Neil Young's 1991 "Road of Plenty"/Eldorado Japan EP
~~ UNCUT Magazine's Allan Jones
Back in April -- with the official re-release of Neil Young's long awaited 1991 "Road of Plenty"/Eldorado Japan EP -- a major gap was plugged in his hefty discography . (See Neil Young Official Release Series #4 Box Set.)
(See Neil Young Official Release Series #4 Box Set.)
**So today's NYA news of the Eldorado EP being available on Vinyl and CD while true, is oh-so slightly misleading unless one reads the release very carefully. You just had to buy an entire box set to obtain the 5 song EP.
Glad to clear that up for all of our dear rustie friends around the world.
More recently, we posted a series of Comments of the Moment regarding the upcoming Neil Young Archives Vol #3 planned for 2022. In particular, the brilliant comment by Tomatron,who lays out his "Dream Mix" for Neil Young Archives Vol #3 combining songs from the albums Eldorado and FREEDOM.
"Road of Plenty" has also appeared as an import titled "Eldorado". An album review UNCUT Magazine's Allan Jones modestly said: "The simple fact is that 'Eldorado" is probably the greatest guitar rock album ever." Jones continues describing the album's sound as: "holocaustal, post-apocalypse ruptures and manglings, great bloody swathes of feedback, random distortions, and gashes of sound, the reckless weather of psychotic abandon."
Neil Young - 1989
ELDORADO
1989 - Reprise 20P2-2651 (CD-EP, Japan and Australia only)
"Cocaine Eyes" – 4:24
"Don't Cry" – 5:00
"Heavy Love" – 5:09
"On Broadway" – 4:57
"Eldorado" – 6:03
"Eldorado"'s band The Restless consisted of Chad Cromwell and
Rick Rosas. The EP contains different mixes of three songs that
subsequently appeared on Young's 1989 album Freedom, "Don't Cry," "On
Broadway," and "Eldorado," and two tracks not available on any other
recording, "Cocaine Eyes" and "Heavy Love." The "Don't Cry" track on
Eldorado is longer than the later version published on Freedom (5:00 vs.
4:14).
From Album Review of Neil Young and the Restless: Eldorado by Allan Jones:
The simple fact is that 'Eldorado" is probably the greatest guitar rock album ever.
Parts of it are like nothing you've ever heard, holocaustal, post -apocalypse ruptures and manglings, great bloody swathes of feedback, random distortions, and gashes of sound, the reckless weather of psychotic abandon. It's almost as if Young listened to the rather docile, reverential cover of his songs on the "Bridge" tribute album, listened to The Pixies and Soul Train and Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. and thought to himself, "Hey, kids - THIS is how you do it..."At which point, he plugs in his guitar, cranks the volume up to max and begins to roar.
(Full review @ Album Review of Neil Young and the Restless: Eldorado by Allan Jones.)
Also, see Neil Young Official Release Series #4 Box Set.
More on Eldorado from the FUNHOUSE! reviews by Steve Vetter (Farmer John).
Also, see Eldorado: Albums In Order Review Series by Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova.
Also, see 1986 Buffalo Springfield Rehearsal with Neil Young, Stephen Stills & Richie Furay rehearsing songs "Road of Plenty" and "Eldorado".
Also, see NYAS Broken Arrow Issue Number 036 - August, 1989 Eldorado: Albums Review by Ian MacCarthy, page 35.
I purchased both the vinyl and CD box sets and although ‘Eldorado’ was recorded digitally, it certainly sounds wonderful on vinyl. So glad this album finally gets a wider release so anyone interested can hear and or own it. Much like ‘Time Fades Away’, this one has been one of the missing pieces in Neil’s canon. Now if he could finally get permission to release the soundtrack to ‘Journey Through the Past’ in its original form, then finally all the absent children will have been returned home.
ReplyDeletePeace 🙏
Expecting to Fly is beautifully sad and in its own original way heart-breaking. Don't Cry is terrifyingly heart-breaking. Neil's music and lyrics can never be separated without killing both, his songs are musical ecologies in the strong sense. "Your disappointed eyes are haunting me like my big lies" is simple and unified, the one seeing the pain in oneself and the other. I think most of understand this pain, a word that is too general to capture the emotion: it is more like an overall emotional anguish. When we see our lies in the face of the other person who is feeling the force of the deception, surrounded by the promises we have made not to lie, we are authentically confronted with ourselves. This is a song that cuts to the bone of human love and its risks.
ReplyDeleteI think the Freedom version better captures the deep importance of the song because it is more organized but still surrounded by mayhem.
ReplyDelete@ Dan - "finally all the absent children will have been returned home."
ReplyDeletefrom your keyboard to Neil's ears.
@ Abner - good stuff on E2F.
Here's one we just posted for you...
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2022/08/decoding-neil-musical-transcendence-of.html
if you're feeling philosophic, that is ...
Thrasher, I had to say something about "Don't Cry"
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about the recent post about dreaming. This is a busy time for me. My first thought is that "dream" and "dreaming" can be literal or cognitive states that drift and usually toward visuals.