13 Days of Neil
RustWorks, Vol. 11-Part II
Don’t Spook the Horse
I recently acquired Chris Davis’ fantastic Jerry Garcia compilation, “8 Days of Jerome” and thought that somebody should do the same for Neil Young. Well, taking my own advice I embarked on this little project in May 2011 and, hoping others will enjoy it, decided to share. The title, “13 Days of Neil” is an obvious rip-off from Chris and Neil (Lucky 13), but feel free to call it whatever you want. Neil’s birthday is on 11/12 and this set contains 14 volumes. Yeah, it makes no sense.
Vol. 11-Part II: Don’t Spook the Horse Danny Whitten’s considerable influence on Neil Young is the subject of this volume. Danny’s guitar led a rhythm section that took deceptively simple rock songs and led them into uncharted territory. A solo Neil sets the tone with Days That Used to Be before we dive into the Whitten penned Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown. Danny’s slide and Jack’s simmering piano give The Loner a real sense of danger. Everybody Knows…and Wonderin’ hint at Neil and Danny’s love of country music. Cinnamon Girl highlights each guitarists’ joyful interplay; the arrangement deliberately building to the “you see your baby loves to dance” crescendo that must have been so exhilarating to experience live. The harmonies on Winterlong’s chorus are incredibly intricate and defy standard rock conventions. The muscular New York performance of Down by the River showcases Neil’s machine gun staccato lead guitar. After Danny left Crazy Horse, we would never again hear this playing style from Neil. Danny’s influence and musical abilities brought out a unique, subtle rhythm that would change over the course of a song-sending Neil to places he hasn’t gone since. The first public performance of Oh Lonesome Me precedes the main event-the Santa Monica performance of Cowgirl in the Sand that simply boggles the mind. Danny leads a Crazy Horse rhythm section that settles into a driving rock-jazz groove one would never expect from NYCH. One wonders where Neil’s music would have gone had Danny Whitten, rather than Ben Keith, become Young’s longtime musical partner and collaborator.
RIP
Days That Used to Be (Yokohama, 1989-04-27)
*Come on Baby Lets Go Downtown (Boston, 1970-03-01)
The Loner (Cincinnati, 1970-02-25)
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (Cincinnati, 1970-02-25)
Wonderin' (Cincinnati, 1970-02-25)
Cinnamon Girl (New York, 1970-03-06E)
Winterlong (Cincinnati, 1970-02-25)
*Down by the River (New York, 1970-03-07L)
*Lonesome Me (Philadelphia, 1970-02-28)
*Cowgirl in the Sand (Santa Monica, 1970-03-28)
Announcement (Cincinnati, 1970-02-25)
The selection process for this compilation was quite simple. I attempted to pace the songs in a loose chronological order, creating counterpoint with slow and uptempo tunes, and above all include versions of songs that I can enjoy over and over. In that sense, this is more of a retrospective than a greatest hits or best of compilation. Basically, it’s just a bunch of songs that just seem to go well together. Of course, the fact that Neil is so prolific made this project fairly mind-boggling simply in terms of available material. Clearly, I avoided any officially released material, or any that was likely to be released in the foreseeable future.
This collection is also a showcase for the great people and bands with whom Neil has played over the years: Danny, Bert, Nicolette, all those Nashville players, Crazy Horse, the Stray Gators and Santa Monica Flyers, the Springfield, CSN, Pegi. Listen closely and you’ll hear all of them at one point or another. This goes out to Long Grain in particular. If not for Ben Keith, I fear there would be no Neil Young as we’ve come to know, and love, him.
A word about compilations: I compiled these performances for my personal listening pleasure, and share them for the same reason. There are many Neil Young compilations available out there: “Archives be Damned 2000” (and 2006), “Acoustic Masterpieces,” “A Perfect Echo.” Of course, the one must-have compilation is the officially released “Archives.” Nothing beats the original tracks themselves. This compilation is not meant to replace any of the aforementioned. It, simply, is what it is.
I urge you to seek out the original performances (they’re all available somewhere). Thank you so much to the original tapers and uploaders and all who share this great music (what we do here at DIME is a rare and precious thing). And, of course, thanks, Neil.
Enjoy,
1chucho
November 2011
Lineage: All recordings obtained from various torrent sites (DIME, Trader’s Den, HungerCity, TapeCity, Zomb): FLAC > WAV > CD-R > FLAC (8) > DIME
Notes on Sound Quality: All Audience Recordings except as noted, the SQ is Excellent to Excellent+ throughout except*
*SQ is Fair to good
Convert to lossy for personal use only
NOT FOR SALE-SHARE FREELY
No comments:
Post a Comment