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Elly Roberts reviews
simplyred.com
- March 2007
- Rating: 10/10+
If an album deserves to go off the normal rating scale – then this is it !
It now ranks amongst as one of the greatest live concerts along with NirvanaUnplugged, Eric Clapton Unplugged, The Who Live at Leeds and James BrownLive at The Apollo.
Thirty-five years after its original recording it finally surfaces as part ofYoungs unreleased archive series. Recorded in January 1971 in Toronto, Younggives a remarkable and breathtaking performance of past and forthcoming songs.Eric Clapton is often credited for setting a trend and spawning a generationof acoustic sets Nirvana, Page & Plant, etc. Had this come out as intendedin 1971, on the advice of his producer David Briggs, the musical landscapemight have been very different for generations to come.
The sleeve notes include a newspaper cutting that headlines Neil Young: atouch of Canadianism. Right. The sub-heading states Neil Young in concertsings with quiet, intense intimacy. Wrong. Yes its intimate because of theacoustic nature of the format. Quiet? Well, in part true, but Young sufficientlylets rip when appropriate. Even more outrageous is a line that says, Hissongwriting isnt his strongest talent.
What? The reporter must have been living on another planet. He or she doesconcede that, His lovely clean voice is. Sanity restored.
Young is on top form throughout: dry humour which breaks the setlist perfectly.Some songs come from his days Buffalo Springfield, CSNY and Crazy Horse. Also,aired for the first time, are selections from After The Goldrushs successorHarvest Theres A World,
Old Man, a stunning piano-only rendition of A Man Needs A Maid/HeartOf Gold Suite, and possibly his most heart felt song ever, The NeedleAnd The Damage Done. Between songs are story threads, the best being onthe intro for Old Man. Finding a highlight is totally impossible, as theentire show is brilliant the standing ovations noise tells it all.
Much to the chagrin of producer, Young refused to release it. Now he says,“This is the album that should have come out between After The Gold rushand Harvest. David Briggs my producer was adamant that this should be therecord, but I was very excited about the takes we got on Harvest, and wantedHarvest out. David disagreed. As I listen to this today, I can see why.”
Accompanying DVD has most songs (with the exception of 3 tracks) that werentrecorded on film, but found on the audio CD. Its a poor mish-mash of non-lipsynch film (and bad resolution) with home movie drop-ins and still photography,which by todays standards isnt up to scratch. It is worth its inclusion,nevertheless.
A three and a half minute trailer for the DVD segment can be viewed at:
http://streamos.wbr.com/wmedia/wbr/neilyoung/mhpromo_adv1.wvx
http://streamos.wbr.com/gtime/wbr/neilyoung/mhpromo_adv1.mov
Weblink:neilyoung.com
The full list of tracks included are :
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 Gold Suite
8. Cowgirl In The Sand
9. Dont Let It Bring You Down
10. Theres 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
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.