First Impressions: Toast by Neil Young with Crazy Horse | The Old Grey Cat

 "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!!!)

 

With the arrival of "TOAST" -- Neil Young's unreleased 2001 album w/ Crazy Horse -- rusties around the world breathed a heavy sigh of both relief and release.

Here are First Impressions: Toast by Neil Young with Crazy Horse | The Old Grey Cat:

What many of us, or maybe just me, didn’t know at the time: The heart of the album began beating in November 2000 at the funky Toast studio in San Francisco’s Mission District, where Neil was joined by Crazy Horse (Sampedro, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina). 

Over the next few months, they laid down seven songs, with the final session coming on February 9th, 2001. In a post to the NYA Times-Contrarian, Neil wrote that the songs “were so sad at the time that I couldn’t put it out. I just skipped it and went on to do another album in its place.” (The reason for said sadness, again to quote Neil from that same post: “The music of Toast is about a relationship. There is a time in many relationships that go bad, a time long before the break up, where it dawns on one of the people, maybe both, that it’s over. This was that time.”) 

The big surprise of Toast, according to some reviewers and—in that same Times-Contrarian post—Neil himself, is the dexterity of Crazy Horse. 

Neil and the Horse are known, after all, for what I sometimes call “brutal grace,” aka thud-thick chords and extended jams that just about stop time. But any fan worth his or her salt can point to examples, such as much of Sleeps With Angels, where they demonstrate a deft touch. Which is to say, “Quit” and “How Ya Doin’?” sound much the same here as they do on AYP, where they were renamed “Quit (Don’t Say You Love Me)” and “Mr. Disappointment.” “Boom, Boom, Boom,” on the other hand, is a tad looser (and longer) than its AYP counterpart, “She’s a Healer,” while Neil’s quavering vocal sounds almost as if he’s trying to convince himself that he means what he’s singing. Tom Bray’s trumpet adds a welcome umlaut to both versions.

Thanks for the 1st impressions OGC!  Much appreciated insight into this critical missing link in the Neil Young  discography.  And yes we do recall your passionate defense of AYP? which you referred to as the s "The Stax Sessions" w/ Booker T. & The MGs.

Full review @ First Impressions: Toast by Neil Young with Crazy Horse | The Old Grey Cat.

"TOAST" & "Are You Passionate?" 

Also, see:

• 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?

REVIEW: "TOAST" - Unreleased 2001 Album by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse | Davy's Cinema Flicks & Music Picks

---

---