.
The Balch Fieldhouse at the University of Colorado in Boulder was a basketball arena and I was able to get a general admission ticket to this show which was about 80 miles away from where I was living at the time. The experience of the November 6, 1976 turned out to be a profound event for me.
In a broad description, the show consisted of 18 songs, eight solo acoustic tunes followed by a ten song electric set with Crazy Horse. The show was incredible to me in every way. Neil had a profound stage presence. His personality held the audience and the power of the music drove through everyone. I know Neil had played thousands of live shows by that time, but I felt like all of us, Neil, CH, and the audience were part of something huge and important. I was totally amazed not only at the number of unreleased songs Neil and the band played but also the incredible intensity of how very good these new songs were. I loved the songs that I was familiar with (I had his complete catalog at the time) but these new ones were as good or better as the ones I knew. The new ones for me included the acoustic opener Campaigner and the electric opener Country Home and also Human Highway, Pocahontas, Too Far Gone, Bite The Bullet, Lotta Love, and the absolutely blistering Like A Hurricane (I am so glad my first experience with that song was a live show!)
The full setlist thanks to Tom Hambleton’s Sugar Mountain site was:
1) Campaigner
2) Human Highway
3) After The Goldrush
4) Pocahontas
5) Too Far Gone
6) Old Man
7) A Man Needs A Maid
8) Sugar Mountain
----
9) Country Home
10) Don’t Cry No Tears
11) Down By The River
12) Bite The Bullet
13) Lotta Love
14) Like A Hurricane
15) Drive Back
16) Cinnamon Girl
---
17) Homegrown
18) Cortez The Killer
Looking at that setlist, I am struck at how many of those songs have propelled Neil Young live shows through his career up to the present. I was very fortunate to have attended the May 1 NYCH show in Fresno, California this year and he played many songs that I experienced at that first show of mine including Country Home, Don’t Cry No Tears, Too Far Gone, Cinnamon Girl, Cortez The Killer, and Like A Hurricane.
At that show this year I was very much transported back to that November 6, 1976 show and the immense experience of being a Neil Young admirer and fan for 48 years.
Btw, check out Albums in Order Series by longtime Rustie Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova's reviews of Neil's entire back catalog.
More on "Songs For Judy" Cover + Tracklist: Next Neil Young Album and Joel Bernstein Tapes and "Songs for Judy".
She Could Drag Me Somewhere Over The Rainbow...
Judy Garland & Jimmy Durante
(Thanks Ralf @ Rusted Moon!)
Or as Judy asks: "How's the business, Neil?" At this point, probably too far gone...
Surprised NO one caught Judy flippin' Pancho the bird in the cover photo/artwork :)
ReplyDelete@ ForeverYounger - probably because Judy just happens to be holding the lyric sheet with her middle finger at just such an angle. She's not flipping anyone off.
ReplyDeleteSometimes there's more to the picture than meets the eye. But mostly, there simply isn't and folks are just makin shit up.
@ Thrasher
ReplyDeleteLight'n up.
It was meant as a JOKE.
Does anyone remember Laughter?
BTW
How do you know, fer certain, THIS was NOT the nexus of the Pancho F U?
Just say'n', supreme, high exaltic, all knowing being.
Humanoid that you & we are all.
You must know there's no room for levity here with the sacred cow that is NY
ReplyDeleteMy 22 year old daughter lives in Kansas and she loves acoustic NY the best. Good present for her upcoming birthday. I asked her to hold the vinyl album near the statue (at a place all you liberals out there will be happy with) Liberal, Kansas.
ReplyDeleteHaha liberals
DeleteSo the TW page with Expecting to Fly's album essays in 2004 says "more reviews coming soon." Hopefully he hasn't adopted the atttitude(which some Rusties also share) that these albums below are "musically uncharacteristic of Young’s previous recordings"and thus will not be providing an essay on them. We look forward to reading his astute observations on these albums in a time frame characteristic of Webster's definition of "soon." (good natured teasing of our good friend Expecting to Fly the exclusive goal of this post).
ReplyDeleteFork In The Road (2009)
Le Noise (2010)
Americana (2012)
Psychedelic Pill (2012)
A Letter Home (2014)
Storytone (2014)
The Monsanto Years (2015)
Earth (2016)
Peace Trail (2016)
Hitchhiker (2017)
The Visitor (2017)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@ Hounds: with the exception of Fork in the Road, I consider everything you listed as classic Neil Young. I’m convinced that several of those albums will age really well and be held in high esteem. Especially Psychedelic Pill, and Peace Trail. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteFork in the Road really a bullshit album. Only "When Worlds Collide" and "Johnny Magic" are the shit.
DeleteI recall the time I invited two kids of a good friend of mine to see Neil in concert for their first time. It was at the Civic Auditorium in Portland Oregon and an all acoustic show. Neil played Harvest Moon in its entirety with a few classic hits But after the show the brother and sister were both disappointed Neil didn’t play more of the hits they were more familiar with. I explained that they were privileged to have the opportunity to experience new music live. So when Harvest Moon was released I got a call from both of them, and they said they could now understand what I had said. And of course the live portion of War of Man on the album was recorded from our show. There is nothing better than hearing a future classic song “live” as it’s being born.
ReplyDeleteSorry..... it was Natural Beauty that was recorded at the show in Portland not War of Man.
ReplyDeleteI have one brain cell left and I’m hanging on to it for as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteBlu-Ray is no longer economically viable?
ReplyDeleteWTF?
Really?
so those of us who refuse to purchase a Pono player are left with sub-standard audio?
what am I missing?
I love Psychedelic Pill on Blu-Ray as well as other Neil stuff that's been released in 24-bit/192kHz format.
sigh & sigh again....
some real stinkers here, sorry folks
ReplyDeleteFork In The Road (2009)
Le Noise (2010)
Americana (2012)
Psychedelic Pill (2012)
A Letter Home (2014)
Storytone (2014)
The Monsanto Years (2015)
Earth (2016)
Peace Trail (2016)
Hitchhiker (2017)
The Visitor (2017)
No fucking way. Peace Trail is a really good album. I love Indian Givers, My Pledge, Glass Accident, and Terrorist Suicide Hang Gliders. Storytone has "Like You Used to Do" and "Tumbleweed" that I really love to the heart. "Visitors" has "Change of Heart" and "Children of Destiny." "The Monsanto Years" has "Wolf Moon", and "A New Day for Love". Or "A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee shop."
Delete@ Andy
ReplyDeleteCo-incidence? you listed ALL New(ish) Titles?
Me thinks NOT.
The "Muse" has left the building.....
Keep on Recycling the old tunes in the new world!
(I happen to like "Americana" & "Psych Pill" but these are not "go to" Neil for me).
least played albums.
Dust collectors, mostly.
Blu Ray is still viable for me and I expect Neil to honor the fact that I am not alone here.
ReplyDelete@ Dan
ReplyDeleteLet's also not forget it was Neil who came out (Quite publicly) with a statement of his own that Bluray was the medium of the future, his archives vol. 1 were to be released on Blu Ray & he "Strongly" encouraged anyone who could "afford" to do so by a Blu Ray player, specifically one capable of downloading/streaming add'l content as it was added to the Archives set. Think I got one or two of those downloads? Not a great R.O.I.
What I did get however was music @ 24/192 which I was able to transfer to my PoNo Player(s) along with a myriad of additional content in a pretty neat package to have & hold :)
Back to Songs For Judy... NYA now has it listed as Performance Series 7. Could PS6 possibly be the Bottom Line show?
ReplyDeleteWell I guess so. About the legendary Boarding House xoncert in 1978 I think it'll be labeled in "Special Release Series" instead of "Performance". But since Neil does have the extra numbers of the live/studio albums, for example: Live at the Cellar Door 1970 was labeled as "Volume 2.5".
Delete@foreveryoung: We bought a Blu Ray player specifically for Archives One and we now own over 600 Blu Rays of movies and music. So thanks Neil for all the spectacular sound and picture quality we now enjoy on our Hi Def T.V. and our 7.1 surround sound system. At least you haven’t given up on vinyl, so we can still enjoy your music on our stereo.
ReplyDeleteI feel slightly betrayed but I’m still enjoying Archives Volume One. Neil has always been a squirrelly character which has always been one of the reasons I respect him so much, so I’m willing to just take it as it comes with Neil. After all, it’s his music and his call.
So Uncle Neil did play Bite the Bullet. No shit. I never heard that before!!! Love the American Stars and Bars album.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised so many folks still haven't caught up to the genius of Fork in the Road. It was at least 20 years ahead of its time when it came out. I suspect that by 2026 people will come around to what an incredible, creative record it truly is. Like Trans - a misunderstood, unfairly maligned future classic.
ReplyDelete