The release of A Treasure, a collection of live recordings from that two-year period, should change all that. Only two songs from Old Ways appear here—thankfully, “Get Back To The Country” did not employ a jawbone onstage—giving us a chance to appreciate that Neil was up to a lot more than the album would suggest. The overall sound is closer to, say, side two of Hawks & Doves, using many of that album’s musicians.
What also makes it preferable is the handful of songs that were performed multiple times on the road—and on the Austin City Limits TV show—but didn’t make it to Old Ways. The very first track, “Amber Jean”, is a love song to his newborn daughter. “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking” is a journey into a Nashville pun, but luckily without the syrup it would have received in the studio. “Soul Of A Woman” had been tried out in his Trans and Shocking Pinks guises, and would also appear during the Bluenotes era; here it’s middling R&B. “Nothing Is Perfect” comes straight from the mid-‘80s Farm Aid mentality, but “Grey Riders” absolutely cooks.
A few older songs are given new coats of paint. “It Might Have Been” is an old standard performed as far back as 1970 with Crazy Horse (and included on Archives Vol. 1). There’s a stunning take on “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong”, which some reviewers have compared to Poco or the Flying Burrito Brothers. “Are You Ready For The Country?” doesn’t have any of the sloppy charm of the original. Proof that country was always in his blood is reinforced with “Motor City” and “Southern Pacific”, both originally heard on the acerbic Re-ac-tor album, and here transformed to good old-fashioned stompers.
A Treasure confirms—and this was the point—that Neil wasn’t necessarily lost during the ‘80s; he just put out some bad albums. As an official installment in the Archives Performance Series, it only has us wondering if the others will be just as illuminating. (A Blu-Ray edition of the album features highest-quality audio synched to whatever video footage was available; in some cases, the song might be the same but the players are different.)
Neil Young/International Harvesters A Treasure (2011)—3
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this release.
ReplyDeleteNeil said they listened to something like 85 different shows; personally I would have preferred even more "new" songs than the two from Old Ways. The same bands also did "Down By The River" as an encore, which apparently will show up on Archives Vol. 3. But yes, I will definitely listen to this way more than Old Ways.
ReplyDeleteI saw Neil for the first time on the 3rd show of the 1985 leg of the tour. Although the last 4 songs are from the part of the tour, the selections here don't really indicate how great this band was live. Rufus Thibodeaux, in particular, was quite the sight to see on stage. I did wonder at that time how an old guy like that felt about playing on a 17 minute version of "Down by the River" (not the encore, at least at this show).
ReplyDeleteBesides a couple from "Old Ways", unreleased material was included, as usual. Most noteworthy was "This Old House", which worked here better than in the overproduced studio version. "Southern Pacific" works better here, too, than on "Reactor", as much as a like that. The country band setup allowed Neil to throw in a whole bunch of "Decade" classics -- "Comes a Time", "Heart of Gold", "Helpless" (!!!), "Old Man". The final song in the main set was an jaw-dropping "Powderfinger". I hope Neil will eventually release a complete 1985 set eventually.
The opening act was an "outlaw country" guy called David Allan Coe. Not bad. He covered "Southern Man" in his set and Neil came out and sang the second verse! I'm glad that I saw this rather unique tour. Neil would once again move on very quickly.