Sugar Mountain (NYAPS 00)

Oh, my! Another entry from the Neil Young Archives Performance Series... seems as though its release may not have been originally anticipated (hence the "00" numbering). Yes, there's a little tape hiss. It's clearly an old recording (November 1968), but pretty damned good (slight hiss and all).

And, the performance itself... wow! Solo-acoustic Neil is almost always awe-inspiring. But, here, you have added bonuses, such as #1) Neil's youthful exuberance, on prime display in the between-songs banter, and #2) The setlist... Buffalo Springfield classics when they were only a year or so old... and as-of-then-yet-to-be-released songs from his debut solo LP.

HIGHLY recommended, folks.

01. (Emcee intro)
02. On The Way Home
03. Songwriting rap
04. Mr. Soul
05. Recording rap
06. Expecting To Fly
07. The Last Trip To Tulsa
08. Bookstore rap
09. The Loner
10. “I used to” rap
11. Birds
12. Winterlong (excerpt) and Out of My Mind - intro
13. Out Of My Mind
14. If I Could Have Her Tonight
15. Classical Gas rap
16. Sugar Mountain – intro
17. Sugar Mountain
18. I've Been Waiting for You
19. Songs rap
20. Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing
21. Tuning Rap & The Old Laughing Lady – intro
22. The Old Laughing Lady
23. Broken Arrow

Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House 1968 is a live album by Neil Young. On November 9-10, 1968, Young performed two shows at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This album is compiled from these performances.

The CD Currently In My Car Stereo

Not much time to write about it, but this disc rocks. Seek it out.

I'll steal the words from AllMusic:

The Day Before Wine and Roses: Live at KPFK, September 5, 1982

As the punning title indicates, this welcome document of an early Dream Syndicate show, recorded live-in-studio for Los Angeles' KPFK station in 1982, captures the fierce intensity of the band's first lineup shortly before the release of the actual Days of Wine and Roses album. Featuring both an array of originals and well-chosen covers, Day Before is arguably the group at its best, well before the endless series of band conflicts and attempts to reach too far too fast slowly ground away at Wynn and company. Precoda is simply on fire here, maybe even more so than on Days of Wine and Roses itself, while the band as a whole gels and makes it clear that channeling inspirations of the past into the present was no crime when done so well. Hosted by longtime DJ/critic Andrea 'Enthal, who sets the stage with her introductory banter as crowds of friends and fans come in — the show itself started recording at about 2 a.m. in the morning! — the recording features some amusing comments from the band along with the strong performances. There are some radical reworkings: "Some Kinda Itch" is a slower, smokier number in this incarnation, the late-night setting perfectly matching its strung-out mood, while "John Coltrane Stereo Blues" appears under the name "Open Hour"" as a slightly more stripped-down jam. Other things don't change at all — "The Days of Wine and Roses" itself, which understandably closes the set, is as blasting as one could want. The inclusion of the covers is explained away by Wynn thus: "If you're going to bootleg this, we don't want to have to worry about the royalties." Some choices are obvious — Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" and Bob Dylan's "Outlaw Blues" — but the revamp of Donovan's "Season of the Witch" is more unexpected but plenty exciting.

01. Some Kinda Itch (6:31)

02. Mr. Soul (3:57)

03. Sure Thing (5:31)

04. That's What You Always Say (4:29)

05. Outlaw Blues (4:48)

06. Open Hour (8:32)

07. When You Smile (5:45)

08. Season of the Witch (10:09)

09. The Days of Wine and Roses (7:29)

_________________________________

Steve Wynn - Guitar, Vocals

Karl Precoda - Guitar

Kendra Smith - Bass

Dennis Duck - Drums

Victory

Pretty freakin' sweet.

McCain's last stand was in PA (which Obama won by 11 points), while hoping for another New Hampshire miracle (Obama won NH by 10 points). Meanwhile Obama flipped FL, OH, VA, IN, CO, NM & NV (and probably NC).

Amazing.

"I'm a barrel of laughs with my carbine on"

I finally decided to plop down my $11 to purchase a compact disc of one of my all-time favorite Neil Young albums, ON THE BEACH (1974). This album was, in fact, the subject of my 3rd ever HH post (way back in January 2006). This is what I originally wrote:

The 3rd installment of the "I heard Mr. Young sing about her" files. Current selection: ON THE BEACH (1974)

It turns out, Neil can play some blues and blues-influenced rock.

Brief tune-by-tune recap:

"Walk On" - Genuine Neil Young classic! Great rock 'n roll tune. "I hear some people/Been talkin' me down/Bring up my name/Pass it round/They don't mention/The happy times/They do their thing/I do mine"...possibly Neil responding somewhat amicably to"Sweet Home Alabama"?

"See the Sky About to Rain" - Slower tune in which Neil reverts a bit to his country influences

"Revolution Blues" - Neil does some rockin' while singing of gunning people down. David Crosby credited on rhythm guitar, not that anyone would notice (or care)

"For the Turnstiles" - GREAT bluesy acoustic jam. Some darn fine banjo pickin' and angry vocals, both by Neil

"Vampire Blues" - Sounds like some solid 60s/70s electric blues. Neil plays a little lead guitar that highlights just how underrated his guitar work is.

"On the Beach" - 7+ minute title track is slow & bluesy. Once again, Neil plays him some guitar, if I do say so my damn self. Graham Nash credited on the"Wurlitzer Piano" (again, far from the highlight; as always, Neil towers above Crosby, Stills & Nash)

"Motion Pictures" - Slow & soft, but with incredible slide guitar work by guest Rusty Kershaw. Neil sings, strums acoustic guitar, and plays harmonica. Damned fine song in my humble opinion.

"Ambulance Blues" - Nearly 9 minutes, acoustic, and very interesting lyrically..."You're all just pissin'in the wind..."

Bottom line: If you don't have it, you should get it. If you have it, you should keep it!!!

Man, I left out a TON of things! Not a single mention of Ben Keith!!! HOLY CRAP! Failing to mention his slide work on "For The Turnstiles" is an unforgivable sin.

How about the fact that the lyrics to "Revolution Blues" were inspired by Charles Manson?

Of course, there are also things I didn't know at the time. Like "Walk On" and "For The Turnstiles" were on the original acetate pressing of TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT in 1973. (Of course, that album wasn't released until 1975, at which time these 2 tunes had already been released on O.T.B.)

And, "See The Sky About To Rain" was performed on his solo tour of 1971...as can now be heard on the LIVE AT MASSEY HALL 1971 release (from March 2007 as an installment of the 'Neil Young Archives Performance Series').

Hearing the recordings of Neil's North American Tour from last fall, with the great solo-acoustic versions of "Ambulance Blues" reminds me of what a great, great song that is.

This album is in my Neil Top 5.

Holy SHAT!!!!!!

Look, I know I haven't been blogging. OK, 7AM - 2:30AM workdays, back to back, will prevent blogging...believe me!

Anyway, I'm just catching up to the fact that Neil Young has resumed touring Europe as of 22-June-2008. The most unbelievable thing has to be the show-closing, noisefest versions of "A Day In The Life" (yes, The Beatles tune)...fucking SWEEEEET!!!

I mean, dusting off the title track to "Time Fades Away" for the first time since 1973 is damned great. But, these fuzzy "A Day In The Life" closers...they just take the cake, brothers and sisters!!!!!!

German Accident

This is not for the weak hearted.


Gut Wrenching.......... Picture of a horrible highway accident in Germany


The picture may be kind of hard to take for some of you If you look closely you can see what appear to be some survivors of the accident still in the wreckage.


Although the picture is quite graphic, it makes you realize how quickly our loved ones can be taken from us.

My friend stayed on the scene to help, and even though he performed mouth to mouth on quite a few of them, none apparently survived.

Thanks to Mat

Bush & Golf: Olbermann Kicks Ass, Takes Names