Neil Young 56: Roxy and Rainbow

Shortly after recording what would be the Tonight’s The Night album, Neil and the band he dubbed the Santa Monica Flyers played a handful of shows at the new Roxy club in West Hollywood. These sets consisted of the nine songs intended for the album, played in order—well, actually eight, since the title track would be played a second time each set as an encore, along with one older song from albums already out, the only song the crowd might recognize.

Sadly, only grainy photographs provide visuals from these performances, wherein Neil’s latest character was bearded, more scraggly than ever, hiding behind shades, wearing a hideous seersucker jacket over a Tinkerbell T-shirt, and constantly welcoming the patrons to “Miami Beach”. Among the equipment onstage were a wooden Indian, a lone palm tree, go-go boots stapled to the side of the piano, and what looks like a high school trophy. The lighting consisted of exactly one bulb.

However, audio bootlegs have existed of these shows, and a compilation approximating an average set was released nearly 45 years after the fact as Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live. We hear the album in its original sequence, but it’s not exactly revelatory, except that a few of the songs run longer and slower. They also sound very close to the album versions, which makes sense since the songs were played twice a night only weeks before during the recording process. So “Mellow My Mind” is just as cracked, and “New Mama” is the acoustic arrangement as opposed to the harder electric approach from earlier in the year. But we do get to hear some of Neil’s warped stage patter, some of which are indexed per style as different “raps”, as well as a brief run through “Roll Out The Barrel”, started by Nils Lofgren on piano with Neil wheezing along on harmonica. Even if the band was gone on tequila and weed, they don’t sound any sloppier than usual, ably keeping up with his drawn-out take on “Tired Eyes”. The only “extra” song included is “Walk On”, predating the official take (which almost made the album) by a couple of months.

Familiarity with the tunes after all this time makes it impossible to imagine what they must have sounded like in the moment. Roxy is recorded well, and a cool historical document, only a year after Harvest had been so smooth and comparatively mellow. It even has a black label design just like Tonight’s The Night had. Its designation as the fifth installment in the Archives Performance Series inspired hope and wonder as to what was being held aside for number four. And, along with Hitchhiker, it gave further hope that Archives Vol. II would even appear in our lifetime.

Five years later, after several volumes documenting shows from the same two-month period pre-Harvest, came one of the more welcome installments in his Official Bootleg Series. Somewhere Under The Rainbow was recorded at the London venue of the same name on a brief tour that took the Roxy band, songs, and vibe to England for a week, then back to the States for another.

The brief was the same: drink a lot of tequila, play the eight Tonight’s The Night songs straight through, then play the title track again, before touching on any material the audience might recognize. That’s pretty much what happens here, along with plenty of references to Miami Beach. The second pass through “Tonight’s The Night” is prefaced by a near-apology, and runs for twelve minutes thanks to an extended monologue about having to fire Bruce Berry for losing a guitar. An acoustic “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” is well received, as is “Human Highway” in one of its earliest performances. A nine-minute slog through “Helpless” features Nils on accordion and Ben Keith near the end. Neil loses his way not far into “Don’t Be Denied”, which the crowd appreciates nonetheless since it was from the latest album, and “Cowgirl In The Sand” is taken at a slow pace before Ralphie kicks it up to speed.

This is a true bootleg, mastered from the original audience tape because Neil hadn’t bothered to record the show himself. There are some drop-outs, some odd fades, and generally muddy sound overall. It’s a shame it’s not cleaner, but that was the original brief of the Archives—everything, regardless of perceived quality. (That said, just as with other releases in the Official Bootleg Series, this set was edited. The full show, as posted on Neil’s site, featured a lot more talking throughout, particularly during the acoustic portion and when introducing the band, and runs for two hours, a half-hour longer than the CDs.)

Neil Young Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live (2018)—3½
Neil Young With The Santa Monica Flyers Somewhere Under The Rainbow (2023)—3