Comment of the Moment: "Dream PlayList" of "TOAST" & "Are You Passionate?" by Neil Young

"TOAST" & "Are You Passionate?"   

Lots of great discussion here on "TOAST" by our passionate TW commenters.

The Comment of the Moment is a reply to another CotM by Tomatron and a "Dream Playlist" by Meta Rocker:

This is a great CotM. 

Refreshing to have some in-depth music discussion. Sets a tone much preferable, in my opinion, to some other recent threads.

Tomatron's playlist has inspired me to experiment with my own, which I have some history of doing anyway. Placing Boom Boom Boom at the start is a brilliant idea and I, too, see Quit as a bookend song, though I didn't end up with quite the same arrangement in my own permutation.

Firstly, in the interests of creating a listening experience that provides unity, flow, and symmetry, I would normally have reservations about using more than one recording of the same song. However, the Toast vs. AYP? versions are (mostly) different enough in flavor to merit showcasing both. With one exception: I decided not to include the same take of Goin' Home twice, simply opting for the longer AYP? mix with the abrupt coda.

So, to begin with a large slice of toast:

1. Boom Boom Boom
2. Standin' in the Light of Love

Can't add much to what has already been said about these tracks. Next, however, I exercise a free hand, a compromise between the running order heard on AYP? and the note cards pictured on the back cover:

3. When I Hold you in My arms
4. Be with You
5.Mr. Disappointment
6. You're My Girl
7. Differently

This portion quenches the fire of Standing in the Light, cooling things down with a touch of romance and ample time to soak in the bright, sunny sound of the M.G.'s.

8. Two Old Friends
9. Timberline

I like these two next two each other, because of the common religious themes and the stark contrast in tone. Of all the tracks, I struggled the most with where/how to fit in Timberline, until saw the potential of exploiting tension between this song and Two Old Friends. From here out, attentive listeners may also notice the tone of the songs growing darker and grittier. In narrative terms of rising action, this is the middle of the story. The innermost circle. Things start to get complicated.

10. Goin' Home
11. Let's Roll
12. Are you Passionate?

Again, this segment is lifted wholesale from the note cards on the back of AYP?, read left to right. Goin' Home is halted in its tracks (the abrupt, drop-off ending) by Let's Roll. 9/11 brought cataclysmic change, casting a heavy shadow over everything that came before. To hear the music stop cold for the intro to Let's Roll perfectly captures this feeling.

13. Quit (Don't Say you Love me)

Relief from all the brooding, piercing tension of the title song, a ray of hope. This is another nice transition I picked up from that back cover of AYP?, on which the title song and Quit are positioned back to back, with the latter capping off the entire sequence. In this case, I've used it as a gentle lead-in for the final act:

14. Gateway of Love
15. How you Doin'?
16. She's a Healer
17. Quit (Toast version)

Maybe Gateway ended up in a climactic position because I'm so partial to it, but for me, it is clearly the emotional and musical peak of the Toast cycle. How you Doin'? follows as the ultimate anti-climax and She's a Healer puts us back where we started. 

Finally, I take the calculated risk of sequencing the Toast version of Quit only a few tracks after the AYP? cut. First of all, because Quit works so well as a soft, yearning yet ambivalent coda, a release of tension after the fireworks of the previous numbers. 

What's more, I hope the combo of Gateway and Healer will have left more than enough distance (musically and emotionally) between the two Quits.

Addendum: Long time readers will know re-configuring AYP? is one of my favorite "games", treating the back cover like an ancient hieroglyph or cipher, an Emerald Tablet of sorts to read *through* rather than simply look at passively: the hermetics of Neil Young, no? To be able, after all these years, to include the Toast cuts is very satisfying. Although these two albums are quite distinctive, they do illuminate aspects of one another. The common link, instrumentally, seems to be Neil's guitar (also Pancho's): "All I got is a broken heart and I don't try to hide it when I play my guitar."

The extended Horse workouts of Toast speak for themselves, but the textured guitar tone throughout the AYP? album is extraordinarily underrated. Even the "vanilla" When I Hold You in My Arms ends with a series of tender, lyrical licks. 

For Neil, the solos are unusually restrained and crafted, which may be why they are overlooked, but the best passages (Quit, Mr. Disappointment) are totally sublime.

What a great Playlist Meta Rocker.  Thanks so much to both Tomatron & MR for the playlist which expand and build off of one another plus TOAST & AYP?

Here's what Tomatron replied back to Meta Rocker -- and we couldn't put it any better:

Ian, your playlist was a blast to consider. 

I especially like the closing four tracks. Originally I was looking at a finish similar to that one. 

Gateway has such a climactic feel, and it’s sequenced as such on Toast. You have chosen a freer approach to this arrangement. 

For my running order, i wanted above all to maintain fidelity to the albums’ own sequencing as I combined them. I ended up setting Gateway as the peak of the Toast chunk so that Healer could hold that position at the end. Making the two mixes of Goin Home work was the trickiest, since I didn’t want to leave off any tracks but they are literally the same performance. 

So I’m treating them as representations of the records they inhabit. On Toast, Goin’ Home is a proper chapter of a longer story. On AYP it’s a total departure, its meaning obfuscated by the lack of context. 

Having that edition come later with the full ending revealed seemed to solve the problem of how to reconcile these two versions together.

 More on "TOAST" & "Are You Passionate?" ...

"TOAST":  Neil Young Unreleased 2001 Album 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!!!)  

 Also, see:

• Neil Young Achieves 46th Career Top 40 Album with TOAST
• Comment of the Moment #2: First Impressions - Toast by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse 
  
• Comment of the Moment: First Impressions - Toast by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse
  
• REVIEW: "TOAST" - Unreleased 2001 Album by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse | Davy's Cinema Flicks & Music Picks
• First Impressions: Toast by Neil Young with Crazy Horse | The Old Grey Cat 
  
• Comment of the Moment: Neil Young's Unreleased 2001 Album "Toast" w/ Crazy Horse
• "TOAST" Finally Pops: Unreleased 2001 album by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse
•  Comment of the Moment: PREMEIRE: "Timberline" from Neil Young's unreleased 2001 album "Toast" w/ Crazy Hors
  
• PREMIERE: "Timberline" from Neil Young's  unreleased 2001 album "Toast" w/ Crazy Horse 
• Comment of the Moment: "TOAST": Neil Young's Unreleased 2001 Album w/ Crazy Horse Set for 8th July, 2022
• Comment of the Moment on "Toast" - A Roadstory: Neil Young Shares Thoughts on Unreleased 2001 Album by Tony "Hambone" Hammond in the UK.  (See  "Toast" - A Roadstory: Neil Young Shares Thoughts on Unreleased 2001 Album.)
  
• More on interview with Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, Neil Young, Crazy Horse Guitarist [discusses TOAST] | The Aquarium Drunkard. 
  
• Also, see ‘Are You Passionate?’ Turns 10 Years Old and Neil Young's Album of the Week: 'Are You Passionate?' + Defending AYP?
  

 

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

---

---