Earlier this week, we posted a "rare" photo of Paul & Linda McCartney with Neil Young backstage in Rotterdam in 1976.
The photo is from 1976-03-24 at Sportpaleis Ahoy', Rotterdam, The Netherlands with Crazy Horse, (per Sugar Mountain ) by Dutch photographer Gijsbert Hanekroot. (See full uncropped photo with Crazy Horse and Manager Elliot Roberts here. Also, the following is really more about the story behind the photographer. If you would like more on the photo itself, see original posting @ RARE PHOTO: Paul & Linda McCartney w/ Neil Young)
We have featured the work of Gijsbert Hanekroot many times over the years here at Thrasher's Wheat. Probably the most well known photo by Hanekroot is of the cover photo for the Tonight's The Night album. (NOTE: spelling on NYA credits incorrect: "Photography by Gissbert Hanekroot: pages 12, 13, & front cover").
Tonight's the Night by Neil Young
Reflections
Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot
Europe 1976 tour.
Copenhagen, 1976
Photographer Gijsbert Hanekroot
(Click photo to enlarge)
(see the Dutch translation of "Tonight's The Night liner notes on the "Tonight's The Night" album)
"Tonight's the Night" Album Liner Notes w/ "Florida" Story
w/ "On The Beach" Overlay + Roy Orbison Photo
Small correction, the TTN liner notes are by Constant Meijers, who you can see reflected in Neils glasses on the right (left for Neil). He more or less became friends with Neil and wrote a book about him. It's a nice enough read if you can read Dutch.
ReplyDeleteHe once sat down next to me at a Graham Nash concert untill he was sent away by the people who actually had tickets for the seat. Don't know if he found another seat after that but I did spot him talking about the book he wrote after the concert.
Neil Young and the Netherlands are a chapter in itself, with all these Dutch guys around in the first half of the 70's (Meijers, van der Linden or Hanekroot and others, that we don't know of). I guess that younger Neil felt relaxed and comfortable in a country where the recreational use of herbs and resins was tolerated from early on although not legal in the strict sense of the word. So that explains maybe why he was also more accessible for Dutch people he met on the road. I can imagine that back then he still had this incident in mind when EC (?) jumped out of the bathroom window. There are impressions at a young age that stay with you for a lifetime. The Netherlands were and still are a country where Neil and his entourage did not have to fear any of that sort of "benign police intervention".
ReplyDeleteI think Stills jumped out of the window and got legal help for Neil, Clapton and others.
ReplyDeleteNeil actually looked for a house in the Netherlands in 1974 but understandably decided against it in the end because of the crappy weather.
For a person who grew up with harsh winters and pretty stable weather conditions during the warmer seasons that's understandable. With no real winters and rain throughout the year like in Western Europe you have to develop a certain flexibility. Moving from Ontario to California is a lot easier as you switch from one climate with long cycles to another climate with stable and predictable conditions for longer periods of time. I think that also shows in his songs. There are quite a few with sun, moon, and wind, or seasons in general. The ones mentioning rain are not that many: See the Sky About to Rain, Raining in Paradise, Be the Rain, Look Out for my Love come to mind. Any others?
ReplyDeleteThat might have also an impact on his climate change agenda. A person who is used to predictable (and reliable) weather conditions might be way more alarmed than a person who learnt to live with a change in the weather every five minutes or so.
I have been travelling around in California quite a bit during summer times and the weather conditions almost always were like out of the geography book.
Addendum: The absence of rain is mentioned in Are There Anymore Real Cowboys?
ReplyDelete@ Hayo - much thanks on correction on TTN liner notes.
ReplyDeleteUpdated above.
And, while we have seen the Reflections photo many times and the images reflected, we never knew that was Constant. Now that is rather cosmic, we think.
@ Dionys - now that would be an interesting chapter on all these Dutch guys.
Any takers out there on the history of Neil & The Dutch.
If you recall, the best known Neil tapers back in the day were known as "The Dutch Masters".
We encountered them in Europe and else where in our travels. "The Dutch Masters" would often sit together and after the concerts you could see them enthusiastically discussing the shows and how their tapes turned out.
Many, many Neil bootlegs can be sourced back to "The Dutch Masters". In a somewhat revolutionary move, they would edit together sections of their best tapes into a seamless concert to cover any glitches, etc.
We vaguely recall a rustie phrase, like "If it ain't Dutch, it ain't worth a F*".
Quite a an experience and a real honor to watch and listen to "The Dutch Masters" in all of their ragged glory.
As far as I know these Dutch masters are still around, or their collections are. I heard a few quite excellent recordings originating with them. Ahoj or Paradiso concerts most of them.
ReplyDeletewell, "crappy" weather seems to prevail in California now, big surprise. There was a tornado today in easter Iowa (in January?). I was driving back from some winter trout fishing in the driftless area (very northeast Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin)- snow "predicted" for Wednesday (two days after a tornado). Unstable is not quite good enough for this violent climate. There are some great midwest winter songs, the best I think is John Prine's "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone." Four Strong Winds is a great winter song. I "waited for you winterlong" on the assumption of a long winter? I think so or the song loses its circumference. The worry is over what climate change might do to our spirit and imagination. What is the midwest without the legendary cold? (Ah yes, Gordon Lightfoot, "ten degrees and getting colder."). There were people ice fishing on the Mississippi today--- river songs, etc...
ReplyDeletepunctuation-sorry
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