Neil Young - Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968 (CD/DVD-A)
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Free Music Notes for Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968 (CD/DVD-A)
Free Music Review: Canadian-American Primitive
Hit: 5 Stars
Years ago, when Young released the classic CD "Harvest Moon," his lyrics in the song "Natural Beauty" lamented about hearing "a perfect echo die into an anonymous wall of digital sound." Listeners will not find that "anonymous wall" in the recent release of "Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968." What they'll find are the stripped down raw versions of Young's songs, where the bare essence of each offering gives a pristine look into the raw genius of his songwriting. Hence, I would categorize "Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968 as delightfully primitive.
In an age where music is over-produced and increasingly controlled by Big Brother, this release gives us pause to distinguish between pure art and commercial art. Art is done for oneself. Commercial art is created for a mass audience. This CD is strictly art, with Young abandoning himself to the muse of emotion. Here is a rough-hewn recording that give us a rare look at how these songs might have sounded shortly after birth and leaving the safe haven of Young's own consciousness.
Some have argued in the past that Young's lyrics are self-indulgent and lyrically cryptic. Thankfully, for many of us, Young's explorations into his own emotions connect within others on a deeper level. Lest we forget, the modern age of poetry comes from the raw and primitive "first thought is best thought" intensity of Ginsberg and company, where we are asked to trust what arises in the creative muse before revision and production.
Yes, I do wish the DVD companion was the actual performance, but I'm giving it "five stars" for art. Those lamenting about sound quality are missing the point here.
Free Music Review: Essential for any Neil Young fan
Hit: 5 Stars
If you are a Neil Young fan my advice is not to hesitate in buying this. Granted it is not as an assured a performance as Massey Hall but as a historical document of one of the most important artists of the 20th Century it is essential. This is Neil Young as a shy unsure 22 year old stepping out of the shadow of Stephen Stills in his first solo concert since the break up with the Buffalo Springfield, It's fantastically intimate with a lot of amusing anecdotes and stories even taking requests at one point. He audibly displays a nervousness in his ability that no release has ever highlighted, it is utterly compelling. The material is taken mostly from his first solo album but includes his best known Springfield tracks (a lot of which were sung by Richie Furay and not Neil) also includes Birds which was re-recorded for After the Goldrush and Sugar Mountain the same version which was included on Decade.
A word of warning....the DVD is a DVD-Audio disc (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) and is a digital format for delivering very high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and should not be confused with video DVDs containing concerts and music videos. In saying this it's actually very good value for money and gives you the same material on 2 different formats. If you don't have a DVD-Audio player then play the CD, as someone who has a DVD-A player I have the CD to enjoy in the car.
Free Music Review: Great album! Neil Young At Canterbury House
Hit: 5 Stars
Forty years after its initial recording, `Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House 1968' gets an official release. The performance achieved notoriety because of the single version of "Sugar Mountain" which appeared first as a B-Side to the 1970 single, "The Loner." It reappeared as a B-Side to "Cinnamon Girl" in 1970 and then on the double disc greatest hits `Decade.' Surviving as a bootleg for years, this album presents the entire concert with the omnipresent stage banter by Neil Young.
The performances throughout this concert are jaw-droppingly earnest and endearing. This set seems a lot more intimate than the previously reissued "Massey Hall" recording. It has been written that Neil had to be coaxed out of his hotel bed to perform that night. His stage dialog is an indication of his nervousness, as he rambles on about everything from working in a bookstore to an impromptu mystery music quiz surrounding "Classical Gas."
Young's work with Buffalo Springfield is well represented; he performs "Mr. Soul," "Expecting To Fly," "Broken Arrow" and gives "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" a goose bump-inducing read. The majority of the performance is dedicated to material that would later appear on his S/T debut and subsequent releases such as `After The Gold Rush' (Birds). `Neil Young - Live At Canterbury House' depicts a young artist at the precipice of greatness and is definitely worth a listen.
Free Music Review: Very nice show
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a well recorded show post-Buffalo Springfield, pre 1st solo release. I like the mix of Buffalo Springfield songs with others that would appear on his 1st album. No point in a track by track - every song is great. The real "keepers" for me are one, to get solo versions of so many great Buff Sprngfld songs, versions of the old laughing lady and last trip to tulsa (killer!), and two, the banter between songs. Neil is very talkative here and while over time this might wear thin (how many times will I listen to his story of the shoe store and pills - hysterical as it is...?), we get the complete show and I'd rather have that and do my own editing than have some record company folks do it for me.
I bought this at Best Buy and the sticker on the shrink wrap (I forget the wording) pretty much gave me a clue that the "dvd" was enhanced audio only. I was not postitive, but sure enough there is not a video concert. This was a little disappointing, but not a big deal. I am not much for watching concert dvd's. I prefer to just listen to the music. So know that the 2nd disc is not a film of the show.
What you get here is a great solo performance of early Neil doing a very strong setlist and telling a lot of good stories and bantering with the audience, all with pristene sound quality. What's not to like?? It's a sensible and worthy addition to the archive series.
Free Music Review: Neil at the Start
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a hardcore fan of Neil Young since about 1967, and always look for live, acoustic performances of his. True, he has disappointed me with some recordings over the decades, but that's the nature of art, no? Still, I've hung in there with him, and this album sums up why. My wife and I were lucky enough to see him in L.A. in 1972, and it stands as one of the, if not THE, best live show I've seen. This album from 1968 is unique for a few reasons: 1) it contains, as far as I know, the only commercially available acoustic versions of several of the songs from his first solo album, including "If I Could Have Her Tonight" and "The Old Laughing Lady" (excepting the version shown over the closing credits from the Heart of Gold concert on DVD), among others 2) you hear Neil EARLY in what has proven to be a brilliant career, before he'd worked out his now signature guitar style and with a young, bright voice so well suited to his songs and 3) it is a performance from an artist who had yet to write any of the songs most people now know him for, and if you listen carefully you can hear something in these songs only heard when a singer-songwriter is solo with his instrument. Neil has proven he can rock with the best of them, but his acoustic performances reveal the artist in him. If you are a fan, this album is a must-have.