StoneMtn Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 By BRAD WHEELER:A record of a homecoming is on the way home. Material culled from a pair of Neil Young solo concerts at Toronto's Massey Hall almost 36 years ago is set for a March release. Previously available in bootleg form as Going Back to Canada, the live album captures an enigmatic singer-songwriter at his career's early creative peak.Young was a star rising, not much more than 24, when he introduced Old Man at Massey Hall as "a new song." On Jan. 19, 1971, with friends and proud family in attendance, the youthful brooder played two sold-out concerts, part of the Journey Through the Past solo tour that began in Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre and ended, in late February, at London, England's Royal Festival Hall.The crowd-drawing event was documented by the press, including an account by The Globe and Mail's Jack Batten, who noted a young audience's devotion to an artist who presented himself as distinctly Canadian. Wrote Batten: "There's no mistaking his sly manner, his flat speaking voice and his rather dour facial expression (which not even long hair can disguise) for anyone but a northerner."Batten was not alone in his characterization of Young -- in his onstage persona, at least -- as a lamenter: "He comes on wearing his private rain cloud like a halo," was how another writer put it.As far as his career was concerned, Young had no need to be grim. The man in patched jeans, lumberjack shirt and work boots had sold more than one-million copies of his album After the Gold Rush (1970) at that point, and his quarter share of the success of America's biggest band at the time -- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -- would have been substantial.The songs performed on the Shuter Street stage represented a memorable surge of songwriting, with some of material already released (Helpless, Cowgirl in the Sand, Ohio, Down By the River, I Am a Child) and some issued later (Old Man, The Needle and the Damage Done, A Man Needs a Maid).The concerts were recorded by producer David Briggs, yet Young himself never heard the tapes until 1996 -- a quarter-century later. At the turn of the seventies, Young was a driven artist, on the move creatively and otherwise. Once the material that ended up on 1973's Harvest was recorded (during and after the tour), the Massey tapes were shelved.Those shelves and others are now being cleared. Fresh rumours have Young's long-imminent archival box set (possibly 32 CDs in all) coming out later this year. In the meantime, the first CD of the Archives: Performance Series -- the stellar, if truncated (at 43 minutes) Live at the Fillmore East: March 6 & 7, 1970 -- was released late last year on Reprise Records, long the label home of Young. The second CD of the series (the forthcoming Massey release) is rumoured to include a DVD component, with film footage or a photo montage from the Toronto shows. No further CDs in the series are planned.Available now on iTunes is The Bridge School Collection, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, a massive compilation of recordings from Young's star-studded annual benefit concerts. The artists involved include Radiohead's Thom Yorke (who covers After the Gold Rush on the first volume), Willie Nelson and Pearl Jam, and Canadian acts Sarah McLachlan, the Cowboy Junkies, the Barenaked Ladies and Tegan and Sara.Young only performs on five tracks in the whole set, all in the second volume (including Helpless with Bruce Springsteen and Down By the River with Crazy Horse and Elvis Costello), as well as on a pair of bonus tracks on Vol. 1 (Cortez the Killer and a Comes a Time/Sugar Mountain medley by Young and Dave Matthews, available only if the entire 80-track set is purchased).Young, with cohorts David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, last performed in Canada this past summer in support of his anti-George W. Bush harangue, the Living With War album. Reportedly all of the tour's concerts were filmed, with a DVD scheduled to be released in 2008 (a U.S. election year). As well, a version of Living with War featuring stripped-down arrangements, a rawer guitar sound and a bonus DVD was released last month. A blast from Young's past comes in the form of a rare Motown single, from 1966 by the Mynah Birds -- a Toronto-based garage band that included Young (on 12-string acoustic), bassist Bruce Palmer and Rick (Superfreak) James. The record (It's My Time, with B-side Go On and Cry) was pulled the day of its release because of James's AWOL status with the U.S. Navy. It now sees the light of day as part of a five-CD set, The Complete Motown Singles: Vol. 6, 1966.The humble song may have been called It's My Time, but Young's era was actually to come a bit later -- and to continue long after. In the review of the 1971 Massey Hall show, Globe reviewer Batten praised Young's singing, yet reckoned the green tunesmith needed "more seasoning." But he added that Young had so much talent and so much "quiet charm" that the artist was "bound to stick around for a long time, maturing and writing and rewarding his audiences."And so it happened.Tonight was the nightOn Jan. 19, 1971, Neil Young played a pair of solo shows at Toronto's Massey Hall. The next day, a review by then pop-music writer Jack Batten, excerpted below, ran in The Globe and Mail."All of a sudden, without anyone (except a million kids) noticing, Neil Young of Winnipeg and Toronto has arrived as a major pop star, someone to reckon with on the rich, heady, crowd-drawing level of James Taylor. If you don't believe it, you should have been at Massey Hall last night where he played two concerts for sell-out houses of mostly young people who were there not merely to listen but to worship."From the opening ovation to the closing and standing ovations, the audience was positively adulatory, rewarding Young with constant bursts of clapping for every trivial move, from sipping water to announcing new songs, a fact I mention not merely because the handclapping was by itself a drag but also because it constantly intruded on any close relationship between Young and the best part of his audience. . . .""His songwriting isn't his strongest talent. (His lovely clean voice is.) He does have a knack for writing one- and two-liners that stick in the head, and occasionally, as in a new song he sang about a hired man on his ranch, he comes up with numbers that sustain a mood for their entire duration. . . ." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deranger Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 cool, very super cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewRider Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 I just got the first release from the Neil Young Archives: Live at The Fillmore and it's GREAT. Can't wait for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cully Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 I have one of the Massey Hall shows. It is an amazing show and Neil is in fine form. The sound quality is great. Perhaps we could make a trade... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanada Kev Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Awesome! I can't wait to hear these shows. I just d/l'd some live Neil from the BBC 1971 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swan Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 The Bridge School downloads from ITunes are great.I wonder if Scott Young was with Batten when he went to Massey Hall to do the reivew. They both were working for the Globe at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Awesome! I can't wait to hear these shows. I just d/l'd some live Neil from the BBC 1971 if thats the same one I have its awesome (pretty sure, don't have time to dig it up right now)... Neil talks a bit about what most of the songs is about... solo show, guitar, harmonica, piano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamilton Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 It's nice to see that this archival series is moving ahead at full steam, especially after having been delayed so many times. I hope this pattern continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau. Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Great choice of shows to release.I wish he'd release the movie 'Journey through the past', my version on VHS is starting to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBOC Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Someone posted one of those shows on jamhub a year ago or so and it made my life. I love how neil talks about the inspiration for old man being an old ranch hand on his "new" ranch. I think it was from early 1971 and to hear him introduce all the songs from harvest he played that night as new tunes makes me smile... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 how can anyone not love this man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edger Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamilton Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Available 13 March 2007. Tracklist: 1. On The Way Home 2. Tell Me Why 3. Old Man 4. Journey Through The Past 5. Helpless 6. Love In Mind 7. Medley 8. Cowgirl in The Sand 9. Don't Let It Bring You Down 10. There's 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Low Roller Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 GLEE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cully Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 If anyone wants to make a heady trade, lets do it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcO Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 trade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cully Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Does anyone want this, I have had it for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 (edited) not this one you haven't. (unless you mean the 'traded' version, then you have a recording of this show) Edited February 12, 2007 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cully Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I have the 'traded' version. I love when he says, "This is a new song I wrote on my ranch" and then goes into Old Man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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