Album Review 8 Neil Young Live Massey Hall Toronto

Neil Young Live At Massey Hall Toronto

One of the advantages of having a 19 year old music head for a son is that he is occasionally able to give me a gift of music...sometimes like this even before it is released. Make no mistake, I will purchase this CD, if nothing else to have it for the permanent collection but....it is nice to listen to something in it’s entirety...before most of the world gets to hear it.
On January 19, 1971 Neil went on a little tour which eventually took him to Massey Hall in Toronto. That venue which dates from 1894 must have been intimate indeed seeting only about 2900 people who got to see Young...and his guitar and his piano. No Crazy Horse. Young had just turned 25. He had released “After The Gold Rush” but was on the cusp of two major events in his personal and professional career. The first was the release of “Harvest” whose boldness, milky sweet steel and acoustic guitar and impeccable Nashville sessionwork would sweep the country and make Young a mega star, and the November 1971 death of original Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. For Young fans this was right before he drove off the road and into the ditch.

There is very little edge here. There is lots of wide eyed wonder and a guy who is trying to find his stage voice and presence. What is AMAZING about the CD is what strong voice it finds him in. I am a huge Neil Young fan. Not a moderate fan, not an objective fan...a huge fan. I am a fan of him at every stage of his career. I am not objective. In putting out as many albums as he has there is some crap but even among his dark years making records for Geffen their are a LOT of gems. But I digress, this is not my Neil Young Cheerleader piece.

Neil’s voice. That strange...atonal warbling...is so powerful on this CD. Even with some analogue tape hiss and a lot of crowd noise he just sings with a power and confidence and just sounds...beautiful. So many live CD’s (to the extent the record companies even allow them to be put out) are compilations of numerous shows and edit out crowd noise and any of the artists comments. Not so this effort which is simply a “roll the tape” live show. I have heard most all these songs before and I have even heard a lot of them solo acoustic but...none of them solo acoustic from young at this age. “Journey Through The Past”, “On The Way Home”, “Helpless” and the medley of “A Man Needs A Maid” morphing into “Heart of Gold” are particular gems.

You cannot forget that he is Canadian and they are embracing one of their own. Neil is the best argument that you can make for allowing Canada to annex it’s southern neighbor. The crowd cheers and sings along, takes pictures and generally participates in a love fest of their boy, come home form southern California. Unlike the earlier release of the Fillmore show which was similar in it’s importance but was just a handful of songs, this CD gives us a portrait of where Young has been, where he was at the time and even more important where he was going...until fame and Whittens death sent him caterwauling off in directions painful to him but brilliant to many of the rest of us.

CD’s of 35 year old shows do not win a lot album of the year awards. This one should. It is pretty, and brilliant and...pretty brilliant. 9 Slingers out of 10. Buy it.
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. Needle And The Damage Done, The
13. Ohio
14. See The Sky About To Rain
15. Down By The River
16. Dance Dance Dance
17. I Am A Child