‘Johnny’s Island’: Yet Another Unreleased Neil Young Album Set To Emerge | NYA

Berlin 1982 Neil Young, Nils Lofgren & Bruce Palmer  via Times-Contrarian | NYA

 

As the astonishing flood of unreleased Neil Young songs and albums continues unabated, yet another "lost album" is planned for release:  ‘Johnny’s Island’.

Per Neil Young on BERLIN WITH THE TRANSBAND | Times-Contrarian | NYA,  ‘Johnny’s Island’ is a complete album now being prepared for release.  The album includes a majority of unreleased tracks including ‘Rainin’ in Paradise,’ ‘Johnny,’ and ’Love Hotel,’ among others.

‘Johnny’s Island’ -- which has also been titled as "Island In The Sun" album -- is also expected to contain the tracks "If You Got Love", "Johnny", "Big Pearl" and "Island In The Sun".

"Neil Young in Berlin"
(VHS tape box from TW Archives)

Neil Young's film "Berlin" will be playing this weekend in Hearse Theater | NYA. "Neil Young in Berlin" (1983), directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, is with The Trans Band and filmed in concert on Oct 19, 1982 at Deutschlandhalle, West Berlin, West Germany.

"Sample & Hold"
Neil Young & Nils Lofgren

The film, which runs 60 minutes, with The Trans Band including Nils Lofgren, Bruce Palmer, Ben Keith, Ralph Molina and Joe Lala, is epic in many respects. In particular Neil Young's nearly savage and brutal destruction of Ol Black guitar is almost unbelievable.

Year 1982 - Neil Young Pulled from the Future into the Past
(Out of the Blue, Into the Black)

The concert includes:
Cinnamon Girl / Computer Age / Little Thing Called Love / Old Man / The Needle And The Damage Done / After The Gold Rush / Transformer Man / Sample And Hold / Like A Hurricane / Hey Hey, My My / Berlin

So get your popcorn!

A review comment by our dearest Scotsman ("We have a friend we've never seen, He hides his head inside a dream, Someone should call him and see if he can come out"):

It's one of those performances where, despite the challenges of a sometimes-dysfunctional band and the other pressures of a massive stadium tour, Neil gives it everything he's got. An artist fighting to make it work can sometimes be just as compelling as when it all falls together naturally.

The thing everyone remembers about this one is Neil's tie, and the performance too feels somewhat conservative: polished and professional from Neil, but lacking that edge-of-cliff sense of danger of the best tours. It just doesn't quite click.

Neil's Producer David Briggs was humorously disparaging about the Transband ("...Imagine! Ralph and a bongo player. How would you like to play with a f*!#ing bongo player? Neil knows nothing about chemistry or producing"), hitting the nail on the head in the process. The version of Like A Hurricane from Berlin is popular on Youtube (the "BEST EVER VERSION!!!", apparently), and is one of the better electric performances with this band, but what it really is is the "smooth jazz" version; the version that sounds pretty but sands off the cutting edge. 

Now, I enjoy smooth jazz as much as anybody, but when I listen to electric Neil Young I want something that also has a bit of grit to it, the sense of something excitedly brewing and breaking out from its container. The guitar tone is beautiful, the band play well, the performance is enjoyable and upbeat, but it never really takes off in the same powerful way as the great versions with Crazy Horse (see the Rust Never Sleeps film version for a particularly rewarding way to spend 10 minutes). 

The REALLY great ones, where you somehow feel both utterly invigorated and mentally drained as the guitar solo reaches its transcendent peak and ultimately crashes off the rails into a storm of octave-divided chaos. The ones that somehow sound both serenely beautiful and viciously, captivatingly dangerous at the same time. I don't think Neil's lead guitar playing gets anywhere near as much credit as it deserves.

Ralph Molina. Nils Lofgren. Bruce Palmer. Joe Lala. These are great musicians, but ones who just didn't quite gel as a combined unit. And in some cases, musicians who weren't necessarily at the height of their powers due to substance abuse. Bruce's bass is noticeably odd and inebriated, the very definition of professional smoothness one second and then veering off into the ditch the next.

The most interesting part of Berlin for me are the vocoder songs with Nils, which see Neil doing something completely new and original, the result of intense experimentation with a new expressive form. 

Trans might not make for a great live performance, but it's still an inspiring and moving work of art that is also great fun to watch.

Scotsman.

The Trans Band

Before the Fall:
Neil Young writes "Love Is All We Need" on the Berlin Wall in 1982

 

"Tomorrow morning in old Berlin
Where they lock you out or lock you in
Won't you save me, save me, save me, save me,
Save me, save me, save me, save me,
From the final day
Save me from the final day
After Berlin."

 
More on Neil Young's TRANS album and era.  Also, see reviews and comments on Neil Young Film "Berlin" This Weekend in Hearse Theater on NYA.

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Neil Young's Uncut, Never-Before-Seen Interview | 'Inventing David Geffen' | PBS American Masters Archive

 Neil Young - November 29, 2011 Inventing David Geffen |  PBS | American Masters

 

In a rather significant announcement, PBS American Masters Archive Releases 1,000+ Hours of Uncut, Never-Before-Seen Interviews: Patti Smith, David Bowie, Neil Young & More. (Thanks Richard T.!)

 

In December 2012, PBS | American Masters broadcast the documentary film "Inventing David Geffen. American Masters: Inventing David Geffen is "an unflinching portrait of Geffen, who narrates his unorthodox rise from working class Brooklyn boy to billionaire entertainment power broker in extensive interviews." 

Interviewees include Neil Young. Elliot Roberts. Gary Burden. 

David Geffen, Elliot Roberts, & Neil Young
Frame from  'Inventing David Geffen': American Masters

(See So What Makes Neil Young's Muse Tick?)

 

From the unaired interview on Geffen's impact on culture:

Neil Young: Well, that's because the cultural impact has to do with the music and David's impact had to do with the art of making the deals.  

So the cultural impact of a dealmaker is a different thing.  

And it's not nearly as romantic and as easy to get your wrap your arms around as the cultural impact of music.

As you may recall, David Geffen in the 1980's filed a $3 million lawsuit against Neil Young for violating his contract by recording ‘unrepresentative’ albums. In other words, Neil Young wasn’t making Neil Young music."The truth is I fought with him because I wanted him to do better work,'' Mr. Geffen explained afterward. ''I was taking too much of a fatherly role in his life.'' 

Only David Geffen could describe a lawsuit against one of his trophy clients as an excess of paternalism. Described by friends, peers and adversaries as “passionate,” “neurotic” and “giftedly non-diplomatic", Geffen has been a highly polarizing figure in the Entertainment industry. 

From Documentary Press Tour:

Geffen, who is on tape suggesting "ego" isn't a "pejorative" term in his mind, insists he never saw himself as the smartest person in the room at any point during his career, revealing that he did poorly in school -- “I thought I was dumb,” he said -- and was fired from a number of early jobs coming out of high school. In fact, he said the only reason he had the confidence to go after a gig as a William Morris agent is because he believed it rewarded a different skill set, and one that he had: the ability to “bullshit on the phone.” (Other Geffen facts: He’s never carried a cell phone, has never texted anyone and doesn’t own an ATM card.)

Geffen’s far-reaching influence — as agent and manager, record industry mogul, Hollywood and Broadway producer, and billionaire philanthropist — has helped shape American popular culture for the past four decades. 

More on How Neil Young Became the First Artist to Get Sued for Not Being Himself.

 Also, see Reassessing Neil Young's Album "Life" on Geffen Records.

Number of Neil Young records on Geffen Label scratched out on prison wall
(Click photo to enlarge) More on the "Geffen Prison" @ Reassessing Neil Young's Album "Life" on Geffen Records.

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Song Request for Neil Young: "Open Back Up" | NYA

"Open Back Up" | Times-Contrarian | LTE | NYA

Our letter to NYA was published this week on "Open Back Up" | Times-Contrarian | LTE | Neil Young Archives.

So thanks for the reply neil!  

Neil Young wrote the song ‘Shut it Down’ roughly about two years ago for recording on the album Colorado and making the documentary film MOUNTAINTOP (recording sessions held in April 2019) -- all well before 2020 and SARS/CV-19.

As noted previously here in March 2020, our selecting "Shut It Down" as the Neil Young Song of the Moment on Thrashers Wheat was way too prescient, eerie, right on cue and ahead of its time for even our level of comfort and mercy. 

 

In April 2020, a new version of the song ‘Shut it Down’ was made as a document of the EARTH’s reaction to 2020’s historic pandemic. The original "Shut It Down" video, directed by Bernard Shakey and dhlovelife, is from documentary film MOUNTAINTOP of the recording sessions at Studio in the Clouds for the album Colorado with Crazy Horse.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

 
So, as we previously blogged, those prophecies by Neil Young just keep piling up. (There are no coincidences, recall?)

"Shut it Down": Neil Young Archives

"(Have to shut the whole system down)
That’s the only way we can all be free
(Have to shut the whole system down)
Start again and build it for eternity

***When I look at the future I see hope for you and me***
(Have to shut the whole system down)
Working, working for eternity, working now, working now
Have to shut the whole system down, working now"

NYCH
Billy, Neil, Nils, & Ralph - April 2019

via Neil Young Archives | Times Contrarian

photo: dhlovelife

Also, see:

• FIRST IMPRESSIONS: 'Colorado' by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• MEGA-REVIEW: COLORADO by Neil Young & Crazy Horse | Alan's Album Archives
• META-REVIEW: COLORADO by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

COLORADO by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Release Date: October 25, 2019 - Pre-order now

(Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link. Thank you!!!)
#CrazyHorse4HoF

 

MOUNTAINTOP Film Premiere
Washington DC - November 2019
(See film review)

 

 In the meantime, Keep Calm and Keep on Rockin'!

Keep Calm and Keep on Rockin'!

How could we not after today?

OPEN IT UP!

1-26-21

Hi Neil,
Happy New Year ... such that it is.
Saw your film COLORADO when it opened back in 2019 with a bunch of rusties. After the film, we talked a bit about the song "Shut It Down".
Well, when 2020 rolled around, sure enough, the whole system got shut down.
Since you seem in the midst of writing and recording, might we request a song titled "Open Back Up"?
mahalo,
thrasher

Thrasher
We have to sing that one ourselves. it will happen
love
be well
neil

priceless. "Thrasher, We have to sing that one ourselves. it will happen
love,  be well, neil"
 

haven't been this high since Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 08:41:00 PM, back when we were down on a frown when the messenger brought us a letter ...

peace

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"Don't Cry No Tears": "WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET" by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse - 2nd Single On NYA

CRAZY HORSE: DON’T CRY NO TEARS: WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET | NYA

 

"Don't Cry No Tears" is the second single to be added to the NYA filing cabinet.

From CRAZY HORSE - DON’T CRY NO TEARS: WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET | NYA:

 

1-27-21

The film and double album will be released on Reprise February 26 2021, with pre-orders January 15th 2021.
This show is one of my all time Crazy Horse favorites. We are happy to share with you all at NYA. More songs will be added here before official release.
ny

Deluxe Box Set Edition (DVD, 4 LPs, 2 CDs)

Pre-Order Now: WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET" by Neil Young w/  Crazy Horse 

(Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link . Thank you!!!)

"WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET" -- both a film and double album -- by Neil Young w/  Crazy Horse is now scheduled for release on February 26, 2021, per earlier NYA posting.

 

"My Country Home"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Catalyst Club, 1990 via Neil Young Archives
(More on TW @ RUST BUCKET PREMIERE TODAY: "Country Home" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 Rehearsals | NYA )

 

 

MORE RELEASES coming in DVD / BLU-RAY | Neil Young Archives

Vinyl, CD, and Deluxe box sets available for preorder on Friday, January 15.

The RUST BUCKET tapes have been called "the missing link between Ragged Glory and Weld".  (Thanks Scotsman!) "My Country Home" will be the 1st single and is now in the NYA filing cabinet.

 

Catalyst Club, 1990
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
via Neil Young Archives

 

Here is the Official album trailer for 'Way Down in the Rust Bucket'.

As we shared here @ TW in 2020,  songs from the 3 set "RUST BUCKET" concert were being screened on Hearse Theater Screen #2 | NYA. 

In 2019, Neil Young announced a major Archives discovery titled "RUST BUCKET".

The complete concert setlist is 20 songs with a running in total of 3 hours. (See Sugar Mtn for more details).

WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET
via Subscriber News | NYA

As noted earlier, a complete multi-camera video (6 cameras?!) was discovered in the NYA vaults. Produced and Directed by the late LA Johnson, the Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert was filmed on November 11, 1990 at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, California. (See Sugar Mtn for more details). Consisting of 3 sets, plus encore, the video is titled WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET. 

 

Here's an update from Audio Engineer John Hanlon on the earlier announced Archives discovery of Neil Young "unearthing" a major 1990 Crazy Horse concert. Audio Engineer John Hanlon writes on Times Contrarian | NYA about progress on transferring and mixing the audio from The Catalyst Club gig. (See J. Hanlon's Notebook | Times Contrarian | NYA)

 

Neil Young w/ Engineer John Hanlon
via Mountaintop: Neil Young with Crazy Horse Film

Also, check Comment of the Moment: RUST BUCKET PREMIERE NOW PLAYING: "Country Home" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1990 WELD Rehearsals | NYA .

Here's a review from Broken Arrow Gig Reviews - 11.13.1990 - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California By Rick Zeek, Issue #42, Feb 1991.

Broken Arrow Gig Reviews
- 11.13.1990 - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California By Rick Zeek, Issue #42, Feb 1991

Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse

 

Jack Nitzsche , Neil Young's producer/arranger on the masterpiece "Broken Arrow", has stated that Crazy Horse was the American equivalent of The Rolling Stones. IOHO, Crazy Horse is to Neil Young what The Band was to Bob Dylan. As perfect a complement as tequila and salt.

 

Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse:
"3rd Best Garage Band in the World"
~~Bill Graham

 

In tribute to Crazy Horse, the "3rd Best Garage Band in the World", here's a look back at some highlights:

• EXCLUSIVE: Crazy Horse Drummer Ralph Molina Interview
• Year of the Horse Film Review and Interviews on the making with Crazy Horse, Neil and Director Jim Jarmusch
• Year of the Horse - Interview in France's Les Inrockuptibles, July 1997
• Year of the Horse - Film Review
• Crazy Horse Biography - Reprise Records, 1997
• Frank Sampedro Interview - Torhout Festival, 1996
• Poncho Interview - Halifax Daily News, 11/1/96
• Interview: Crazy Horse and Neil Young Maintain Special Relationship, by Barry Gutman, Music Wire, ~9/96
• Billy Talbot Interview - Rip it Up, ~8/96  
• Crazy Horse Album Reviews- by Robert Christgau
• Years of the Horse

#DontSpookTheHorse 

Induct Neil Young w/  Crazy Horse
Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
#CrazyHorse4HOF 

 #MayTheHorseBeWithYou

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VIDEO: "Love To Burn" - Neil Young + Promise Of The Real, Eugene, Oregon - May 23, 2019

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real, Eugene, Oregon - May 23, 2019

 

A video of "Love To Burn" by Neil Young + Promise Of The Real from concert tour of the Pacific Northwest at the Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon on May 23, 2019 in Hearse Theater | Screen #2 | NYA.

 

via Sugar Mountain

 

Also, see:

• Concert Reviews - Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon on May 23, 2019
• REVIEWS - Neil Young + Promise Of The Real: Paramount Theatre, Seattle - May 20 & 21
• REVIEWS - Neil Young Solo: Martin Woldson Theater, Spokane - May 18, 2019
• REVIEWS - Neil Young Solo: Keller Theater, Portland, Oregon - May 17
• REVIEWS - Neil Young's Solo Tour Begins Tonight: Vancouver - May 14 & 15

Neil Young + Promise of the Real
Camden, NJ - July 16, 2015
Photo by TW

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INTERVIEW: Drummer Chad Cromwell Discusses Neil Young, Joe Walsh, Mark Knopfler | Rolling Stone

Prairie Wind Band
Ben Keith, Neil Young, Chad Cromwell, Rick Rosas, Spooner Oldham & Karl Himmel(See The Prairie Wind Sessions by Neil Young)

 

Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up close look at life on music’s A list. In 2020, we featured the edition with drummer and songwriter Joe Vitale.  This edition features drummer and songwriter Chad Cromwell.  (Thanks Lars from Denmark!)

From interview with "Drummer Chad Cromwell Interview: Neil Young, Joe Walsh, Mark Knopfler" by Andy Greene | Rolling Stone:

Rolling Stone: Tell me about meeting Neil Young. I’ve seen Neil say he first saw Rick Rosas at Farm Aid with Joe [Walsh] in 1987. Did he meet you there as well?

 
Chad Cromwell: Yeah. We were playing a gig with Joe [Walsh] at Farm Aid [in Lincoln, Nebraska]. 

Neil was there, obviously. I remember him coming on the bus to hang out for a little while. For a while, starting with Farm Aid, we talked about the possibility of putting a four-piece band together with Joe, Neil, me and Rick. It just never came to be. We danced with the concept for a while, but it never happened. Joe did sit in with Neil at Blossom [for “Tonight’s the Night” on September 3rd, 1988].

Rolling Stone: How did you wind up recording with Neil on the Bluenotes record?
 

Chad Cromwell: The guy that gets the credit for that is an engineer named Niko Bolas. 

Niko and I met on a record in Memphis that he was engineering for Rob Jungklas. We were working on his first record. Niko was hired to come in as an independent engineer to record those sessions. Niko and I became very good friends. I actually rented the second bedroom of my apartment to him while he was there. We became very, very good friends.

He was the reason that job happened. Neil just wasn’t happy with the drummers he was bringing in to do this blues-rock thing he was doing, a horn band. The cats that were coming in to play for him, that just wasn’t their wheelhouse. And so Niko said, “I know this guy in Memphis that can do this shit in his sleep. He’s a natural for this job.”

Neil, uncharacteristically, agreed to work with someone new. That doesn’t happen that often with him. He operates a fairly tight circle with his musical families. I got at least invited to SIR in Hollywood to take a swing at it. I rolled in there, Niko introduced me to him and Neil just looked at me, put his hand out and went, “Hey man, I’m Shakey.” That’s how we started. An hour later, we’re out there swinging. We were done tracking the record two or three days later. It kicked ass. 

We just got right on it.

Neil Young, Chad Cromwell & Rick Rosas

Bridge School Concert - 21 October 2006 (?)

Rolling Stone: To go back a bit, the critics were a little hard on Fork in the Road. I dig some of those songs.

 
Chad Cromwell: There was some interesting stuff on that. 

But he was fixed really hard on the LincVolt thing at the time and very, very car-centric, as he’s always been. There was definitely a theme going on with that. You know, what’s cool and what’s not cool is such a subjective thing. That record will probably never compete with Freedom or Harvest or records that are career records, but that’s always been the case with Neil. He’s never been driven by what sells the most records, but what allows him the creative thing that he’s gotta get out, whatever it is.

Look at Trans. That was one of those records that Geffen sued him over. “Why aren’t you making commercial records?” Well, who is to say what that is?

 

Full interview with  "Drummer Chad Cromwell Interview: Neil Young, Joe Walsh, Mark Knopfler" by Andy Greene | Rolling Stone.

 

Larry Cragg, ?, Chad Cromwell & Rick Rosas in Studio recording "After The Garden" for "Living With War" album by Neil Young - 2006 

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