Neil Young – Massey Hall 1971 – 1971

Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Bach...and I suppose Pink too.

Neil Young – Massey Hall 1971 – 1971

Postby Roland Bru » Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:01 pm

Neil Young is one of our last troubadours, together with Bob Dylan (who is even more of a poet and an equal or better composer but technically not a great guitar player and hardly a singer). Neil Young wants to reach you on an emotional level. He wants to convert you (still a hippy in most respects).

In his time, roughly from 1965 in Buffalo Springfield, via Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and various subdivisions and from the early 70’s mostly solo or with heavy backing group Crazy Horse, he has created a body of work that is truly impressive.

In a way I think he is somewhat overrated (may be due to his sincerity, his not selling out), but I don’t want to denounce him really. This album is a solo performance in his home country (Canada) in 1971, when he had been very famous in the USA for two or three years. He’s playing his heart out for you, the listener, playing favourites and new songs, with some stage banter in between. If this album does not move you, music is not for you.

We may see in later reviews that the 1980’s (and the 00’s) were somewhat rough on old Neil, but this album, which was only released in 2007, as one of the first instalments of his massive Archive project, is an absolute classic. A man needs a maid / Heart of gold suite is a coombo that really works. Ohio works great in a solo setting (you do not miss David Crosby’s emotional screaming at the end) and somewhat older songs like On the way home, I am a child and Tell me why sound great in this small setting. Matter of fact, it’s all good.
Roland Bru
 
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