neil young

i heard randy newman once explain his song "yellow man" as "a pinhead's view of china", and I kind experience "Cortez" as a version of that, like a stoner's fantasy about aztecs Also true of "Sail Away," and imagine Young covering that.

I consider myself a casual fan but even I'm pretty sure Neil has a ton of songs that utilize 12 bar blues form, including several on On the Beach. I mean there are three songs on that record with "blues' in the title

xpost His American grandfather or great-grandfather left Virginia because of Civil War etc. illin', though got mad at blacks boarding streetcar he was on in Canada: something along those lines in Shakey (but I'm sure Neil was more interested in Aztecs, Incas)

His only experiment with 12-bar blues, right? Meh.

From the Bluenotes live album (better than This Note's for You, though this one's very SNL/VH-1):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUdyucphO8I

Blue Note Cafe is much better than the studio album overall, though still has some moves that were dated, ironically or not, even before it was recorded, way before---people were talking about blooze vs. blues even in the 60s.

(Rolling Stone reviewer said the latest Canned Heat album should have been titled Yassuh Boss.)

I consider myself a casual fan but even I'm pretty sure Neil has a ton of songs that utilize 12 bar blues form, including several on On the Beach. I mean there are three songs on that record with "blues' in the title

― Paul Ponzi,

I probably singled out "Vampire Blues" b/c it bores me (it doesn't follow through on the title), but, yeah, "Ambulance Blues" counts.

xxxp The VH-1/SNL vibe actually works great with a satirical track like "This Note's For You" because it completes the fake-beer commercial vibe needed to deliver the joke with accuracy.

This one from This Note's For You always felt like a good blend of the blues concept and his typical songwriting. And this band also led to "Ordinary People" and "Crime in the City", even though they didn't came out on later albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNCvIdABUhg

xxp Come to think of it, re SNL, he might have been having a little fun with the Blues Brothers shtick too. Which reminds me of this Hal Willmer quote, via Milton Parker on Hal Willner
(and re beer commerical, Night Music was sponsored by Michelob, who got their name in the title eventually):
...one day Lorne Michaels (Executive Producer Night Music, Saturday Night Live) came to the studio while we were taping Night Music because his buddy Eric Clapton was on the show. When he walked in we were filming Clara Rockmore, the legendary theramin player. So Lorne walks in and looks at the monitor and there’s a 92-year-old woman playing “Kaddish” on the theramin and I can just see stacks of dollars with little wings flying out of his head.

LOL. Michelob, didn't Clapton (by then a recovering alcoholic) make a commercial for them around that time? Ugh, it never ends with that guy.

A reminder that "Powderfinger"/"Cortez" finished 1-2 in the Neil Young poll from 10 years ago--a big surprise to me, I thought "Cortez" would win going away.

A World of Constant Strangers: The Neil Young Results Thread

Freddie Gibbs not a fan, don't think I would have predicted him taking Rogan's side:

https://pitchfork.com/news/freddie-gibbs-says-fuck-neil-young-on-the-joe-rogan-experience/

"birds" and all of after the gold rush really are such a great example of how sharp neil used to be as a lyricist. for such a loud rock kind of guy he was so insightful when it came to love and relationships.

When you see me fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go

is one of my favorite images of a breakup. You can't make a home in the shadow of the other person, you have to move away from this space. But they leave you with a gift, a part of themself you can use to enrich your life, a connection to something higher that you didn't have before.

think there's some truth to him being self-centered. at his best though he gestures toward what's mysterious and unknowable about love and life. like, for all of his inability to see past himself, he knows what love is, or at least used to.

Anything in particular you're thinking of?

Freddie has become a full time troll sadly

I wonder if on some level Christgau calling Barn the record of the year is a way of validating his own criticism - if one of his peers can make such a record, surely he has the right to continue to evaluate them and the current music scene.
One factual thing in his article I'm not sure of - I always thought it was Graham Nash, not Neil himself, saying "Last Dance!" at the end of Time Fades Away.

i generally cringe at the whole "i'm just channelling these songs from the cosmos" stuff about songwriting, but there's a quality to neil's best songs that i do wonder if he even knows what they are about

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown),

dylan you can always see his mind at work, neil comes up with this imagery that is very dreamlike

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

I can only guess at what you mean, of course. But he sometimes writes lyrics that suggest many possible meanings, and some of them have led me to construct elaborate interpretations that don't necessarily check out when I follow the trail more closely. His process of deliberation can be ambiguous or obscure in a way that doesn't quite square with the potency of his imagery, and that maybe points to a more of a 'conduit' role.

I would say he shows an interest in the superimposition of folklore and mythogogy onto reality, as well as a respect for the dream state as something that informs and carries over into waking life and from which meaning can be divined. In 'After the Gold Rush' he refers to dreams as prophetic visions pretty explicitly. He also looks for omens and portents in nature, and doesn't always draw clear distinctions between literary symbolism and the interpetation of signs ("I was hoping for replacement when the sun burst through the sky" etc). That could be seen as his authentic connection to ancient or indigenous cultures.

I hear 'Don't Let it Bring You Down' as a response to 'After the Gold Rush' later in the album, the negation of an ominous sign. "It's only castles burning" may be a reassurance to himself that apocalyptic omens are psychological litter to be discarded (correlating to a "white cane lying in the gutter", or a flying newspaper), a way of seeing that appears outmoded or clouded by superstition as it comes into contact with modernity.

Friends and relationships reappear as a grounding influence (the cause of the "down" that forces a withdrawl into hibernation in 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' is identified as... a dream).

Everybody otm re: Neil's best lyrics. The unreliable narrator in song form. Truly a master storyteller.

Daddy's rifle in my hand
felt reassurin'
He told me,
Red means run, son,
numbers add up to nothin'

Always my favorite part in "Powderfinger" and, for me, the most revealing piece of the song's puzzle.

https://twitter.com/olsonpower/status/1502643407369420801?s=20&t=8UPrgQK7e6Xh7MVOHpPy1w

pic.twitter.com/fcGvaLpQkr

— INZANE JOHNNY (@olsonpower) March 12, 2022

Sorry of this was already mentioned: We are pleased to announce the release of the fourth installment in the Official Release Series (ORS).
Available on LP and CD, the box set includes classic ‘80s records Hawks & Doves, Re•ac•tor, and This Note’s for You, as well as the Eldorado EP, previously released only in Japan and Australia.
Both vinyl and CD box sets will be available for pre-order today and out on April 29th.

That was on the 18th, thought of again because I just got one re Official Bootleg Series adding three solo acoustic sets; here's the press release, incl. audio, video: http://view.e.warnerrecords.com/?qs=9efc101a6c823cd183a4a6dfc8f00760337aaea72c7f4e4c707ddb1d7a140b210b5bf611d1d4e79cb4ec8f87606b182131222489e3f15f856a55fa4cb7eac5626547f8f2e1016611

Genuine question. Which one of those is likely the best, most enjoyable set. ‘Cause I ain’t gettin all three.

Great to have a legit release of the '74 Bottom Line show, but lolz at Eldorado getting reissued and boxed with deadweight away from Freedom.

XP Go for the '74 show: it's a genuine, one of a kind concert, and besides there's already a ton of solo Neil '70-'71 shows out there.

Nice set list for that. What makes it one of a kind?

It was an unannounced, one-off surprise solo set (following Leon Redbone, iirc) from a time where he wasn't doing stuff like that, and he previewed a number on On The Beach tracks alongside period unreleased material.

What's going on with the second box in the Official Release Series? It goes for hundreds of dollars now, and I'm not even talking about the vinyl version. Did they just radically underestimate demand and never run off any more CDs?

Probably? The packaging is pretty unique, with the albums in wide cardstock sleeves to accommodate the discs and scale reproductions of the original inserts (the poster from Time Fades Away, the booklet and bag of glitter from Tonight's The Night etc.).

They never reissued the discs in it (and the third box as well) as individual CDs either.

I'm checking out all of those shows because his banter is so great most of the time

Good news about el dorado. Hopefully I can cherry pick its tracks from a digital vendor

Long, loooong overdue, but I'm glad Eldorado is back in-print. It usually catches Neil Young fans off-guard whenever I've play "Heavy Love" and especially "Cocaine Eyes" over the years - like "holy shit, where did this come from?" I believe this will be the first American release it's ever gotten too.

FWIW, I tried restoring the original Times Square album from the Freedom CD, making a few changes to it:

Eldorado
No More
Crime In The City (live from Bluenote Café)
Boxcar (only bootleg source available)
Don't Cry (full-length version from Eldorado)
Heavy Love (from Eldorado)
Wrecking Ball
Cocaine Eyes (from Eldorado)
On Broadway

As a bonus, I also included the SNL performance of Rockin' in the Free World at the very end - ripped from the DVD, it's even better than the studio version.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse :: Fukuoka, Japan – March 8, 1976https://t.co/4cWQLbiqcO

Aside from a few low profile NoCal gigs in 1975, this Japanese jaunt was the debut of the new Crazy Horse with Frank Sampedro in tow, and the beginning of one of Young’s greatest years onstage. pic.twitter.com/5EOsDmm4Bx

— aquarium drunkard (@aquadrunkard) May 9, 2022

I'm checking out all of those shows because his banter is so great most of the time

Which makes it all the more painful that a lot of the iconic banter is cut from the CD release of the Citizen Kane Jr. bootleg.

Oof...no more rappin' about Honey Slides I presume?

They are mentioned and he starts to get into talking about them, just mentioned the "poor grade marijuana" but then it cuts out the whole recipe part.

Fuckin' lawyers...

It's just annoying when he's literally had entire tracks indexed for his raps on previous live albums.

Least they can do is print the recipe on the sleeve to make up for it.

"Free Recipe w/1-Year Subscription To The Neil Young Archives!"

Toast is coming out in July, and there's a sample track, "Standing in the Light of Love," out now. It rips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Mb4sqmPFo

Damn that rips, TOAST! Can't wait

http://image.e.warnerrecords.com/lib/fe98127074640d7b74/m/1/9a5931f0-01a0-4d7d-b577-1d442b4c7011.jpg

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real announce a new live album, Noise & Flowers, that captures the group in all their glory on their 2019 European tour. The release will be accompanied by a similarly titled concert film that’s included in the album’s 2xLP+CD+Blu-ray Deluxe Edition, and as a stand-alone Blu-Ray disc.

Noise & Flowers is available for pre-order now and is out August 5 via Reprise Records.

Click HERE to pre-order
Click HERE to stream “From Hank To Hendrix.”

Noise & Flowers documents a 9-date tour that began just two weeks after Young’s lifetime friend and manager of more than 50 years, Elliot Roberts, passed away at age 76. Performing alongside a photograph of Roberts taped to his road case, Young approached each show as a celebratory memorial service to honor his late friend. It’s a trek that Neil describes as “wondrous.”

Noise & Flowers explores all corners of his vast discography. It balances all-timer anthems (“Mr. Soul,” “Helpless,” “Rockin’ in the Free World”) with rarely aired ‘70s deep cuts (“Field of Opportunity,” “On the Beach”) and ’90s gems (“From Hank to Hendrix,” “Throw Your Hatred Down”). His frequent backing band since 2015, Promise of the Real effectively bridges the extremes in Young’s sound, infusing his raging rockers and country serenades with their casual brilliance and telepathic intuition.

Noise & Flowers’ companion film, directed by Bernard Shakey and dhlovelife, emphasizes both the intimacy and ecstasy of these performances.

“Playing in his memory [made it] one of the most special tours ever,” Young says in the album’s liner notes. “We hit the road and took his great spirit with us into every song. This music belongs to no one. It’s in the air. Every note was played for music’s great friend, Elliot.”
All Greedy Hand Store purchases of Noise & Flowers (LP, CD, Deluxe boxset) come with the hi-res digital audio download from the Xstream Store © at NYA.

The stand-alone Blu-ray edition of the concert film will be available exclusively at Greedy Hand Store.

Noise & Flowers is entry No. PS 21 in the Neil Young Archives Performance Series of live releases—a special addition to a robust, and still-growing catalog.

Noise & Flowers track list:
1. Mr. Soul
2. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
3. Helpless
4. Field Of Opportunity
5. Alabama
6. Throw Your Hatred Down
7. Rockin’ In The Free World
8. Comes A Time
9. From Hank to Hendrix
10. On The Beach
11. Are You Ready For The Country
12. I’ve Been Waiting For You
13. Winterlong
14. F***in’ Up

Produced by The Volume Dealers: Neil Young & Niko Bolas
AND CHECK OUT NEW MERCH NOW AVAILABLE:

The Dume disc from Archives 2 might be the best single disc Neil Young ever. Some of the versions are inferior to the more well-known versions, but it hangs together beautifully.

Have the various versions of Down by the River ever been polled on here? Went on a bit of an odyssey recently and decided I'd go for the Ken Boothe version first, followed by Low/Dirty Three, Buddy Miles and the Undisputed Truth.

man, the low/dirty three version was a real mindblower when i first heard it

Aye, the kind of experience you wish you could erase so you could do it all over again.

Love the Undisputed Truth version, sort of wish it was longer

Somewhere, I've got this as dub and maybe other, think it is or was on at least one streamer, but might get CD, pleased that it will exist (unless he changes his mind):

http://image.e.warnerrecords.com/lib/fe98127074640d7b74/m/1/61eb9439-8afc-4314-8f6d-bbb913c81309.jpg

Time Fades Away is officially available as a stand-alone CD for the first time anywhere in the world.
Time Fades Away is a live album from Neil Young with The Stray Gators, recorded during a US tour in early 1973 supporting the highly successful Harvest album. When the album was released on vinyl on October 15, 1973, all the songs on Time Fades Away were previously unreleased. Although praised by critics and fans, the album would go out of print for many years, and it was only re-issued on vinyl and released for the first time on CD in August 2017 as part of the Official Release Series Discs 5-8 box set.
All Greedy Hand Store purchases of Time Fades Away come with free hi-res digital audio downloads from the Xstream Store © at NYA.
ORDER NOW
Tracks:
1. Time Fades Away
2. Journey Through The Past
3. Yonder Stands The Sinner
4. L.A.
5. *Love In Mind
6. Don’t Be Denied
7. The Bridge
8. Last Dance
* “Love in Mind” was recorded in 1971, a solo acoustic performance.

It's on Neil-approved streamers. It's nice that they're getting back out again on disc, as that box is OOP & $$$$ now. I wonder about the packaging, as the box version was in a weird wide paper sleeve with a replica insert that might be hard to do as a stand-alone.

I also wonder if they'll bust out the other remasters from those boxes, as they were all exclusives (even the titles reissued in 2003 were redone).