The "LAST" Neil Young Post

I am now a certified Neil Young fan. Yes, it is true, I've been listening to his stuff more and more often and have gained a ridiculous amount of respect for the man. Yes, he is weird, and that is a rather immediate part of his appeal, but his catalogue is filled with great releases that lodge themselves into your psyche and refuse to be easily removed. With these facts recognized, it's important to note that he's also very difficult to grasp a proper understanding of and he's a notorious perfectionist searching for imperfection. Confusing, eh?

Think about it this way... He records Tonight's The Night, tours for the album before releasing it, remixes it countless times, shelves it, releases On The Beach, completes an entirely new album named Homegrown, decides to shelve Homegrown and release Tonight's The Night. Somewhere in there before On The Beach was released he compiled an album featuring over half of the songs that made Tonight's The Night, two of the most memorable cuts from On The Beach and a few other tracks, which was featured here earlier as the Tonight's The Night: Alternate Acetate. The man clearly knows how to capture a performance to his satisfaction but is clearly obsessed with his releases sounding good. On top of that, he's got a fetish for high-fidelity releases, some of which are of such high quality that I'm not sure the human ear can observe the additional details.

This should explain a little about issues surrounding his works and the non-availability of some of them, although I don't believe his reasoning makes him right. I think it's great to release an album in the best quality format available, but what's the point of doing so if you have to purchase an all new setup? I've examined the first box in his Archives series and have to say it's awesome, if not one of the best assembled collections I've ever seen, but will anyone other than the die-hardest of fans lay out two to three hundred dollars for the collection? I'm actually really psyched for the second volume which will cover his mid to late seventies output, but when will it actually appear? Will it focus on album tracks and live shows with occasional rarities, or will we get the real prizes like the original Tonight's The Night and Homegrown?

For the time being, Neil's official releases and assorted bootlegs are the best ways to study his works post 1971. Of these, I'm featuring three here today. First up is the now-unavailable Time Fades Away, an album of songs from circa 71/72 recorded live, although the songs are all previously unreleased prior to this album. This is often referred to as part one of the Ditch Trilogy, which also consists of On The Beach and Tonight's The Night and focuses on his guilt after the deaths of Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten. Neil had considered reissuing the album in the mid-nineties but decided to pass because he did not feel the quality of the master was up to par. For a more detailed explanation please visit this link to an article at Sidestreet Records.

The second album featured is Times Square. This album was completed for release but eventually shelved in favor of 1989's Freedom. Six songs from Times Square made it to Freedom while two more appeared on the Japanese-only Eldorado EP. Boxcar was re-recorded for 2008's Chrome Dreams II. This is a loud album and would have been a damn good release. Again, there is more info at Sidestreet Records.

Finally, I'm posting 1991's Arc, which is a thirty-fire minute collective composition of feedback and noise from shows on the Weld tour. Arc is LOUD, so be careful not to put the volume too high unless you need an excuse for new speakers. This album is technically still available, but physical copies are a little harder to come by these days. Anyway, there are no hits on this one, just one long track. As Neil says, "It's all one song".

It's worth noting that while this is the "Last" Neil Young post, there might be one more eventually. I have a copy of the long out-of-print soundtrack to Neil's directorial debut, Journey Through The Past, and that probably deserves a post of it's own, but I'm not making any promises for now. I feel I've given Neil a nice chunk of my little wedge of cyberspace, and anyway, if you really want it and don't want to wait for me to post it, I'm sure you can find it. Anyway, hope you enjoy this post, and I promise no more Neil Young for a while, no matter how much I'm currently enjoying his stuff!


Neil Young - Time Fades Away

01 Time Fades Away
02 Journey Thru The Past
03 Yonder Stands The Sinner
04 L.A.
05 Love In Mind
06 Don't Be Denied
07 The Bridge
08 Last Dance


Neil Young - Times Square

01 Eldorado
02 Someday
03 Sixty To Zero
04 Boxcar
05 Don't Cry
06 Heavy Love
07 Wrecking Ball
08 Cocaine Eyes
09 On Broadway


Neil Young - Arc