First Impressions: Carnegie Hall by Neil Young | The Old Grey Cat

Neil Young

The Neil Young Official Bootleg Series -- Carnegie Hall 1970 (back cover)

During our  "unplanned/forced sabbatical" here at Thrasher's Wheat, we're posting occasionally to keep discussion flowin' in the Neil Young Fan/RUST communities.

From the always insightful Jeff Gemmill @ The Old Grey Cat, First Impressions: Carnegie Hall by Neil Young.

The main difference between the December [Carnegie Hall] and January [Massey Hall 1971 and  Young Shakespeare] shows can be found in the set lists; the December concerts contained only a smattering of unreleased songs, while the January gigs reversed the ratio.

The change in emphasis is hinted at here, actually, when Neil says after a few (very faint) requests following “Birds” that, “I, you know, could do all those songs, you know, but I have new songs I’m more interested in. I’ve outgrown some of those other songs.” Yet, as the below track list demonstrates, this show relied primarily on the tried-and-true; only five of the 23 songs were unknown to the audience at the time, though – if they didn’t buy 45s – “Sugar Mountain” may have been new to them, as well, as that was only released as a b-side. (For comparison’s sake, the Massey Hall concerts featured 10 new songs out of an 18-song set.)

I’m getting far afield, I know, so back on point: The midnight show at Carnegie Hall was recorded and released by bootleggers; I’d hazard a guess that it’s in the collections of most hardcore fans, be it on tape, vinyl or compact disc, though not necessarily under the Carnegie Hall title. In the old fogey days of the original Old Grey Cat website, in fact, it was one of my favorites of the many unofficial releases that passed across my desk—as evidenced by its inclusion on this “best of the unofficial canon” piece I wrote for the short-lived Da Boot ‘zine in late 1999. The two shows are similar, obviously, with the main difference being the placement of “Sugar Mountain,” which closed the first set during the early show, and the exclusion of “Dance, Dance, Dance.” Beyond that, he’s in the zone for both.

The performance and songs of the official Carnegie Hall bootleg are great and that the sound is topnotch; if you listen via headphones and close your eyes, you’ll swear you’re in the room. 

If you’re a fan, in other words, you’ll love it. In a way, it’s essentially a greatest hits-type review of Neil’s career up until that point in time, though both artist and audience weren’t aware of that fact. I know some folks decry his vocal abilities, but to my ears that high lonesome voice echoes aspects of my soul. As way of an example, I played Carnegie Hall during my eight hour-drive home after a few days of visiting family up north last week. 

Listening to these bittersweet odes about love, life and more while on the road was akin to hearing my childhood, young adulthood and early middle-age fade into the horizon behind me. “Don’t let it bring you down/it’s only castles burning,” indeed.

 

  

Thanks so much Jeff @ OGC! Exactly on the audio quality and headphones -- we feel like we're inside Carnegie Hall and its magnificent acoustics. So clean and pristine.

And thanks again to all for your continuing support of this blog with your comments and love while we try to keep the candle burning here @ TW during our  "unplanned/forced sabbatical".

peace & love,

thrashers

Neil Young's Official Bootleg Series

image via Rusted Moon 

See more on Neil Young's Official Bootleg Series  

Also, see REVIEW: The Neil Young Official Bootleg Series -- Carnegie Hall 1970 by Harvey Kubernik

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