Artist: Young, Neil
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Released: 2007
Rock legend Neil Young has treated his fans over the past few months with not one but two live releases from the early seventies – one with his backing band Crazy Horse and the other a solo set.
In 1970, Neil Young and Crazy Horse were out promoting their joint debut Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Soon after, he briefly joined the supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash, recorded another solo record, After The Gold Rush, and was right on the brink of releasing a third one – Harvest. Live at Massey Hall 1971 shows off Young’s solo side in the best possible way – acoustic guitar, the occasional harmonica and a few songs on piano, with delicate, personal readings alongside more determined, even angry storytelling. Here we get Cowgirl in The Sand, Down By The River and Ohio sounding very different from the well-known versions. Totally stripped down, minimalist, and yet with every note exactly where it belongs. With such sensitive arrangements, Old Man, Helpless, Don’t Let It Bring You Down and The Needle and The Damage Done shine through all the more, and Young effortlessly proves he’s not just a great songwriter and musician, but a one-of-a-kind interpreter too.
This is definitely one of those records you could go on about forever, carefully dissecting every strum and every note sung, every heartfelt delivery, but that’s not what this one is about. Neil Young is laid bare and completely himself, and picking the record apart would be like describing an intimate moment with someone you love. Anyone who’s ever been in love knows exactly what that’s like. And how do you describe to a third person (and there are a few hundred or a few thousand of them) a kind of magic they’ve never experienced themselves? This is a record you simply have to hear.
It’s a record I’d recommend, together with Live at The Fillmore, to all the young rockers, and the more seasoned ones too, who think they’re making heavenly music. Two records and two eloquent proofs of how to write timeless lyrics, how to craft excellent arrangements that can be either full-band or solo, and how to be a multi-instrumentalist at the same time. Neil Young is simply one of those artists who can be a role model for everyone, so it’s no wonder he’s called the godfather of both grunge and punk, and is respected among rockers, metalheads, and folk and country fans alike. Some hold his versatility and genre-hopping against him, but they clearly don’t realize that this is exactly where his greatest wealth lies. Whatever he takes on, he does it convincingly and with soul, which is why the end product is a timeless masterpiece.
Lineup
Neil Young – vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
&
Crazy Horse
Production
David Briggs & Neil Young
Track list
1. On The Way Home
2. Tell Me Why
3. Old Man
4. Journey Through The Past
5. Helpless
6. Love In Mind
7. A Man Needs A Maid/Heart of God Suite
8. Cowgirl In the Sand
9. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
10. There’s A World
11. Bad Fog of Loneliness
12. The Needle and the Damage Done
13. Ohio
14. See The Sky About to Rain
15. Down By The River
16. Dance Dance Dance
17. I Am A Child
Trajanje albuma: 67:39
