Comments of the Moment: Neil Young Bootleg "Ducks 1977" | NYA
An interesting discussion in the our rustie grain communities rising from the recent Bootleg Single "Little Wing" on Neil Young Archives from Ducks 1977 -- part of the Official Bootlegs Series.
Essentially, the question is whether Ducks 1977 is technically a bootleg release?
Here are the Comments of the Moment on Bootleg Singles: Neil Young Archives - Ducks 1977 & Rainbow 1973:
Thanks for the comments folks! Never a tad too academic for the our rustie grains "superfans" communities.
So, in summary, as Phil observes: typical "neilyoungian logic" prevails.
More on Bootleg Singles: Neil Young Archives - Ducks 1977 & Rainbow 1973.
More on The Story of Neil Young’s Short-lived Santa Cruz Band The Ducks | Good Times. Also, see Duck Tales by Patrick Mead posted to rust@fish.com on 06 Jan 1996.
More on Neil Young's Official Bootleg Series.
Labels: archives, bootleg, neil young, neil young archives, nya
by thrasher@PermaLink: 3/06/2023 11:10:00 AM
12 comments
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While this might be a tad too academic for the casual fan, the only way to have "heard it like in the old days" would mean you were at the Ducks' concerts. The venerable editors of the German fansite "Rusted Moon" are pointing out, that "High Flyin'" is a compilation of tracks taken from five different Ducks' concerts. While "Bottom Line" and all other OBS releases do have some original bootleg ancestry "Rusted Moon" claim that a bootleg called "High Flyin'" never was published before and therefore they it should be considered to be an original release. I am sure there are knowledgeable archivists who can sort this out. Is Neil Young re-writing release history by publishing a pastiche or was there a genuine "Ducks" bootleg titled "High Flyin'"? And where did the artwork come from?
Addendum: Some sources claim that "High Flyin'"contains studio material also, recorded at Magical Devices Studio.
3/05/2023 05:10:00 AM
There is an Infocard for the High Flyin' album on the Timeline on NYA and you can see the credits on it.
It says it was recorded July 29th to august 23rd 1977 and lists several venues that the songs/performances were recorded at including Magical Devices.
There are also credits for the artwork/photos.
The track list includes Gone Dead Train which I presume is the old Crazy Horse song - looking forward to hearing that one again!
3/05/2023 08:37:00 AM
Ron, thank you for this obvious information. Sometimes one gets lost in the digital world instead of going straight to the original source. Apparently Jim Phillips is a well known poster artist who did work for Moby Grape and also created the poster that was used as artwork for "High Flyin'". However, the original question was, whether there ever was a Ducks bootleg titled "High Flyin'".
3/05/2023 10:25:00 AM
I thought it was worth posting about the album infocard because when the bootleg singles were first available it wasn't accessible, but yesterday I noticed it was. I had been looking as I was keen to see the full track listings for both albums.
And sorry but I don't know if High Flyin was a ever a released bootleg at the time. I am no expert on bootlegs but the few I am familiar with were all recordings of a single performance so perhaps not. But then as you say where did the artwork come from especially as based on who did it it seems to be of that era?
I guess someone will know and and all will become clear in time. In the meantime I am enjoying listening to both the singles. Little Wing is perhaps the more interesting to me given its uniqueness and sound quality, but I am also enjoying the more straight forward performance of Human Highway. Looking forward to listening to both albums in full.
3/06/2023 04:59:00 AM
Personally, I haven't found any trace of an identical bootleg to High Flyin'!
With excerpts from various concerts and studio tracks recorded, it would make more sense for this album to be either in the "Performances" series or in the 'Special releases'¨ series... Maybe Neil Young not being able to choose between the two decided to put it in the bootlegs series ! Again, it's neilyoungian logic.
Besides, it's bootleg number 2 of the 6 series... But why??? However, I am delighted with this release.
On the other hand, for the "Rainbow", I don't really understand the interest to release a concert with a bootleg sound when we already have a similar concert with the Roxy.
I understand the approach for unique concerts like the Bottom Line in 1974 but here, I only see the interest for superfans (of which I am one). Commercially, it's not very understandable to have both professional and amateur recordings in the OBS series...